Can I use my monitor via DVI port as a TV and hook it to my dish?

If yes, how do I do it?

Darlene Fry, ,

The obvious rule is, if you have complementary outputs and inputs on two bits of equipment, you should be able to feed one from the other.

However, this rule falls down when the connector is physically the same, but has a different function. For example, RCA connectors (shown below) are used for lots of purposes, including video, audio and digital connections. Connecting an audio out to a video in will achieve nothing.



However, as far as I know DVI connectors are only used for digital video, so as long as your monitor has DVI in and your satellite box (I'm guessing that's what you have) has DVI out, then you should be fine. Of course the monitor has to be capable of handling the signal fed to it, but that should be fine. (You may have to adjust some setting in the monitor's setup menu). Likewise, you should also be able to feed a digital TV output into the monitor if both have DVI.

The only thing that worries me is your reference to your "dish". If the dish you're talking about is just that - a dish with no equipment connected to it, then NO, you can't connect it to the monitor. It will have to connect to a suitable receiver such as a pay-TV box, and then to the monitor. And even then, the dish must be aimed at the appropriate satellite.

Paul Zucker