You need a capable video card. The connection that you will use depends upon a few factors.
Do you have an HDMI input on your TV? Probably, as most all HDTV's now days have this.
Do you have an HDMI output on your video card? Probably not. You may want to look in to buying a video card with an HDMI port on it. Remember that an HDMI cable can start at $50 and run to $200. Yes, just for the cable!
Does your TV have an DVI input? Your video card probably has a DVI output on it. This would be the next recommended connection after an HDMI connection.
Basically, you just need to look at the back of your TV to see the available connections. Or study the manual that came with your TV, or look it up online.
Then study the back of your computer and look at where your connection for your current monitor is. There is most likely another connection along side of that one. Note that type of connection, or take a picture of it or something, and take it to the computer store to find out what kind of connection it is.
Basically, it all depends on the type of connections that you have on your TV and PC.
There is a good chance you can simply unplug the cable going in to your monitor, and just plug it in to your TV and it will work.
There is nothing special you need to do to make your TV work as a monitor. The resolution on your TV will ultimately depend on the connection type.
I have just done that with a new Sharp LCD TV. This has HDMI and VGA connectors. The PC has a pair of DVI-I sockets. First step was to buy a rather expensive DVI to HDMI cable, expecting that this would be the best option. I did not connect sound as that on the PC is better.
The picture via HDMI appeared to be fine for the PCs background photo (and OK for games?) but web pages and text were horrible. The TV is 1366 x 768 pixels but the ATI PC graphics refused to set other than 1280 x 720 and experiments showed that a photo of 1220 x 687 was around the real display area. There appeared to be ghosting around all characters but most of this could be removed by reducing a Picture setting for Sharpness to the minimum, but it was still not acceptable.
The TV has claimed compatibility with a PC (via the VGA connector) at various sizes including 1360 x 768 so I connected a VGA cable via a DVI-I/VGA converter plug, selected that setting on the PC and the displayed images and text are near perfect. The TV is now acceptable for armchair surfing. It would be better if it had picture in picture for this.
You need a DVI cable to connect the two together, this means needing a graphics card with a DVI Output. You can still use the standard VGA cable, but you cannot take advantage of HD
Comments
You need a capable video card. The connection that you will use depends upon a few factors.
Do you have an HDMI input on your TV? Probably, as most all HDTV's now days have this.
Do you have an HDMI output on your video card? Probably not. You may want to look in to buying a video card with an HDMI port on it. Remember that an HDMI cable can start at $50 and run to $200. Yes, just for the cable!
Does your TV have an DVI input? Your video card probably has a DVI output on it. This would be the next recommended connection after an HDMI connection.
Basically, you just need to look at the back of your TV to see the available connections. Or study the manual that came with your TV, or look it up online.
Then study the back of your computer and look at where your connection for your current monitor is. There is most likely another connection along side of that one. Note that type of connection, or take a picture of it or something, and take it to the computer store to find out what kind of connection it is.
Basically, it all depends on the type of connections that you have on your TV and PC.
There is a good chance you can simply unplug the cable going in to your monitor, and just plug it in to your TV and it will work.
There is nothing special you need to do to make your TV work as a monitor. The resolution on your TV will ultimately depend on the connection type.
Hope this helps.
I have just done that with a new Sharp LCD TV. This has HDMI and VGA connectors. The PC has a pair of DVI-I sockets. First step was to buy a rather expensive DVI to HDMI cable, expecting that this would be the best option. I did not connect sound as that on the PC is better.
The picture via HDMI appeared to be fine for the PCs background photo (and OK for games?) but web pages and text were horrible. The TV is 1366 x 768 pixels but the ATI PC graphics refused to set other than 1280 x 720 and experiments showed that a photo of 1220 x 687 was around the real display area. There appeared to be ghosting around all characters but most of this could be removed by reducing a Picture setting for Sharpness to the minimum, but it was still not acceptable.
The TV has claimed compatibility with a PC (via the VGA connector) at various sizes including 1360 x 768 so I connected a VGA cable via a DVI-I/VGA converter plug, selected that setting on the PC and the displayed images and text are near perfect. The TV is now acceptable for armchair surfing. It would be better if it had picture in picture for this.
You need a DVI cable to connect the two together, this means needing a graphics card with a DVI Output. You can still use the standard VGA cable, but you cannot take advantage of HD