reuse old tv lcd screen pricelist

It can seem like a pain to figure out how best to recycle or dispose of electronics properly, but it"s worth it. While you might go through many TVs in your lifetime, we"ve only got one planet, after all.

Whether you"ve recently replaced your old LED TV with a fancy new OLED or QLED TV or have a boxy CRT TV gathering dust in your basement or garage, there are much better ways to pass on these complex devices that have brought you hours of comfort and joy than dumping them unceremoniously on the sidewalk. Here are some options to consider before (or, hopefully, entirely in lieu of) simply throwing your old TV in the trash or on the curb.

I used to rescue CRTs (tube TVs) from sidewalks all the time, and I"ve never once brought one home and found that it didn"t work. It"s a little baffling that someone would take a perfectly functional TV and just toss it out, but it happens all the time.

If you"ve got old TVs sitting around that still work—be them flat-screen or CRT—consider donating them instead. Try calling up your local Goodwill, Salvation Army, or even a school or public library, and see if they"re in need of a TV. We"ve donated all manner of TVs to the Goodwill around the corner from our office, so we"re here to tell you that it can be easily done. Try Googling "donate electronics."

You might also consider calling your local hobby shop or video game store—some older games are still played exclusively on CRTs, and the gamers are always looking for working sets. Or for that matter, if you"ve got a penchant for older games, you could always find a new life for your TV as your retro-gaming hub and keep it yourself.

If you"re looking to get rid of some stuff anyway, why not have a good ol" fashioned yard or garage sale? If you"ve still got a functional TV—especially a newer LED TV as opposed to a CRT—there"s a good chance someone will want it, and you can make a few bucks, too.

The only caveat here is you might need to prove that the TV still works. You can just plug the TV into an extension cord outside, if need be. Unless it"s raining or snowing, most TVs are fine to operate outside for a few hours. You"ll also want to try to track down the remote control and pop some working batteries into it—you"re much more likely to sell the TV this way.

If you don"t have enough stuff to get rid of for a full yard or garage sale, you can always try selling the TV somewhere like eBay, though making a profile and dealing with shipping puts a lot of folks off of this method.

If you"ve already got a Facebook account, Facebook Marketplace is a great way to keep things simple and local: Just snap a picture of your old TV, suggest a reasonable price point (even if that"s $0), and brace yourself for eager strangers.

If you can"t pay your old TV forward (or it"s absolutely toast), recycling it is the next best thing. Most states and districts have e-waste services that will allow you to recycle your old TV, and finding them is pretty easy.

If you"ve got a local Best Buy or Walmart, many of those retailers also offer a haul-away service, though you may have to pay a disposal fee. Best Buy in particular accepts CRTs under 32 inches and flatscreen LED TVs under 50 inches—for a $30 fee. But that"s a small price to pay for a clear conscience.

Best Buy also offers a haul-away service when you replace your old TV with a new one. The haul-away fee is only $29.99, which is great, assuming you need to buy a new TV. It"s a lot pricier to get your TV picked up when you aren"t replacing it, but it can be done.

LCD TV panel prices, which peaked in summer 2021, fell through the second half of the year and are continuing to fall in the new year. The pace of price decreases is slowing, and we expect that pattern to continue through the first quarter, but prices have already given up most of the gains that they made in the long upcycle of 2020-2021.

Sadly yes totally agree . Unless you are fortunate to come across a replacement panel on Ebay or can source a similar tv with say faulty inverter,psu,main board,tcon, your best bet is buy new!

Hi, it"d be real helpful if you"d confirm the above idea which I get is that swapping screens is not likely unless they"re an exact match but what about circ boards? I have a Sony Bravia 40 LCD that my aunt cracked the screen. TV worked great for years till then. Found a Bravia 40 LCD on Craigs but not the exact model number. His TV has powering issue. I"m thinking of buying it for $40 and putting in my power board on his . I know 40 is cheap but it"ll take me a half day to do the swap as I"m not handy on my sole day off. You think I have a chance just swapping the boards? Thanks mucho, AL

Recycling electronics can take some strategizing, especially for large items like projection-style TVs. Make a list of the electronics you would like to get rid of and note their age and condition. Think about whether there is sensitive data stored on your devices and determine the best method of protecting that data. Think about when you would like to get rid of the electronics and whether you will be able to transport them yourself or need to have them picked up.

