This is a question from someone obviously very new to HT! My question is what equipment do you need to get the signal to the "monitor?" A VCR? Thanks for holding down the laughter! Michael Harley
If what you are asking about is an HD signal, then an high definition receiver is required. There are receivers for either DSS or over the air for your local channels. VCR, DVD, cable, sat., and other signals will also give you a picture (although not hi-def). If you have a progressive scan DVD player then you can output that to the monitor (wideband inputs) and get a better picture. PS Few TV's out there are true HDTV. They have a built in HD tuner. Bill
The "monitor" is your television. If your television is HD-ready, you can see the HD signal. But, first, you have to send the signal through a HD decoder (or reciever). Some large cities have HD signals through Time Warner Cable, but 99% do not get HD over cable. Satellite providers are the main source of HD. If you live in a market that has a studio affiliate, you can also get their HD signal over the air, free of charge. It will come in through your normal antenna. To see which channels you can get, go to www.titantv.com and it will tell you what is available in your area. Bruce
Back in the old days, they referred to the studio TV sets without channel selectors as "television monitors" since they allowed station staff and actors to monitor what was going out over the air. As opposed to the "television receiver" which has all the necessary electronics and sometimes even a built in antenna so you can buy it, take it out of the box, plug it in, and watch TV broadcasts with nothing else needed. Since practically all HDTV sets these days don't have HDTV channel selectors, they are "monitors" from the point of view of HDTV. The typical HDTV tuner sold separately is what folks on this forum refer to as an HDTV set top box, at one time UHF was tuned in using such set top boxes. When you use your VCR to tune in a station to watch as channel 3 or 4 (or via the video in jack) on your TV, the TV is acting as a monitor. Even your computer monitor does nothing useful unless you have a video source such as a computer to feed it. You can even watch TV and movies on your computer monitor with equipment such as: (a) a TV tuner card, and/or DVD drive with appropriate software or MPEG card in your PC, (b) an NTSC to VGA converter such as a Viewsonic? VB50, an Aims Lab Instant TV, or a DVDO iScan together with your DVD player or VCR, (c) an HDTV set top box that has VGA as one of the video output choices. Video hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm
