Use LCD monitor as TV or how to find cheap Non-HD LCD TVs?

[Jenny_Piccolo]

I have a VIP722 and I have shared the TV2 output to all my rooms except for my main TV which is HD.

I'm looking for the most frugal way to find 15"-20" LCD TVs for these rooms. They don't need to be HD and they can have a 4:3 ratio, since the VIP722 outputs TV2 in 480i.

I've thought about using older LCD monitors, but since they don't generally have a tuner and speakers I'd have to buy some stand alone device to tune to the modulated channel and some external speakers.

Anyone know a good source for non-HD 4:3 LCD analog TVs before they are totally phased out? I've been looking on ebay but 15" LCDs TVs are around $200-$250.

Why are LCD monitors so much cheaper than TVs? It can't just be because of the tuner and speakers.

 

[johnwadams]

I tried a 20" Emerson, 4x3, LCD from Wal-Mart and the analog picture was really bad. The digital was better but nothing like it should have been. If you feed these extra sets via RF, you will be feeding them an analog 480i signal.

 

[Van]

LCD comp monitors are cheaper due to the lack of a tuner and speakers, all they have is the lcd/backlight/control board/ and power supply in the standard models and speakers and usb ports on the higher end models and all only have one input for video.

If you want cheap then try walmart or newegg or head to BB right now as they are starting to clearance out stuff.

 

[tigerfan33]

I hung a Sanyo 15" lcd in my masterbath. Got it at Wal Mart for around $300 about 2 years ago. It has speakers

 

[TheKrell]

The biggest SD LCDs I have seen are only around 20". The Sharp LC20S7U gets some pretty good reviews. But I'd like a bigger one than that. Unfortunately, it appears that I'll have to spring for a 37" and look at black columns most all the time.

 

[Posty-McPOst]

I have a 622. In one tuner mode having a 16:9 on TV2 actually works really well. Of course it's not HD but it's a really clean true 16:9 picture. If you use the box in dual tuner mode this doesn't really work. It pretty much assumes TV2 is 4:3 and you can't get it to properly fill.

As for cheap small TV's I just bought the 4:3 15" Insignia at BB for $209. It's 720p and has a strong picture in both HD and SD. Also lots of inputs inc HDMI and VGA.

 

[kb7oeb]

Aside from the costs of the analog tuner and whatever it takes to convert analog to digital you have economies of scale. Far more LCD monitors are sold as monitors than as TVs and all those old sets were 640x480, a resolution no one wants on a computer anymore.

 

[Posty-McPOst]

Aside from the costs of the analog tuner and whatever it takes to convert analog to digital you have economies of scale. Far more LCD monitors are sold as monitors than as TVs and all those old sets were 640x480, a resolution no one wants on a computer anymore.

Ya no company is going to make a large low res screen anymore. I did a quick search for new EDTV and the pickin's are slim. Perhaps there are used ones floating around in yr area. I had forgotten about EDTV.

 

[mrzeld]

jenny, why do the extra TVs need to be LCDs? can they be regular CRTs? i have found that you can find some really good deals on CRT TVs on craigslist (especially if you leave near a college . of course it depends on what area you live in, but there are some very good deals to be found.

 

[harshness]

The problem with trying to substitute a computer monitor is that if you have one that can accept the scan rates of video with composite or S-VHS inputs, it will likely cost you as much as a TV.

 

[jacmyoung]

The problem with trying to substitute a computer monitor is that if you have one that can accept the scan rates of video with composite or S-VHS inputs, it will likely cost you as much as a TV.

But the standard 640x480 scan rate works for TV too, just that you need a transcoder to convert the TV signal to VGA, of course separate speakers are needed for audio. So you will probably not save much with an LCD monitor.

But as long as you are looking at a flat panel LCD TV, the 16x9 HD sets will fit your needs too because on TV2 of your 622 receiver you can select 16x9 screen format, and all HD channels will fill your screen perfectly only that the resolution is in SD not HD. All the SD channels will have bars on the two sides but you can still use zoom mode to fill the screen.

 

[Mike500]

These are probably the best two inexpensive LCD HDTV's in the business;

Newegg.com - Viewsonic DiamaniDuo NX1932w 19" 5ms LCD W/fully integrated HDTV/NTSC/QAM TV Tuner 300 nits (typ) 2400:1 DCR

Newegg.com - Viewsonic DiamaniDuo NX2232w 22" 5ms LCD W/fully integrated HDTV/NTSC/QAM TV Tuner 300 nits (typ) 2400:1 DCR

I've had the 22 inch for a month....I've even left a review.