# Best way to use LCD monitor as a tv?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-use-lcd-monitor-as-a-tv/176851 "2003-05-22T18:03:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2a13f/32.png) [@pipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pipper)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-use-lcd-monitor-as-a-tv/176851/1 "2003-05-22T18:03:00Z")
So prices have finally come down enough where we’re thinking about buying a new LCD monitor for the computer to replace the old, flickery CRT. I’d also like to be able to use the monitor to watch TV, if possible. I’ve seen some LCD monitors that have built in TV tuners and there also seem to be some video cards that have a tv tuner built into them. Are there other ways of getting the monitor to display a tv picture? What’s the best way to go? Anything I should look for when making an LCD puchase? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-use-lcd-monitor-as-a-tv/176851/2 "2003-05-22T18:28:29Z")
Your two options are to get a new monitor that has its own TV input, or use a video board in your PC with a TV input - e.g. an ATI All-In-Wonder or similar. Otherwise, there really isn’t any way to display TV on an LCD monitor without getting into the realm of hardware hacking. ---
**Author:** ![Pencil\_Pusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Pencil\_Pusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pencil_Pusher)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-use-lcd-monitor-as-a-tv/176851/3 "2003-05-22T18:33:37Z")
There actually are tv to pc converters (a quick google search found this one [http://www.keyzone.co.uk/converters/grandvision2000.htm](http://www.keyzone.co.uk/converters/grandvision2000.htm) ) ---
**Author:** ![wooba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@wooba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wooba)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-use-lcd-monitor-as-a-tv/176851/4 "2003-05-22T19:54:57Z")
I’m moving soon into a small apartment and will be using my PC as my TV/VCR/DVD/Radio unit… I did a fair bit of research before buying a TV in card and found that the best one available (in my opinion) was the Leadtek Winfast TV 2000 XP Deluxe. This is of course for the cheaper end cards and excluding those that are built into video cards… I’ve been using it for several months now and I’m very pleased with the results… It’s possible that there are better choices now however… I can’t give you any advice about LCDs though… I got a 22" CRT monitor around the same time… Good luck with your search… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-use-lcd-monitor-as-a-tv/176851/5 "2003-05-22T22:01:28Z")
Don’t forget to consider the audio options… Only certain computer LCD screens are useful as tvs, they don’t have the same specs as tv LCD screens, right?