Quick Q - Why cant I hook up my Time Warner box straight to a monitor?"

[teambarnes]

I have little money and an extra 20" widescreen Viewsonic and the wifey wants TV in the bedroom so WHY cant I just get a second box from cable and hook it into the monitor? What is preventing this from a technological viewpoint? I dont need a tuner if the cable box is the tuner right?

I just dont want to spend $300+ on a flat panel TV when I have a flat panel monito that should work...

(Edited sp)

 

[BassBomb]

... its all about the inputs.

If your viewsonic does NOT have the right inputs to work with a cable box then it will NOT work.

My monitor has coax, rca, component along with VGA/DVI so I can hook up most things to it. If you have the means to do so with your monitor then whos to say you can't.

 

[daction]

I run my Samsung 216bw as my main PC monitor and it also works with my Comcast HD cable box through DVI. Tried this on my Soyo 24 and it would not work due to the Soyo not supporting an HDCP signal. So like the previous poster said you have to have the right inputs first and your monitor needs to support HDCP for HD broadcasts. If you don't plan on running HD, I think any non HDCP monitor should work fine for that given the monitor has the right inputs.

 

[teambarnes]

Hmm, the only inputs on it are the one that monitors have always had and then the one with two banks of inputs and a line, i think that is DVI? Havent crawled back to see what the box has. Maybe I should look into this, I thoughtt it was common knowledge that it couldnt be done without a tuner thru a PC.

 

[teambarnes]

Are there DVI to 'S' converters? Or Or some other kind of cable converter that could work? What about sound? I guess a speaker system could hook up to the cable box. The only outputs I know the box has are the red/white/yellow and the one thats similar, HD? That is like green/red/blue or whatever...

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: teambarnes
Are there DVI to 'S' converters? Or Or some other kind of cable converter that could work? What about sound? I guess a speaker system could hook up to the cable box. The only outputs I know the box has are the red/white/yellow and the one thats similar, HD? That is like green/red/blue or whatever...

You can try this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010...tag-sg-20&linkCode=asn

but I doubt it's work.

I think you'll need a specific converter for it.
like so:
http://www.techonweb.com/produ....aspx?id=B25648&src=NT

Though I'd make sure your monitor has the regular VGA connector.

 

[BassBomb]

I didn't mention HDTV because the user didn't mention it at all. So yes HDCP would be a requirement if you are running HDTV

Beware of some converters like DVI->Component because they may not always work backwards. DVI D is what your monitor is likely recieving whereas DVI-I is what you would get if using the mentioned cable backwards.

 

[teambarnes]

Thanks, I like that converter box, I have heard of them before for gaming systems, never made the connection! I will look around and hopefully find a cheaper price!

 

[Seggybop]

I hooked up an Asus LCD directly to a Time Warner cable box. The main requirements that you need are a cable box with DVI out and an HDCP compliant monitor. If your cable box lacks DVI, you should be able to take it to the local Time Warner office and exchange it for free. Other than that, everything should be ok-- though I did have one small problem. The cable box was trying to output 1080p by default and the LCD was 1680x1050 max, so no picture. I hooked it up to a normal TV and set it to 720p, and then everything was good.

 

[teambarnes]

OK, I confirmed that the back of the monitor has only VGA and DVI ports (also audio in? why not out?) My TW box has the normal TV stuff, HDMI and 'S' video as an option. So are there any cables that go say from HDMI to DVI? And if so, what will I do about sound? I think my monitor actually has spaeker(s) on it, so maybe I would get sound from them...

(Im going to the TW store tomorrow to pick up the second box, and therefore add another $10 or so to the monthly bill, so I hope this works out! I wonder, I need a DVR, and I assume digital, and HDTV. Or is HDTV a necessity, would a non HD box still work, becuz honestly, those boxes dont have enough hard drive space to record a quantity of HD programming.)

I am very hopeful that this works! My motto is "digitize 4 life" and my wife and kids will be so impressed if I rig this up. Its such a nice monitor, will make an excellent TV. Not as good as this 22" Acer Im staring at now lol!

 

[lopri]

Yes. There are HDMI-DVI cables as well as adapters. Or you can find VGA-Component cables/adapters as well.

 

[Seggybop]

When you get the new box ask them for one with DVI so you can possibly avoid having to buy a HDMI -> DVI converter. You should get the HDTV type cable box for sure since it doesn't cost you any more and your screen will be able to support at least 720p resolution. You only get HD programming on a small range of channels, so don't worry about running out of recording space unless you try recording the HD programming exclusively.

 

[teambarnes]

Ok, I was gonna post an update this morning in case any one else wanted to chime in with their advice, but here's how it stands so far:

TW store was closed on Sunday lol, and I didnt want to unplug my main living room entertainment cetner, but I have discovered the following: TW Box has HDMI output (and all the standard TV stuff) Viewsonic monito has DVI output, so I went to Wallyworld and dropped $30 on a HDMI-DVI cable, and Im going to pick up a second box tonite and test it out.

I wonder, will audio travel thru the DVI-HDMI cable? If not, how am i gonna get some sound out of this? My monitor has speakers (apparently) but I dont know how good they are, but it also has a green audio in jack.

