TV as a monitor
 

Are TV's any good as a computer monitor? The price for a 22" TV (1650 * 1050) seems to be on par with that of a monitor these days.

One of my criteria was to have speakers in the monitor as my desk is much too messy to have seperate ones and all the monitor ones are rubbish whereas the TV ones are okay.

Thanks for any help,

Steve

It all depends whether it has a VGA port. My 40" Sony cost a fortune three years ago and it doesnt have a VGA port (cheaper models did and I think that they all do now): so it was a massive PITA setting it up with an HTPC. If it had a VGA port then itd have been a POP...

For high resolutions you really need a HDMI port on the TV and a DVI/HDMI ouput on the PC.
You may have problems with sound sync if you are not able to pass audio through the DVI/HDMI port on the PC's graphics card.

You may find that the TV will irritate your eyes up close.

Dont you just love forums?

My laptop has DVI out, so I connect a DVI to HDMI cable and watch HD movies on the TV if I wish, but you still need a audio out line as DVI does not take sound.

Better just to get a Slingbox though.

DVI can pass sound through to HDMI, but you need a compatible graphics card, sound card and an internal bridge cable.
Done it myself on a few systems How to Use The SPDIF Connector Available on GeForce Video Cards | Hardware Secrets
It's real pain to get the cable though, I ended up chopping up a WOL (wake on lan) cable.