And, to make it clear, I care about people"s ethical concerns no less than I care about people"s ability to reuse parts that"d otherwise end up in landfill - which is to say, I care about them a lot, as the amount of text I"m typing might indicate ;-P Please do check back as I go on and tell if you think this project is going in a direction you find undesirable - for me, it"s a "openly accessible knowledge database" first and foremost, and if you think it deviates from this goal in a major way, I"d like to know about it.

Well, not only can you save a piece of old technology from the scrapheap, but you also can repurpose a mundane blank screen into a range of intriguing projects.

Not only can you now spend a rainy afternoon or two taking apart your busted LCD screen, you’ll get that insider’s view of all the interesting circuitry that goes into these electronic devices that are a part of everyday life.

If you are an artist or photographer, you will be well aware of the importance and expense of lighting. But what if we told you that you could make a powerful, portable DIY light panel from an old LCD screen?

This amazing LCD screen hack produces a high-quality panel light that radiates daylight quality light. An equivalent panel light can cost well over a hundred dollars!

We have to admit we were skeptical about this LCD screen project, but the walk-through provided by the BrunaLab team in Florida was convincing. These scientists were more than qualified to take apart an old Panasonic screen to make a StarTrek-worthy infinity table.

This tutorial is a little more than purchasing some IKEA table legs to screw into the screen to make a coffee table (the original hack). Emilio Bruna decided to take his project in a high art direction to produce an infinity lighting effect with blue LEDs.

Again with a little electronic know-how, wiring and battery-powered LED lights an infinity TV coffee table was born. The turnaround of this project was within a day which makes it doable on a weekend that you have free.

We love the futuristic results of the LCD recycling project and the low costs. Emilio Bruna’s project came in at $73 all in, with a wacky blue lighting pattern that kept his kids glued to the coffee table screen!

If you are a tech and electronics enthusiast, you will be aware of the Raspberry Pi revolution. These remarkable single-board computers have the processing power to be put to work in a wide range of projects, including partnering with your broken LCD screen to make your high-end digitized smart mirror!

There are loads of tutorials for this LCD screen mirror which vary in cost, complexity, and overall swagger. The majority of them, place the LCD screen behind a two-way mirror and rely on the WiFi-enabled Raspberry Pi3.

The basics of this build include combining an old OHP projector and laying a stripped-down LCD on the glass of the projector. The OHP does all the hard work of projecting your movie or game.

The like the old school OHPs the visual effect of this projector will be strongest in very low light as the claim to High Definition projection may be a little too enthusiastic.

Also, the LCD does age quite quickly in this arrangement as the light passing through the denuded screen damages the LCD. However, you can definitely gather the family round for a decent movie night or two before it all falls apart!

Raspberry Pi comes to the rescue again as the perfect partner for repurposing your own screen. After all the Raspberry Pi is a computer with no screen to call its own.

This project totally blew us away. How cool is a transparent screen that you can see through while you stream films or play games?! Though this project is not for amateurs it is possible to requisition a discarded LCD TV and create a see-through screen.

To achieve this, you will need an expert takedown of the TV, sepearating every single layer of the screen and building up a custom design and housing.

A broken LCD screen is a potential hazard to your health and the environment so it is important that you handle the screen safely to prevent injury or harm.

Though the screen has liquid crystal, the amount contained within a busted screen is small and unlikely to cause a hazardous spill because it is viscous.

If you"re still holding onto an old desktop, you might be wondering how to recycle computer monitors. Many people who make the switch to LCD monitors or laptops might have old cathode ray monitors in their house. However, throwing them out isn"t an option. Monitors of all kinds, from cathode ray to LCD, have toxic metals inside that can seriously harm the environment.

