TV instead of a monitor - fiction or reality?

Many people are familiar with the situation, when what seemed to be a real fantasy yesterday is today's everyday reality. Now, shops selling computer equipment in a huge number offer LCD monitors for every taste and purse - with simple TN matrices; More advanced MV; Popular IPS, etc. The selection of a budget model monitor is possible even for
A person with an average financial income. But about 20 years ago everything was completely different - computer owners often had to look for a way to use the TV instead of a monitor. After all, the price of VGA monitors was "sky-high", and the quality of the picture displayed on the popular CGA left much to be desired. However, the solution was - it was only required to connect the TV in place of the monitor. To do this, you could ask a familiar electronics engineer to compile a simple circuit that mixes the RGB signals into a single one, with which the logic of the TV could work. Also, the circuit had to reduce the frequency of the vertical scanning to the standard 50 Hz (using the resident programs). Another possibility is to purchase a video card with the TV-Out output. It was enough just to connect the card's connector and video input of the TV. True, such video adapters were rare and cost a lot.

Currently, there are many relatively inexpensive models of video cards on which
An additional Tv-out connector is installed, allowing you to use the TV in place of the monitor. A special chip (similar to the one that the craftsmen used to display the VGA image on CGA monitors) generates an analog signal, "understood" by the TV.

To connect a TV instead of a monitor, you will need:

- cable of the required type;

- A video card with the appropriate output and a driver that supports the work with Television output.

The design of the connectors on the video cards may differ, so before you go for the cable, you need to inspect the type of connector.

One of the most common is RCA, better known as the "tulip". This input is on each TV, and the cable is easy to find. To drawbacks, perhaps, it is worth attributing not too high-quality image.

The next kind of connector is a round four-pin. It is called SVHS. The quality of the picture is much higher than the previous one, because the signal is not mixed, but is transmitted separately: the chroma with brightness and a separate "earth" for each. By the way, if there is no such connector on the TV, then you can buy an adapter.

Now the seven-pin connector is no less common. Composite signals are added in it, and the last, the seventh, is reserved.

The connection must be made when the computer is turned off. After that, in the video card driver, you need to activate the detection of TV, restart the computer and activate the desired mode. In this case, you may need to switch the source on the TV itself (if there are several inputs, you need to specify the desired signal source from the console).

Sometimes there is a need to make a TV from the monitor. Now there are several ways to solve this problem:

- purchase an external tuner. This is a neat device with a remote control, to which the monitor and antenna are connected;

- refer to the craftsmen who can integrate the tuner circuit in the monitor.