Using Television As Primary (only) Monitor

[h5n1]

I am thinking about building a cheap pc to:

clean up mp3 filenames

upload and play around with ipod (files)

play around with phone (make wallpaper with simple gfx prog)

some word processing

look at travel photos (maybe crop/resize)

some puzzle games like myst not shooting games

can i get away with not using a proper monitor and buying an old/used 64mb vram with video out and only using the tv as the monitor???

[opalhort]

I am thinking about building a cheap pc to:

clean up mp3 filenames

upload and play around with ipod (files)

play around with phone (make wallpaper with simple gfx prog)

some word processing

look at travel photos (maybe crop/resize)

some puzzle games like myst not shooting games

can i get away with not using a proper monitor and buying an old/used 64mb vram with video out and only using the tv as the monitor???

I think you'll need to have a monitor connected to your vga card for the PC to boot unless you find a way how to bypass the vga test in your BIOS.

opalhort

[Crossy]

I think you'll need to have a monitor connected to your vga card for the PC to boot unless you find a way how to bypass the vga test in your BIOS.

Most PCs will happily start with no monitor provided they have a graphics card of some sort installed.

Using a telly as a monitor is really a non-starter, they're not up to displaying text, fine for piccies and video though. Any resolution higher than 640x480 will look really awful (if the card will that resolution into the TV out that is).

Used monitors are really cheap, better way to go.

That said I'm using the TV (connected via S-video) as the only monitor on my video playback box, runs at 640x480. The filenames in explorer are JUST readable, wouldn't want to do any form of word processing though.

EDIT Of course if you have a high-end LCD TV with VGA or Digital video inputs the above is less true, still not really up to being a monitor though.

Edited July 31, 2006 by Crossy

[Firefoxx]

Actually, my LCDTV (Benq 3750) is pretty good as a monitor. You need to set the resolution correctly (1280x720, 1280x1024) for it to be optimal. But of course, the typical CRT TV is lousy for use as a monitor. Not enough resolution/precision and the wrong electronics. You'll be ruining your eyesight.

[guardian]

My PC is positioned near my TV and I have video output connecting to my TV to watch downloaded videos without burning to discs.

One strange thing I have noticed is that whatever messages/logos is displayed when the PC is booting up, it always displays first on the TV screen and only after a few seconds do they appear on the monitor.

Also, just like Crossy mentioned, the texts displayed on the TV screen are difficult to read. But great for videos.

Guardian