Can portable TV be used as a monitor?

knitnut

We have a few portable tvs (from the kids bedroom) around the house. With the switch over to digital coming I know these will no longer be of any use (not connected to outside aerial). Can these be used as a monitor for my desktop computer? I know I would have to get a new cable - VGA/SVGA 15 PIN to scart (TV is scart) or something like that. I have looked and can get these on ebay. Is it possible to be used in this way? I hate to just throw them out. Or am I talking rubbish? I'm not very well up on modern technology. Advice greatly appreciated please and thanks

Parva

I'm assuming you're talking about the old 15" CRT portables here given that they seem to only have a scart and aerial socket? It is possible but the resolution would be terrible as even the old CRT PC monitors had a much higher resolution than your average CRT TV. Reading emails and text will be very hard indeed. Forget it I say.

paddyrg

Some computers actually have composite video outputs, but they only come to life at 800x600 resolution (quite specifically). You can get bodge boxes from Maplins which will also turn a regular monitor output into a TV/SVideo/Composite signal. Means you can watch vids and DVDs on a telly instead of a monitor

Frankly probably more hassle than it is worth, as you get the video but not the audio, you need to use your PC speakers for that anyway

googler

knitnut wrote: »

We have a few portable tvs (from the kids bedroom) around the house. With the switch over to digital coming I know these will no longer be of any use (not connected to outside aerial). Can these be used as a monitor for my desktop computer?

You need more than a 'cable' - you need a converter box to convert VGA to video for the TV - £25 or so from Maplin.
You can install aerials and Freeview boxes for them
You can play games consoles on them
You can play DVDs on them

If they're not connected to outside aerials, what are they used for at the moment.....?

knitnut

googler wrote: »

You need more than a 'cable' - you need a converter box to convert VGA to video for the TV - £25 or so from Maplin.
You can install aerials and Freeview boxes for them
You can play games consoles on them
You can play DVDs on them

If they're not connected to outside aerials, what are they used for at the moment.....?

Thanks everyone for your advice. At the moment the boys can watch tv, they use a wee round aerial plugged at the backand they use it for the xbox/games. The main reason I was asking is because at the moment I and using a wee tv (thin one, digital, freeview included + DVD player) I got about a year ago. I use it as a monitor for PC as my monitor died about 6 months ago. I was thinking I could use one of the older portables as a monitor and then use the 'newer' digital one as a TV again.