Computer for TV, Video, Music, etc.

TJ27

I'm looking for a computer for my wife. Her sight isn't all that good, so I'm thinking of getting a reasonable size screen, but I could do with a bit of help regarding the base unit.

She will use it for TV, video, music, and photos, as well as internet and e-mail. So, she would want a digital TV receiver and would like the sound to come from our existing room speakers, perhaps via our existing amp. Does the monitor need to be anything special to watch TV on it? Could I just plug the TV receiver into the back of most PCs? Not many seem to come with one fitted.

I'm not especially techie, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

guitaristanime

Hi TJ27,With regards to the TV aspect are you looking for freeview, Sky or Virgin? (Not so sure you can do virgin on it)With all ready made PCs as far as I know the best place to go is Dell, although not liked by some (such as myself) they will do you a good deal on a custom PCs. With regards to the sound coming through the amp, it all depends on what inputs you have available on the amp, you would then get a soundcard (or use the onboard sound) outputs to match. An example is that my PC has a optical out (for dolby) and also 7.1 RCA outputs, so there are quite a few choices there.The monitor would not need to be anything special at all to watch TV on it, though you will benefit greatly from getting a monitor and graphics adapter that is DVI capable. DVI is a type of cable that enables digital quality picture and more reasonable resolutions, the other choice of cable is VGA which has been used on old CRT monitors and carried across to new TFT monitors but carries an analogue signal.I hope this helps and I would be happy to answer any further questions you may have.

lilibeth

For receiving tv either digital or analogue she will either need a usb device or card that is slotted into a compatible motherboard slot.
The sound to the amp would come from the the audio output on the tv card (or usb device (depending on the device)).

I would strongly suggest going for an internal tuner not a usb stick unless it is to be used very infrequently.
I have a one which is sometimes used with a laptop when I'm on the go.
But for my desktop I use an internal tv tuner The usb ones are prone to overheating and the quality is not as good as from an an internal tuner.

Here is a link to novatechs tv tuner (for PC's page that shows you a few examples of each type.
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/products/a791x1y0z1p0s0n0m0

All PC's sold today as new should be able to support a tv card no problem.
They are simple to fit, the only thing to be aware of is making sure it is 'slot compatible'
So don't try and put an agp card in a pci express slot. Just check before you buy.

As to the monitor no any new monitor should be fine

TJ27

Great, thanks. I think I was getting too hung up on finding a PC with a TV card already fitted (It's freeview I'm looking for really). If they're easy to fit to most computers, and any new monitor is OK, I think I can chose something that'll be suitable.

Ta.