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My old Sony CRT tv finally gave up ghost yesterday and on its way to appliance heaven. One that needed the external government digital converter "tuner" box. Looking at converter box, it has a mini hdmi port out. Okie dokie, I have a cheap adapter cable I bought to hook my mini laptop with mini hdmi out to desktop VGA monitor.
So I plugged it into the box and tried first an ancient Radius monitor. Nope, pic would flash on and off, monitor couldnt adjust to resolution. So dragged my 22inch Dell monitor downstairs and tried it. Bingo. I had given like $15 for it at thrift store. I had to go through list of resolutions on the box menu to find one that worked without monitor complaining. But looks like I have my tv for next ten years.
The old Radius monitor has problems, when I hooked it to my desktop, it has couple large grey stripes across screen. Its also like 14 or 15 inch. I do remember using it daily, was easier on eyes than the 14inch CRT monitor. I have another 19 inch monitor but its missing vga cord, so have one of them on order. $1.50 from someplace in Texas. Not sure how they can even mail it for $1.50 let alone make anything on the sale. But will see. I will keep eye out for another thrift store 22 inch or 25 inch monitor. Old eyes prefer larger monitor.
Oh one thing I dont like about using monitor with converter box, there is no easy way to hook up stand alone dvd player. I looked online and there is a $15 magic Chinese box that will let me go from RCA video cable to VGA out. Suppose I will need to go for that since my old dvd player doesnt have hdmi out port. Or I can just play dvds on laptop and plug monitor into that.
And yea I know I can go buy a Walmart $100 tv, but hey I truly hate going shopping, plus guessing it might not be most long lasting thing. I did also have option of an old 19 inch black and white tv, that I have in storage. When I had rooftop antenna for few years, went through several tvs from lightening strikes. The B/W was my backup. If I remember it took long time to warm up and show a picture. I am cheap, but think I rather use a $15 computer monitor though, more to avoid the long warmups, really never minded black and white.
Yea the 22 inch monitor is working fine with the tv converter box. The way the tv box is designed, it does offer a pass through loop function for analog signal. BUT though I can use an old RF modulator (have one) to run from RCA connectors on dvd player to coaxial antenna imput on box. The box will only output the analog loop via the output coaxial terminal. Which wont obviously connect to the computer monitor. So the magic Chinese $15 box that will accept RCA video input (yellow cable) and output to VGA pretty much only option. Now if the dvd player had hdmi.... Most adapter you find are exact opposite and intended to do VGA out on laptop to RCA so you can display your computer on tv.
Wow lol. I have a 27” CRT... in my arcade cabinet lol. But otherwise I like my 85” 4K TV quite a lot, and besides that I have three more 75” 4K TVs. Quality TVs are important for everything from gaming to movies to working out while watching sports. I get a lot of value out of them, so I don’t skimp on TVs.
Wow lol. I have a 27” CRT... in my arcade cabinet lol. But otherwise I like my 85” 4K TV quite a lot, and besides that I have three more 75” 4K TVs. Quality TVs are important for everything from gaming to movies to working out while watching sports. I get a lot of value out of them, so I don’t skimp on TVs.
which 75" do you have? just got a sony 900h and it's awesome.
See some of us are different. If that old B/W set I mentioned didnt take so long to warm up, it would be fine. I am just not that picky and dont find tv interesting enough to spend much money on it. If I can have broadcast tv for pocket change, then great. More than that, not worth it. Thrift stores dont stock old tvs anymore around here. But they do occasionally have a computer monitor. You can buy the converter boxes new on ebay for $20 to $30. Know what you are buying. There are cheaper used converter boxes, but the dang things are worthless without a remote. Without a remote you can basically turn it off and on, and go up and down the existing list channels. You cant even rescan for your local channels without a remote. Replacement remote costs more than new converter box. The weak point of all the converter boxes I have seen is really ricky ticky el crappo remote.
My 85 year old father likes to sit at his desk and watch television. A full size screen would overpower the desktop. He never watches antenna television so a tuner is not necessary.