Instead, it"s recommended that you repurpose, sell, or recycle the monitors. There are many ways to go about this, including upcycling projects to create new items for use around the home or selling them to make a small profit. If you can"t make a buck off your old monitor, electronics recycling is always an option. With a reliable electronics recycling service, you can send it away, knowing that it will be handled appropriately.

Whether you choose to turn your old monitor into a DIY project, sell it online, or recycle it, you have options. If you"re not sure where to start, here are some tips on how to sell, repurpose, and recycle your monitor safely.

Try your hand at Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi offers computers the size of a credit card that can help you make the most of your old monitor in several ways. You can pair your Raspberry Pi with your old monitor and follow the step-by-step projects detailed on their website to create a desktop computer, a retro gaming console, a digital recipe book, a clock, and more.

Use it as a TV. If you have the right kind of monitor, you can attach some speakers and a cable box and use it as a television. This works especially well for those with large monitors lying around.

If your monitor still functions, you may be able to sell it and turn a small profit. Even old CRT monitors can fetch you money. The key is finding the best venue in which to sell your monitor and pricing it correctly. Luckily, some sites can help you pin down what to charge for your second hand monitor or laptop.

A rule of thumb is that you should never sell monitors for the same price as a retailer, and never price a monitor above another of the same size. When it comes to screens, bigger is better in most people"s eyes. If you"re trying to sell a small monitor for the same price as a larger one, people are going to opt for the larger one, every time.

A computer monitor works the same as a TV screen. Using a computer monitor as a TV will help save you some bucks, and it also saves you space in your house. Today, it is becoming more common to take a multipurpose device and use it for several purposes.

TVs and computer monitors are the same, whether LCD or tube models. If your TV set dies, you can replace it with your old monitor instead of buying a new one. You can turn your LCD monitor into an LCD TV. You only need to ensure the monitor can connect to your cable or satellite receiver to watch TV.

Whether you are talking about a new PC monitor that you want to dual-purpose or an old monitor that you want to reuse, turning a monitor into a TV screen is an excellent idea.

TVs have a lot in common with computer monitors. For example, both devices offer you HD displays for different activities. Their size, functionality, and prices can be the same. While PC monitors and TV screens have a lot of similarities, they also feature some differences, including:

TV screens support various inputs, including HDMI, VGA, and USB. A computer monitor supports most of the inputs supported by a TV except a coaxial cable connection.

The two displays feature various similarities, but they also have several distinctions. You can also compare the two displays in terms of prices, with the cheapest television costing less than $100 and as high as $50,000. The price variance is dependent on various factors, including ports, resolution, inputs, and screen type. On the other hand, you can get a computer monitor for as low as $80, and the price can go beyond $5,000.

The latest TV sets are more expensive than the fanciest computer monitors since they use a display technology that is not yet available for PC monitors. Both TVs and computer monitors can support up to 8K resolutions, thus offering the best quality images.

It is possible to turn your old monitor into a TV screen if it has specific capabilities. However, it may not be as simple as plugging in the cable box into a monitor and starting to watch TV. You need to consider factors, and you may have to make some adjustments to your monitor to use it as a TV. Some of the elements you need to consider include:

You also need to consider the monitor"s screen resolution as not all monitors come with a high resolution. A monitor for watching TV should have a minimum of 720p screen resolution

Converting a monitor into a TV is an effortless process if the monitor has an HDMI port. You can use an HDMI cable to connect it to various devices. However, some old model monitors don"t have an HDMI port but a VGA port.

A TV tuner is essential for hooking an antenna or cable signal to your computer monitor. The TV tuner is responsible for decoding the signal coming in and transforming it into pictures. Most TVs built after 2006 come with a built-in tuner that helps to convert signals into audio and video. Thus, you can connect an antenna or cable line to your TV without requiring an external TV tuner.

However, computer monitors don"t have built-in tuners. Thus, you"ll have to use an external TV tuner to convert the cable or antenna signal to video and audio.

Hooking a cable box to your computer monitor is an effortless process. If your PC monitor comes with quality built-in audio with an HDMI port, connecting a cable box is similar to using your TV. You should plug one side of the cable to the HDMI output of the cable box, while the second end should go to the HDMI input of the monitor.

