Turning an old PC monitor into a TV - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: amateurmac
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 23, 2023, 05:45:37 am
content: Hello all,I am doing a small truck camper build in my free time and have had this stupid idea to mount a tv in the camper. I feel that I need to explain a bit of this build so you all understand what I'm going for, however this being said I'm no expert on anything about this, just a guy with too much free time to build lol. So, this is a camper in the back of a small truck, meaning the "inside" of the camper is only roughly 6'x4'x3'. It runs off solar, with a deep cycle 12v battery at 100ah, so I don't have a lot of space or electricity to go with here. I decided to mount a computer monitor to the ceiling where it will fold up flush, and can use a fire stick to stream. However, this is only useful if I have access to Wi-Fi or good service, which isn't likely on some camping trips. So, I'd like to be able to see local tv channels on this.This (clearly)raises a few issues. I assume that I need an antenna to pick up the channels, something to convert the signal, and then a remote to control it all. I have no idea what all this entails, hopefully someone can help me figure out what I would need to make the signal readable on an older monitor. The monitor itself only has two ports, one for a power source and one VGA port. I have a VGA to HDMI adapter that I'm using for the fire stick, would I be able to just plug in an HDMI antenna to this and get video? Or is my assumption about needing to convert the signal correct? As for the remote, I would imagine that I could control the monitor with a mouse, or get connection the same way. As for power, I do have a power inverter so I can tap into AC or DC, although I imagine this would be all DC. I don't think an antenna would require much, but if there is some sort of signal converter would this be a significant draw of power?At the end of the day this is just a build for fun that I'm trying to make as nice as I can while not spending a ton of money(hence going the $5 thrifted computer monitor route hahah) so if this sounds like it would be more complicated than it's worth, that's fine, I'll just turn my focus to other aspects of this overall project. Just an idea I'm having, and figured I'd reach out to a more knowledgable community.

author: Bicurico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2023, 07:42:15 am
content: There are special TV's for campers with all necessary tuners built-in and 12V power inlet. They can be bought second hand for ridiculous low price.What you want to do will be a mess: you struggle with PSU's, converters, wrong resolution and aspect ratio, external tuners. A lot of cables and devices.It just doesn't make sense.At least get a computer monitor with HDMI input and then use a Raspberry Pi with DVB-T receiver. That will still be a bad option.

author: inse
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2023, 07:54:07 am
content: Absolutely agreed, Bicurico.But I didn’t want to be the first one to disencourage him

author: wasedadoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2023, 09:32:28 am
content: Quote from: Bicurico on April 23, 2023, 07:42:15 amNo DVB-T in the USA. Something similar but sufficiently different that a DVB-T tuner will be useless.

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2023, 02:57:46 am
content: You need a tuner not just an antenna.

author: Jwillis
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2023, 05:28:42 am
content: You need an ATSC Digital Converter box. They're fairly cheap at under $50 US.