When Hooking Your Pc To Your Lcd Tv…?
February 23, 2010 by Rich
Filed under Frequently Asked Questions
is it better to find a tv that has a TV input on the back of it….
or is it ok to use a converter cable that goes from a regular pc connection down to a HDMI connection and then plug that into your LCD?
I dont want to lose any quality or speed or anything since I will be using a 42 inch LCD to play PC video games on.
Just get the pc input in the back of your lcd but if your pc has hdmi than get the a a tv with hdmi, its always better with hdmi.
Well, here’s the deal. If your pc has a DVI connection for the monitor (it looks like a rectangle with pins arranged in a grid with straight rows and straight columns, not straight rows and offset columns), it really doesn’t matter which of the two techniques you use. You can use a DVI to HDMI adaptor/cable to do the job or you can use the DVI port on the tv (if it has one). Since both DVI and HDMI are digital you wont get quality loss either way and so this should not influence your decision on buying a tv. However, the DVI connection does not carry audio so you need to wire that in separately with a coaxial audio cable, toslink/opticial audio cable, RCA cables, or 3.5mm audio jack (whichever your tv uses for the DVI input). The HDMI may carry audio or it may not in a pc. Check the manual or ask the manufacturer about that.
However, if the pc uses a VGA connection (trapezoid shape with 15 pins, straight rows, offset columns) then you want a tv that offers this connection on the back. The reason is that VGA is analog and HDMI is digital so to make that sort of connection you need an expensive analog-digital converter of some sort and that will result in some quality loss too.