What if you don"t want to develop a smart TV setup or have a WiFi connection or a cable box? You can use a TV tuner and an antenna with your PC monitor in such a case. You only need to know how to make it work and have the right tools.

Connect external speakers to the cable satellite box or the TV tuner if the monitor lacks speakers. You can use RCA composite cables to connect the speakers to the audio output of the video output. You will require red and white plugs audio cables.

Monitors usually have lower input lag, higher refresh rates and faster response time than TVs, which make them a better choice for gaming (there are exceptions, such as OLED TVs). On the other side, TVs are larger and more affordable, so they are fantastic for watching movies and TV shows, as well as console gaming.

There are a lot of differences between a TV and a monitor, and the choice between the two mostly depends on what type of content you’ll be browsing through and what games you will be playing

If you have an old monitor in your house, it"ll be an excellent idea to turn it into a TV instead of throwing it away. You can also use a new monitor to watch TV instead of buying a new set. Using a monitor as a TV will help save you money and space in your home. Turning a monitor to a TV screen is a straightforward process, provided it has the necessary connection ports. It"ll be best if the monitor supports HDMI for video and audio. If the monitor doesn"t come with built-in speakers or a headphone jack for connecting external speakers, you"ll have to use an audio extractor.

Besides checking if the monitor has the necessary connection ports, you should also consider its resolution. A monitor for watching TV should have a minimum of 720p resolution. Additionally, monitors may be limited in size than the big-screen TVs in the market. Also, a monitor may not feature the latest display technology.

TV manufacturers cut their manufacturing costs to offer competitive prices (a part of why TV prices are lower too). Moreover, TVs are purchased in higher quantities than monitors, so it"s easier to sell TVs cheaper for a profit than monitors.

The Google Chromecast is a media-streaming stick that plugs directly and discreetly into any free HDMI port and turns any monitor into what is essentially a fully functioning smart TV once paired with a phone, tablet or computer.

Yes. In fact, you may find the picture quality better than some TVs due to the high resolution and fast refresh rate. It is easy to use your gaming monitor to watch TV, you can use TV apps installed on your games console or on your gaming PC.

Well, after little research I realize that the only proper way to made LCD TFT screens to work, is to add LCD controller board with proper data source, as TTL data type or LVDS data type .

- TTL standard is a very old LCD system, unfortunate it takes a lot of cable connections, because each color needs at least 6 bits of color data, plus some control and clock signals. Some use 8 bits, so more cables to add.

Another important factor playing with LCD is a price, sometime is not worth to made lot of work for made a "thing", that similar we can buy new at half of price we paid for our "thing". So price factor is very important.

Except price there is also another very important factor - the fun and knowledge. Some electronic knowledge we surely get making such LCD, and fun from DIY work.

Most ready-to-use controller solutions cost around 25-55USD, what made those solutions not much attractive, when we compare that used LCD 15""-17"" PC monitor cost around 35-55USD at second hand market.

Unfortunate, analog TV signal is no more transmitted, so we can still use small external digital TV receiver, MPEG4 box with HDMI output and AV output, besides, most TV cable networks, along with digital signal still transmitting a lot of channels, as old good analog TV.

I was looking around, the best offer was from ebay or internet stores, there are best prices for LCD controller boards and accessories, like CCFL inverters and keyboards.

Over the years I have collected quite a few laptops (among many other things…). I usually pick them up when my friends and relatives get a new laptop and they throw away the old ones. Most of these laptops are not working and/or very old (i.e. around 15 years old, sometimes even more). I collect them because, even though they are not usable any more as laptops, I can sometimes fix them up just so much that they can be converted to a digital picture frame, or I remove some parts of it and make use of those in some way, like use a laptop touchpad on a PC.

Since I was running out of space to store these laptops, a few weeks ago I decided to remove the usable parts from some of the very old laptops that were beyond hope, and recycle what’s left of them.

The shiniest part you can salvage from an old/broken laptop is arguably the LCD panel. Most of the time the LCD panel of an old laptop has no problem at all (if there is a problem with the display of a laptop it’s mostly not the LCD panel itself but the inverter).

