When is a monitor a TV?
Tuesday, 16 January, 2007
Can / should a monitor with DVI-D port be classified as a TV?
On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 represents a PC monitor and 10 represents a TV, at what position would you place a monitor with DVI-D port? (I would place it at 0 or 1).
Pankaj Kayathwal, ,
 That's a very interesting question. It's also one that's very time dependent.
A few years ago we would never have been confused. A TV was a device that had a screen and a tuner and was designed to pick up TV broadcasts. A computer monitor would only connect to a computer. Any attempt to cross over between the two gave results that failed to satisfy - look at the attempts to use a TV to surf the 'net - pretty dismal. The nearest we cam was game consoles that used a TV to display the action.
Then things started to change. In rapid order we had:
- High resolution screens such as plasma and LCD
- Real digital inputs and high-resolution inputs on screens that were meant to be used as TV's.
- The introduction of digital TV in many countries has led to a period where people are using external TV tuners connected to a monitor or analog TV
- Many people now have a wide variety or sources for material they wish to view on a "TV. For instance, DVD, Pay TV, Satellite TV, external hard disk recorders and so on.
- There's a cross-over between what were separate things - the computer and the living room TV.
You also don't mention which country you're in Pankaj, and I guess that makes a difference too. They'll be turning off analog TV broadcasts in a few years in Australia. There are still very few "TV" sets here with inbuilt digital tuners.
It's got to the point nowadays where people will go to buy "a new TV" when in fact what they're buying is a flat-panel monitor for the living room.
To answer your question I'd give it a score of at least 5.
The last device we bought in our household was a 26" LCD TV with DVI-D and VGA inputs and an inbuilt TV tuner. I bought it as a monitor for my PC but my 16 year old son "borrowed" it as his TV. So is that a TV or a Monitor?
What do others think? Paul Zucker
 Reader solutions
popPosted: 22/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? 10 on the scale. Plug in a hd stb with dvi\hdmi and you got a tv.
And by the way, WHY DA HELL DOES THE FOXTEL BOX HAvE SCART. Scart was dead when dvd players came out, you needed adaptors for scart. The foxtel has scart and I have to pay 4 a scart to s-video or component. the quality is worse than sdtv and far behind hdtv.
SO MUCH FOR FOXTEL DIGital...
It could have dvi vga hdmi purecomponent... or even pure svideo
(Well Pop, I'm glad it has a SCART connector as all I need is a SCART to Component lead and I get a high-quality pic on my screen. I'd like DVI but this is the next best thing. -PZ) Peter P.Posted: 18/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? Show me a plasma screen with digital tuner built in (that doesnt cost $10 grand) and I'll buy it. Well, one that costs $3 grand please. Then I'll call it a TV. DanPosted: 18/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? That's funny - my wife keeps asking that question. She wants to know why our old TV had one remote control and the new one has three.
I explianed that this is how technology works nowadays. I haven't told her you really need six.
Plasma screen, Digital STB, Foxtel, DVD player, VCR. JimPosted: 18/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? Horizontal Scan Frequency? My research shows you may be confusing horizontal resolution with scan frequency as most flat panels work at 50-70HZs. That's HZs and not Khz by the way!!! RaymondPosted: 18/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? A TV has a screen and a tuner built into the one appliance.
(Sounds sensible, so why do people buy a "Plasma TV" which has no tuner? -PZ) Larry JentzPosted: 17/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? Hey, just got a new Panasonic 80cm widescreen HD LCD tv and it has so many connections for various types of external equipment i had not heard of some of them. Model is TX-32LXD600A and also has direct monitor connection to a computer with audio ports as well. One thing not specified by the sales staff was the fact that i had to purchase a different set of cables to get digital component connection from the Foxtel unit. Even though foxtel proudly advertise as DIGITAL the signal is converted to analog on most televisions unless you have digital component connections. So i would think that now a television and a monitor are one and the same.
(Component video is still analog Larry. Everything is still digital inside the Foxtel box until it comes out as analog. -PZ) bertPosted: 17/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? heres a great reference: http://www.dansdata.com/hdtv.htm
PZ, if the monitor will not go as low as the source's horizontal frequency it cannot LOCK the image, so you get either no image or an OUT OF RANGE message on screeen....as i have discovered!
cheers :)
BL
(Thanks Bert. Okay, I see where we're talking at cross purposes. You're talking about an analog monitor and I'm talking about a digital monitor, which is what Pankaj asked about. That is, it has a DVI connector. -PZ) GilPosted: 17/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? I have a digital TV tuner card for my PC which connects to a standard CRT monitor and I'd say there's no appreciable difference. Luke EvansPosted: 17/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? My TV has an input to plug a computer into. When does a TV become a monitor?
(It's a blurred area nowadays. -PZ) bertPosted: 17/01/2007 re: When is a monitor a TV? dont b fooled that by adding set-top box with dvi output to your monitor with dvi input that you end up with a TV! The horizontal scan frequency of most lcd monitors is 30Kkz and over...totally incompatible with set-top boxes are often 27Khz!! yes I fell into that trap...thanks to the useless salespeople that never filled me in at the time I bought this gear.
(You've lost me there I'm afraid. What effect does that cause? Higher should be better in that case. -PZ) |