Polaroid 19" Widescreen LCD HDTV

[seeker]

The only thing that I know about HDTV or for that matter, is what I have found Googling lately, and that leaves more questions than I have found answers to.

Since I'm on a limited budget, I'm looking at this one:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5645638

I want to use it both as a second PC monitor and as a TV. What else do I need to make this work? I will only be receiving broadcast TV, so I guess that I need a special antenna for that, but I have noticed that some HDTVs only says that they needs a UHF antenna, and some said they need a VHF/UHF antenna. Will my regular old antenna work or not? It only has 1 HDMI input, so how do I connect both the PC and the DVD player?

[Q]

If you have a good antenna already, I would just stick with that. Some people have it work great, others need to go out and buy an "HDTV" specific antenna. I would try the one you have for the time being. I think it will work.

Originally Posted by Walmart

HDMI, component video, S-video, audio and computer connections

For your computer I would use "computer connections". That's likely VGA or DVI, but it doesn't specify. You might have to buy a cable if one is not included. (I don't think they will include it) You need to find out whether its VGA or DVI first, though.

For your DVD player, I would use the HDMI, Component, or S-Video input (in that order). The DVD manufacturer probably included one of these cables with your player. If they just gave you Composite (old school RCA), you might need an S-Video converter or just purchase a new compatible cable.

Let us know if you need any other information.

[seeker]

It would be nice if my current antenna would work, so I will do as you suggest. As far as the PC connections are concerned, I have both VGA and DVI outputs on the video card, but if I understand correctly, there is neither of these on the TV, so I assume that the cable would have to convert DVI to HDMI. Currently, the DVD player is connected to my analog TV via coax to the antenna input on the TV. Would that work on a HDTV? If not, then both the computer and the player would have to connect to the same HDMI imput...wouldn't it?

EDIT: OOPS! I missed your quote. I will have to recheck the Walmart site...I missed that somehow.

[Q]

Originally Posted by seeker

It would be nice if my current antenna would work, so I will do as you suggest. As far as the PC connections are concerned, I have both VGA and DVI outputs on the video card, but if I understand correctly, there is neither of these on the TV, so I assume that the cable would have to convert DVI to HDMI. Currently, the DVD player is connected to my analog TV via coax to the antenna input on the TV. Would that work on a HDTV? If not, then both the computer and the player would have to connect to the same HDMI imput...wouldn't it?

EDIT: OOPS! I missed your quote. I will have to recheck the Walmart site...I missed that somehow.

Yeah, the "computer connections" should be VGA or DVI, but they don't specify. You might just need a cable and you'd be set.

With the DVD player, you might be SOL. The "Built-in ATSC digital / NTSC analog tuner" that the website mentions would be your conventional COAX input. If your DVD player has antenna in, you might be able to run the antenna to the DVD, then the DVD to the HDTV all through COAX.

Might not look that great, but it should work.

[seeker]

I poked around the webpage and found some pictures of the rear connections, and it will definitely have to connect to the PC via VGA. unless there is a cable with DVI on one end, and HDMI on the other. I understand that DVI would be better, but I guess that will be okay.

However, I started looking at the Sanyo that they offer:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...em+Description

It's only a few dollar more, and though the basic connections are the same, it seems to have some extra features.

I'm not too concerned about the looks of the connections, because the way that i have things laid out, the cables will be covered by other things.

Right now, I have the antenna coax going first to a splitter and then to the DVD player and the PC's TV tuner. The TV itself gets both broadcast and DVD signal through the antenna connector. The only thing that connects via the other inputs is the PC video, TV tuner and sound to the PC speakers. I think that I could connect the DVD player via composite connections, but I not too sure yet, I will have to tinker with it some, but I feel pretty sure that I can make all of it work, except the TV tuner, because it is only a PVR150 and it's not compatible with HDTV. I will buy another tuner later.

[seeker]

I've been postphoning a decision because I have not found a store where they are able to connect to an antenna, instead of cable, so that I can see how the reception is compared to my analog TV and antenna. I want to be sure that I can still receive analog stations as well as I can now. Also, I've been wondering how well that a HDTV would do compared to a LCD monitor for displaying the desktop. Especially for displaying text? Can anyone enlighten on these things?