Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
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Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
08-01-2009 7:18 PM
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1. Would a modern TFT (or whatever other technology monitor) give me as good a practical computer display as I currently enjoy ?
2. If I decided to add a TV tuner, would the picture quality be as good as a TV ?
3. Is it better to buy a TV tuner as a separate card to go in the PC or integrated with the monitor ?
I do not frankly watch much TV, but my old TV is not digitally enabled and I have no set-top box. In view of the imminent switch-over to Digital, the TV will need to be ugraded anyway, and I thought I would try to kill two birds with one stone by having a larger computer monitor (22 inch ?) which doubles as a TV. Does it work ?
Also, what about the digital signal. I am in a poor signal area in the countryside. My TV aerial provides an adequate picture for my current needs with a simple cheap booster. Is this going to work with a digi-box / digital TV tuner, or am I then going to have to upgrade the aerial as well, which I do not want to have to do ?
Any experience that can be shared would be appreciated.
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
09-01-2009 10:49 AM
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But my nephew got himself one of these just before Christmas. http://www.digimate.co.uk/productDetail09.asp
Everything you ask for. Built in DVD player, HDMI, VGA, built in digibox. Works brill with his 360 Elite. Speakers are a bit of a let down tho.
With regards to your question about receiving digital, try here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/digital/
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
09-01-2009 11:25 AM
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jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler) Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!) Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20) Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month) Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month) |
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
09-01-2009 8:51 PM
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Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
09-01-2009 9:50 PM
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Quote from: shermans
Also, what about the digital signal. I am in a poor signal area in the countryside. My TV aerial provides an adequate picture for my current needs with a simple cheap booster. Is this going to work with a digi-box / digital TV tuner, or am I then going to have to upgrade the aerial as well, which I do not want to have to do ?
Any experience that can be shared would be appreciated.
This would really be off topic - it has been discussed recently on another thread where I gave my thoughts. But I did a search and can't find it
But briefly - to get a good digital TV signal - you may well have to upgrade your antenna - even if you don't want to.
Think of it like your cars tyres - they are the link between your car and the road and without them the expensive car is no good and will not do it's job. A Television needs a good aerial system - it is an integral part of the system - period - no shortcuts.
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
09-01-2009 10:07 PM
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Quote from: mal0z This would really be off topic
Point taken (The BBC link gives details of a test which I currently pass, incidently). But my main question concerns the type of computer monitor itself rather than the signal quality, and I am still interested in any experience.
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
09-01-2009 10:29 PM
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1. Hauppauge Freeview PCI card inside my main XP PC. TV in a resizeable window on a 1280*1024 19" TFT monitor.
2. PVR with twin Freeview tuners connected to TV-VGA converter box then to an old IBM 15" TFT monitor run full-screen 1024*768.
Both use a proper aerial feed via a distribution amplifier from a relatively new digital aerial.
Quality is excellent on both, but remember that a conventional TV signal is only 625 lines so any (and I really mean ANY) computer monitor will have much better resolution than a normal broadcast TV signal.
(I used to have an ancient Phillips CGA computer monitor and that was ideal connected by CVBS or SCART to a video recorder to make a TV)
The first one above is usually set to a very small window (typically about 4" wide) as I "keep an eye on it" while working (usually a news channel). But with the Hauppauge kit you can also easily record Freeview programs (in mpeg format) and watch later. You can also burn them straight to DVD - my DVD player on my "really big TV" plays them back happily enough in the native mpeg format. A typical 2 hour film is usually under 4GB so fits on one simple DVD.
The second one is used just like a smallish TV.
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
09-01-2009 10:44 PM
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Quote from: shermans Point taken (The BBC link gives details of a test which I currently pass, incidently).
Good - but if your TV antenna - is older than 5 to 10 years - that is better than many domestic items and deserves renewal if you want to go to digital TV. If you get a new car - even of the same make and model - you don't use the same old engine. You replace the lot.
Good luck with finding the right display
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
09-01-2009 11:03 PM
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Quote You can also burn them straight to DVD - my DVD player on my "really big TV" plays them back happily enough in the native mpeg format. A typical 2 hour film is usually under 4GB so fits on one simple DVD.
I have been having "Fun" with this recently, My Archos records as Mpeg4, can play that OK on this PC as I have a Codec to support, but I have to convert it to mpeg2 to play it via my noddy Video machine http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221816&C=Christmas08&T=Computers&U=500GBMediaDrive to a conventional TV
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
10-01-2009 1:39 PM
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"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
10-01-2009 1:41 PM
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Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
10-01-2009 6:37 PM
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So I have now checked what my system has - 2 x 1394 Firewire ports. They look more like the second connector which I saw than what was clearly a video port. So can anyone confirm whether Firewire is the same thing ? If not, can I indeed buy a card of some sort to which to connect a monitor to use for TV ?
Secondly, my other PC does not have Firewire but it has S-Video TV-Out instead, whatever that is ?? Anyone know ? It also has an "Expansion Port 2 connector" and I don't know what that is either ?
Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
10-01-2009 6:45 PM
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Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
10-01-2009 6:55 PM
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Re: Can anyone recommend a suitable monitor ?
10-01-2009 6:56 PM
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