MacBook + ??? + ??? = TV/2ndary Monitor

lordswing

So I'm a college student (cheaper is better) with an older MacBook (mini-DVI), and with Black Friday coming up, I was thinking it'd be nice to be on the look out for a monitor that I can watch TV/use as a secondary screen. There's a cable TV jack in the room.

How do I accomplish this for cheap?

Arivia

If you're looking for a tv that is actually usable as a monitor, get a small dorm HDTV with at least one hdmi or dvi input (you can buy a converter for dvi to hdmi that will plug into the end of your mini-dvi cable.)

lordswing

So something like this?

With the mini-DVI to DVI/DVI to HDMI combo?

I should mention the jack is coaxial for the cable.

Mike Danger

I did this with a 19" monitor I already owned, an EyeTV, and a Mini-DVI to DVI adapter.

Pheezer

Get any tv with an hdmi port on it, and the cable and adapter you need can be had on monoprice.com for about a quarter of what you'll find them listed at in best buy.

Arivia

lordswing wrote: »

So something like this?

With the mini-DVI to DVI/DVI to HDMI combo?

I should mention the jack is coaxial for the cable.

If that's what you're going for, just pick up one of these instead of chaining cables.

vonPoonBurGer

If this project requires a mini-DVI adapter, don't buy one directly from Apple, get the same thing from Monoprice for less than half as much. They even have a mini-DVI to HDMI adapter for a whopping $6.31, and their HDMI cables are also excellently priced. You could probably connect your MacBook to an LCD HDTV for under $15, taxes and shipping in (cost of TV not included, obviously).

From MacBook mini-DVI port to HDMI adapter to HDMI cable to TV. The MacBook should pick up the TV as a second display, and from there you can configure the resolution of the second display to match the native resolution of the LCD TV (1366x768@60Hz for that Sceptre unit linked earlier). Or, if you have OS X 10.6, you can just set it to 720p and let the display treat it as a TV signal.

The EyeTV is pretty neat, but I don't think OP would need one of those. I'm guessing he'll feed the coax directly into the cable jack on the TV and use that display for his TV watching.

Edit: How the hell did I not see Pheezer's post. Oh well, beat'd by like, a whole day.

lordswing

More questions on top of the ones already answered (thanks!)

Am I going to be limited by my MacBook at all? I won't be gaming on the big screen, just the usual movies/word processing, etc.

This + This or This will work right? I have a set of speakers I can hook up to the tv as well.

vonPoonBurGer

If you're feeding movies or other media with an audio track from the MacBook to the TV, the audio part could be an issue. HDMI is capable of carrying audio, but the mini-DVI port on your MacBook is video only. It looks like the Auria model you linked would be able to handle this no problem though. If you look at the user guide for that model, on page 11 it shows how to connect a PC to the TV using a DVI to HDMI cable. That's basically what you'd be doing except you've got mini-DVI at the computer end, so exactly the same signal just a different size plug on the computer side. You'd just need a 3.5mm to RCA cable to go from the MacBook's headphone jack to red & white left-right audio inputs on the TV.