After a short research on the subject on the internet it became clear that, although theoretically it seems like an easy job to find matching pieces, there are many variations of the above circuits and it’s easy to get the wrong ones. To make matters worse, you usually have one shot: you either get the right components for the first try, or the LCD panel gives you negative feedback in the form of smoke signals…

Most on-line retailers have no idea what driver and inverter a particular LCD panel requires. They expect you to know what exactly you are looking for. (Which is probably right, from a technical point of view, but they lose a lot of business by not being able to help non-LCD-specialist customers.) Since I know next to nothing about LCD panels I was looking for a retailer who could provide me with a kit specific to my LCD panel based on the model number of my LCD panel (which is always clearly printed on the back of the LCD panel).

After just a few e-mails I was ready to order not one but two kits for two of my LCD panels to give them a try. I have many more LCDs to salvage this way and if this method works out I will order more kits from the same seller, for sure, won’t bother experimenting with other sellers.

Each LCD panel requires a specific set of driver and inverter modules. These modules look a bit differently for each, however, once you have the right kit for your LCD panel in your hands, figuring them out is pretty straightforward.

Inverter: this produces the high voltage needed for the LCD backlight. You are not supposed to touch it while in use. It comes in protective plastic, so it’s really difficult to get electrocuted…

The pictures following come mixed from the two LCD panels I got – the steps for both (and probably most LCD panels) are identical though, and only the used kits are different.

Once there is only one pair of (usually red and white) cable sticking out of the LCD panel’s side and nothing else, it is probably ready to receive the new inverter and driver boards.

First attach the connector from the driver board. Pin #1 is marked on both the connector and the receptacle, but neither is very visible, so you have to be alert. Orientation of the connector is critical. Attaching the connector the wrong way almost certainly guarantees to kill the LCD panel. The receptacle may break as well, if a connector is forced into it the wrong way.

Once everything checks out, connect a supported video source and a power supply to the driver board. It is recommended to use a high quality power supply of 12V DC with a minimum of 4A rating to get the screen going. The same seller sells suitable power supplies, but I happened to have a couple of 12V 15A power supplies which I could use to test these setups.

These cheap driver / inverter board combos are a great way to give your old LCD screens a new life. They come in many flavours allowing you to use a wide range of resolutions, screen sizes, and video sources.

Hooking up all the cables and boards from such a kit takes a few minutes only and doesn’t really require any specialized skills (apart from being very careful with the delicate parts that break easily). Not even soldering is required.

The eCenter warrants to the customer that the hardware of your computer system (but not software nor data) will be free from defects in material and/or workmanship for 30 days from the date of the sales receipt. During the warranty period, the eCenter will correct any defects in material or workmanship, or any failure of the hardware system to conform to as-purchased specifications. “Acts of God”, mishandling and post-purchase user add-ons (hardware or software) are not covered, nor is lost computer data. Any replacement parts/products shall be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty. This warranty period is not extended as a result of purchasing any additional parts/products from the eCenter or upgrading the product. Warranties are not transferable and apply only to the original purchaser. The customer must promptly notify the eCenter if there is a defect in material or workmanship. The eCenter must receive notice of all defects before the expiration of the warranty period. We would like to emphasize that our warranty covers hardware, and is neither a software warranty, data warranty nor a satisfaction warranty (see separate section for returns under satisfaction warranty). Other electronic or non-electronic items or items sold “As Is” are not covered by this warranty. While these items have been inspected and known defects noted on the tag, they are not covered by warranty because of age or difficulty obtaining parts.

If a customer is dissatisfied with a computer system, excepting any systems marked and sold “AS IS”, for reasons other than defects in material and/or workmanship, s/he may return the the computer system with its original sales receipt within 7 days from the date of the sales receipt for either a refund or store credit, less a $25 restocking fee in either case. The restocking fee is to cover the labor involved in intake, data sanitizing and re-installation of the operating system, device drivers and software. Before a refund or store credit can be issued, an eCenter tech must inspect and verify that the computer system is in its “as sold condition”. All applicable accompanying equipment must be present, e.g. power adapter, cables, Microsoft certificate of authenticity sticker (if applicable). The inspection and verification process can take up to 2 business days.

