computer help?
Is anyone on here good enough with computers to answer some questions about HD displays, options for data cables, and video cards?
So I got an HD monitor off Dell's refurb site. It's big. Really big. I intend to use it both as monitor and TV screen once I move out. I fiddled with it and it's looking pretty good right now, BUT my graphics card doesn't have DVI or HDMI capability. So I'm running an HD monitor with a VGA card and cable, which I'm thinking isn't exactly maximizing my experience. I read up a bit, but I'm not up to speed with all the new tech specs crap, other than that HDMI tends to be used for TVs and DVI tends to be used for computers.
What I want to do with this monitor:
Computer stuff (no gaming, but photo-editing and some other graphic-y stuff)
Watch DVDs
Watch streaming movies
Watch TV
What do I need to do what I want to do with the best video quality?
A new graphics card with DVI input
A new graphics with HDMI input
A new graphics card with both DVI and HDMI input
A VGA to HDMI or DVI converter
Something else?
What do I need to watch TV on my monitor?
A TV tuner card (regular or HD?)
External TV tuner (like a cable box that hooks into the monitor? I know they exist but I don't know what they're called)
Something else?
If I pay for cable internet and have a TV tuner card (for example), do I have to pay separately for cable TV or is everything coming through my internet service?
Do I need a whole new computer to be able to run this stuff? (please say no!)
2.4 GHz Athlon dual core, 4 GB RAM, 100 or so GB hard drive
So I got an HD monitor off Dell's refurb site. It's big. Really big. I intend to use it both as monitor and TV screen once I move out. I fiddled with it and it's looking pretty good right now, BUT my graphics card doesn't have DVI or HDMI capability. So I'm running an HD monitor with a VGA card and cable, which I'm thinking isn't exactly maximizing my experience. I read up a bit, but I'm not up to speed with all the new tech specs crap, other than that HDMI tends to be used for TVs and DVI tends to be used for computers.
What I want to do with this monitor:
Computer stuff (no gaming, but photo-editing and some other graphic-y stuff)
Watch DVDs
Watch streaming movies
Watch TV
What do I need to do what I want to do with the best video quality?
A new graphics card with DVI input
A new graphics with HDMI input
A new graphics card with both DVI and HDMI input
A VGA to HDMI or DVI converter
Something else?
What do I need to watch TV on my monitor?
A TV tuner card (regular or HD?)
External TV tuner (like a cable box that hooks into the monitor? I know they exist but I don't know what they're called)
Something else?
If I pay for cable internet and have a TV tuner card (for example), do I have to pay separately for cable TV or is everything coming through my internet service?
Do I need a whole new computer to be able to run this stuff? (please say no!)
2.4 GHz Athlon dual core, 4 GB RAM, 100 or so GB hard drive