114 PCWorld MARCH 2020HERE’S HOW USE YOUR TV AS A PC MONITOR
32-inch HDTVs aren’t flying off the shelves to
be used as budget-friendly jumbo screens.
You definitely can use an HDTV as your
PC’s display, though. Here’s everything you
need to know about how to set up a TV as a
computer monitor—and why you might
not want to.WILL IT EVEN WORK?
The short answer: Yes. You may
need a special cable, depending
on your PC’s outputs and your
HDTV’s inputs, and you’ll need to check a
couple of settings, but you shouldn’t have
too much trouble hooking most modern
PCs up to most modern HDTVs.
Modern HDTVs have HDMI outputs.
Some older HDTVs have DVI inputs, and
some even have VGA inputs specifically
designated for “PC use.” If your graphics
card has an HDMI output, you’re good to
go: Just use an HDMI cable to connect your
PC to your HDMI.
If you’re using an older graphics card or
motherboard that only has a DVI output, you
can snag a cheap DVI-to-HDMI cable and
plug it into your HDTV’s HDMI output.
Amazon sells a six foot AmazonBasics
version for just $7 (go.pcworld.com/amb7).
Although some older HDTVs and some
older computers only have VGA inputs/
outputs, they aren’t an ideal choice. VGA’s
an analog signal that will give you a far
fuzzier, lower-resolution image than you’llHDMI connectors are ubiquitous, and even
Amazon brands its own.get with an HDMI or DVI cord.
If you want to use your HDTV as a second
or third monitor, you may need to use a
different port, such as your graphics card’s
DisplayPort output. In this case, you’ll need
to use a different cable (DisplayPort-to-
HDMI). The main advantage to using the
DisplayPort output instead of DVI or VGA is
that HDMI and DisplayPort carry both video
and audio signals. A DVI-to-HDMI cable can
transmit both video and audio if your
graphics card supports HDMI audio via
DVI—unlikely if it doesn’t have any HDMI
ports—while VGA only transmits video. If you
use DVI or VGA, you will most likely need to
connect your PC’s audio up to the HDTV
separately, or use external speakers or a
headset.
Bottom line? Try to stick to HDMI or