The above warranties apply to computer systems (desktop and laptop computers) only. Printers, home electronics, software, media, cables, peripherals, etc. and items sold “as is” are excluded. All warranties above exclude laptop batteries which because of their used nature, may hold little or no charge at all.

The eCenter takes your personal privacy very seriously. Donated computers will either have their hard drives overwritten erased, prior to reuse, or sent into a recycling stream for materials reclamation. Whether a hard drive will be reused or recycled depends on the hard drive’s type, size and health. Our wiping procedure conforms with NIST Special Publication 800-88 Guidelines for Media Sanitization. Whenever a hard drive supports it, we will use a built into the hard drive command (for 2001 and later hard drives) where: “ …the change in track density and the related changes in the storage medium have created a situation where the acts of clearing and purging the media have converged. That is, for ATA disk drives manufactured after 2001 (over 15 GB) clearing by overwriting the media once is adequate to protect the media from both keyboard and laboratory attack.”

The eCenter, as a program of Finger Lakes ReUse, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization. Consequently, all the fees we charge for services go toward furthering the eCenter’s mission of enhancing community, economy and environment through the reuse of computer technology. For more information on Finger Lakes ReUse and the eCenter’s various environmental, economic, equity and educational initiatives, please visit our website.

Using a computer monitor as a TV screen can save a few bucks and save on space as well. We are getting so used to multipurpose devices in our lives. Technology is starting to merge in a beautiful way.

When I was a kid (in the ’90s), I used to daydream about everything being connected. Electrical devices, that is. I could never understand why my TV couldn’t be hooked up to the internet. I also didn’t understand why we couldn’t watch cable on our computer. To me, a color screen should be a color screen. Well, fortunately, that has pretty much been the case for some time now (details about this could be argued a little).

Whether you’re trying to repurpose an existing monitor that isn’t in use, or purchasing a new monitor for dual purposes, this article will cover the ins and outs. In this helpful guide, you’ll find everything you need to know about how to use a computer monitor as a TV screen.

TV’s and Computer Monitors have a lot in common. After all, both devices give you HD displays for various activities. Their functionality, size, and even prices can overlap. While the differences between TV’s and Computer Monitors are narrowing, generally there are some distinctions. Here is where you might find they differ:

As you can see, both types of displays are comparable but have key differences. An additional aspect you might want to consider is pricing. You get what you pay for with both types of displays. The cheapest TVs can cost less than $100, but they can go as high as $50,000, depending on all the features, resolution, ports, screen type, inputs, and much more. With computer monitors, you can get something for as low as $80 or spend as much as $5,000.

The fanciest computer monitors are not as expensive as the latest TVs. The main reason is that the newest TVs are using display technology that has not yet been adapted for use with computer monitors yet. TVs and computer monitors can both support up to 8K resolutions now.

Yes, as long as your monitor has certain modern capabilities, it can be used as a television screen pretty effortlessly. For many models though, it is not as easy as just plugging the cable box into a computer monitor. There are some details to consider first. Depending on the monitor and your media source, you may need to make some adjustments to your entertainment setup:Does the computer monitor have an HDMI input? This is currently the primary means of connection for Home Audio/Video.In case you already have a monitor, and it has a VGA connector or a DisplayPort connection, you can always convert it to HDMI using an adapter.

Does your computer monitor come with built-in audio? If you want to use your computer monitor as a TV screen, you need to be able to hear it.In the case that it doesn’t have a speaker or an audio jack, you can use an adapter that works as an audio extractor (for HDMI).If your monitor has an audio jack, you can connect external speakers (e.g., a soundbar) directly to that.

Lastly, you need to consider the screen resolution of the monitor. Not all computer monitors come with the highest resolution. If you are looking for something you can watch TV on, you should ideally get a computer monitor that can support a minimum of 720p.

In an ideal world, converting your computer monitor into a TV screen can be relatively simple. You would have an HDMI port on the computer monitor that lets you connect it to most modern devices. However, there are some older monitors that will not have an HDMI input. VGA inputs used to be a standard before HDMI came along.