Also, the HDMI-DVI cable didnt mention which converts to which, so does it matter? I mean could convert either way, from DVI to HDMI, or vice versa? ANd finally, between the two outputs, which is preferred?

(Incidentally, if they have a DVI box at the TW store, I will get that and return the $30 cable)

 

[s44]

The picture will be stretched, unless you have one of the few monitors that letterboxes 16:9 to 16:10.

 

[Tenet]

Originally posted by: teambarnes
Ok, I was gonna post an update this morning in case any one else wanted to chime in with their advice, but here's how it stands so far:

TW store was closed on Sunday lol, and I didnt want to unplug my main living room entertainment cetner, but I have discovered the following: TW Box has HDMI output (and all the standard TV stuff) Viewsonic monito has DVI output, so I went to Wallyworld and dropped $30 on a HDMI-DVI cable, and Im going to pick up a second box tonite and test it out.

I wonder, will audio travel thru the DVI-HDMI cable? If not, how am i gonna get some sound out of this? My monitor has speakers (apparently) but I dont know how good they are, but it also has a green audio in jack.

Also, the HDMI-DVI cable didnt mention which converts to which, so does it matter? I mean could convert either way, from DVI to HDMI, or vice versa? ANd finally, between the two outputs, which is preferred?

(Incidentally, if they have a DVI box at the TW store, I will get that and return the $30 cable)

No, you can't get audio through the DVI connection. You can get an adapter cable to run from the red & white audio jacks to the green audio input on the monitor, but I can almost guarantee the sound of the monitor speakers won't be adequate. But you can use computer speakers instead.

The DVI - HDMI conversion doesn't have a specific direction. Its just a matter of the connector. HDMI is typically preferred for TV usage for the convenience of carrying audio and video in one cable - and its a less bulky cable, too.
There is no superiority in image quality.

 

[teambarnes]

ok so I have a cable box, An HDMI-DVI cable, and I set the output to 720p, but the monitor is picking up no signal. nada, Im stumped. Called TW and am waiting for a specialist to get back to me, but i dont know where to turn from here...

 

[BassBomb]

What output options do you have for the box? Try them all

Also, What monitor is it? actual model

 

[Twsmit]

You should use the DVI --> HDMI that you just bought and combine that with a RCA --> mini headphone jack cable 1/8" and either connect that directly to the monitor's audio input, or into the speaker input.

I have a similar setup with my HDTV, DVI --> HDMI and because my TV has a "PC computer" mode I have to use an RCA adapter --> mini 1/8" jack to get audio.

 

[Tempered81]

I run a 75ft Dvi and a 75ft 1/8" minijack from my pc to the stereo and Hdtv in the living room. I use nvidia dual-view or clone to duplicate my desktop and have a wireless mouse & keyboard in the living room.. I select the tv to PC input and the Surround sound to auxillary input. I use it for watching divx's and playing video games in the living room. I dont thing the sound is true 5.1, its like "extended power" range with reproduced surround. Would have liked to run optical out of the mobo straight to optical in on the receiver, but i didnt do it this way. Run the vga at 1366x768. Looks really sharp on xvids. I use FFDshow feb08 filters to run a decompression and postprocessing on the video. It looks & sounds marvelous for a 700mb file.

 

[teambarnes]

well out of frustration i went and bought a 15" tv lol. I dont know what to think. I have a Scientific American 8300 HDC cable box (HD DVR); 20" Viewsonic VX2035WM. I will take this 15" TV back in a New York minute if some one can help me figure out how to get a signal. I had the tv hooked up to the box and switched it between 480i 720p 1080i and unplugged the TV and plugged the monitor between each test, but still no-go.

(This has been a frustrating day, installin XP on one old machine, Win ME on another (CD Boot capability WTF??!?!) and the TV issue, Im worn out! Sometimes I think I picked the wrong hobby lol.)

 

[Tenet]

Sorry you're having a frustrating day. Deep down you enjoy the challenge though, right

Its not looking good at this point because at the bottom of p.12 of your cable box user guide
(found at this link: Connecting the Explorer 8300HDC Digital Video Recorder)
it says the following:
"Digital Content is encrypted with High-Bandwidth Content Protection (HDCP) on the DVI/HDMI port. The HDC DVR is not compatible with devices that do not support HDCP. You must use the YPrPB or 1394 connection to connect the DVR to these devices."

And the Viewsonic VX2035vm User Guide for your monitor does not show HDCP support.

 

[Tenet]

BTW, credit should go to Seggybop for mentioning the HDCP requirement several days ago!

 

[teambarnes]

Wow thanx Tenet, you really did your (my) research for me lol. Seriously thanx, that lays out exactly why it didnt work. Hmm, maybe if I used the Viewsonic for the main PC and my Acer 22 for the dvr box...

Well, for now I will use the small TV I bought, or I will take it back and get the most affordable LCD TV. Its for wifey so I have a duty to splurge on the finest electronics

 

[BassBomb]

You know what I am guessing here, since your DVR is HD it might require HDCP which that monitor does NOT have.

EDIT, I was late to the game there.. haha I did not see the second page >_>