In the US a "television" legally must include a tuner even though more than 80% of viewers never watch over the air broadcasts. While on the inexpensive end the word monitor works fine, most people associate the word "monitor" with computers. For more expensive screens without tuners such as the ones marketed by Vizio, they are usually marketed as Home Theater Displays.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HJ99
If I can have broadcast tv for pocket change, then great.
About half the people in the US can tune into locast.org (short for local broadcast) which converts broadcast channels into streaming video. Locast is "free non-profit" but they will irritate you by beggging you for money if you don't give $5 a month. You can watch on computer browser, or android and apple phones, or roku or amazon fire devices.
It can be much easier than putting up antennas, and you get all local channels. They have 31 markets that cover 51.7% of the population.
My 90 yr old parents still have CRT's and one is being troublesome. We've tried to brainstorm how to replace it but it's a 13" inch tv that fits perfectly on a small cabinet she has in the kitchen, and she doesn't want to change this setup . They also don't have have or want cable tv. I've just been checking out thrift stores and ebay but figure whatever is wrong with hers is due to age and will probably be wrong with anything used I find.
It's really difficult to upgrade when you reach a certain age, their minds aren't sharp and they can't learn new tricks.
Wow lol. I have a 27” CRT... in my arcade cabinet lol. But otherwise I like my 85” 4K TV quite a lot, and besides that I have three more 75” 4K TVs. Quality TVs are important for everything from gaming to movies to working out while watching sports. I get a lot of value out of them, so I don’t skimp on TVs.
I paid $300 for my 32" Samsung flat screen 9 years ago and its more than paid for itself. Prices on TVs have gone down even further since then. Sitting at home watching TV or playing video games is much cheaper than going out so I don't mind spending a little extra on this form of entertainment.
My 85 year old father likes to sit at his desk and watch television. A full size screen would overpower the desktop. He never watches antenna television so a tuner is not necessary.
In the US a "television" legally must include a tuner even though more than 80% of viewers never watch over the air broadcasts. While on the inexpensive end the word monitor works fine, most people associate the word "monitor" with computers. For more expensive screens without tuners such as the ones marketed by Vizio, they are usually marketed as Home Theater Displays.
About half the people in the US can tune into locast.org (short for local broadcast) which converts broadcast channels into streaming video. Locast is "free non-profit" but they will irritate you by beggging you for money if you don't give $5 a month. You can watch on computer browser, or android and apple phones, or roku or amazon fire devices.
It can be much easier than putting up antennas, and you get all local channels. They have 31 markets that cover 51.7% of the population.
Thats interesting, but my prepaid MVNO gives me 20GB 4G data per 30 days then lowers it to basically 56k if I blow through that. So anything beyond few doityourselfer youtube videos, streaming video is not practical. My only internet is usb tether from phone to computer. No DSL, cable, etc out in boonies where I am. Its satellite or cell or dialup.
I gave up on real outdoor antenna long ago, lightening blew up few tvs at one point as I live on hilltop. Just use this indoor thing that looks like half square foot plastic with a cable attached. It works to get most of channels. I only had the big outdoor antenna back in analog days to pull in some really distant channels.
The antenna input plug fell off my converter box the other day. No antenna, no signal. I found couple of my old converter boxes with no remote. It was just as cheap back in day when remote quit to just get new box with remote. New remote alone cost as much as whole shebang. One had most of stations scanned in, so been manually using it, though it doesnt have hdmi output so having to use my $15 magic box that lets me input RCA cables from box/dvdplayer and output VGA to the monitor. The monitor is only VGA though defunct box had hdmi out, so used little $2 hdmi to VGA adapter.
Waiting for China seller to strap new box to leg of passing seagull. I paid extra $5 cause this box shows an actual button on box itself to access/navigate the menu. Meaning it should work to scan/rescan channels without a remote. FINALLY manufacturer smart enough to provide this!!! Wish the dvd player manufacturers would too. Remotes tend to be weak point of many products. Should last, assuming nothing comes unsoldered and falls off the box. I was going to open the box the antenna terminal fell off of and see about resoldering it, but the remote is marginal, held together with twist ties and has to be within a foot of the box to work, so just ordered new one. The converter boxes are so cheaply made, dont expect more than four or five years. Cause either the remote or the box will fail by then, usually the remote, but think I had one box the operating system corrupted.
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