In order to hook a cable or antenna signal to your monitor, you’ll need some sort of TV tuner. A TV tuner will decode the signal coming in and transform that into a picture.

Televisions built after 2006 are required to include a built-in TV tuner* that converts the cable or antenna signal into video and audio. This allows you to directly connect an antenna or cable line to your TV without using an external TV tuner**.

First, I’d like to offer an alternative. This is my personal solution, and I find it a lot easier. I use an Amazon Fire Stick with my monitor and I can watch anything I want without any cables or TV Tuners. The Fire Stick is my 21st century Set Top Box if you will. All you need to use this is to connect it to your monitor’s HDMI port.

It seems like most households include at least one Fire Stick these days. They can support several subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and even Sling. You can get a subscription to any one of these services for FAR LESS than paying for cable.

Let’s suppose you do not have a cable box, you don’t have wifi, and/or you don’t want to create a smart tv setup. Using a PC monitor with an antenna and TV tuner is also completely doable. You just need the right tools and understand how to make it work.

The goal here is obviously to connect a TV antenna to your computer monitor. Your monitor, most likely, isn’t going to have a built-in TV tuner. This means you’ll not only need the TV antenna, but also OTA converter box. The Homeworx (found here on Amazon) digital converter box by Mediasonic combined with the GESOBYTE HD Digital TV Antenna (found here on Amazon) is an ideal setup for free TV Channels on your computer monitor.

2. Connect the HDMI cable to your monitor as shown with the TV in the diagram.It is rare, but some computer monitors can have an AV input as seen in the television set above. If your computer monitor has the AV connection, you can use the AV cables to connect the tuner to your PC monitor as well. Just like in the other examples, if your computer monitor does not have an HDMI (or AV) Input, you will need to plug an HDMI to VGA Converter in between the converter box and the monitor.

As you can see, there are various ways to use your computer monitor as a TV Screen. Of course, you will likely need to buy some additional hardware. Some people might find buying too many devices too much of a hassle.

You might find it simpler or just as cost effective to invest in an affordable TV. There are really reasonable options on the market today, that would have been pretty expensive just a few years ago.

Built-in Fire TV provides tens of thousands of channels, apps, and Alexa skills, including Disney+, Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Hulu, SHOWTIME, and STARZ.

Easily control your TV with the included Voice Remote with Alexa—plus, launch apps, search for titles, play music, switch inputs, control smart home devices, and more, using just your voice.

The Insignia Fire TV Edition is a 24″ television set that can provide you with excellent value for money. Insignia might not be one of the most expensive TV brands, but it manufactures fantastic devices that come with a more affordable price tag.

The Insignia Fire TV Edition is a decent LED TV with HD capability. You might not get an 8K resolution, but it does support 720p resolution for a crisp and clear image. Besides its standard TV connectivity, it has Smart TV functionality. You can wirelessly connect it to your WiFi and even stream videos directly from your smartphone.

Fire TV’s Alexa integration is built in to the remote itself. You can say “Alexa, find action films”. If your home is properly set up with smart devices, you can say “Alexa, turn off the lights”, to set mood for your Netflix and….relax date.

The Fire TV edition integrates all the normal TV input options, with the ability to use live TV and streaming channels over the internet. You get the best of both through the internet using the Fire TV Edition TCL Insignia.

The TCL Roku Smart LED TV is another affordable but very capable TV to consider. This is a Roku based Smart LED TV that lets you connect it directly to the internet through a dual-band WiFi connection.

The 32-inch screen is noticeably larger than the Insignia. While the resolution isn’t the best on the market it still allows you to enjoy a crisp 720p resolution display. A picture quality and screen size like this is going to be hard to beat for the price.

The smart functionality of both of these TV’s allows you to stream from various subscriptions like Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu, and Amazon Prime aside from any standard cable service you might have. It is difficult to beat the functionality for such an affordable price tag.

Using a PC monitor as a TV can be useful in some scenarios. It takes a little bit of work and buying a few extra accessories, but learning how to use a computer monitor as a TV screen is not too challenging.