Im looking at either the Benq 557s or the Dell E153FPb for my set-up. I could use some opinions on which one will turn out better. (The Benq available is not the v2.) Also, if I want to hook it up to my Xbox and cable, without using my tv, do I then have to buy an external tv tuner? they seem to run $150 which is more expensive that if I started with a regular tv in the first place. What is the traditional way of solving the problem? thanks

You say "without using my tv" which I'm not sure what you mean unless you meant to say without using my PC.

Ignoring that... why would you have to get an external tuner? Most people use internal pci tuners that can be as cheap as $40 for a halfway decent model. Or, you could just get a TV like you mentioned and forget having to use your computer everytime you want to use the PJ, which is what I do. If you go that route I'd recommend checking out the Philips/Magnavox 15mf605t. You can get them for $200ish if you look around/use coupons.

there is a really good cheap tuner on geeks.com

yeah, I meant to say without using my pc. I had just noticed that most of the monitors on the acceptable lcd list are computer monitors (not tv's) so I wondered how you would watch tv without the computer right there. Thanks for the response, a tv will be more expensive i think but worth it.

this baby should sort you out cheap

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=TV-BOX&cpc=SCH

Thanks for the tip. Thats the cheapest Ive seen. Is this the type of thing that you get what you pay for though?


Ive also thought about setting up dual monitors; one would be used for my regular computing, the other would play the TV/DVD through an internal tuner simultaneously. Does that sound feasible/has someone done it?

the person who originally posted that product to this forum said it was very good. I like the feature of vga pass through so you can PIP your computer or tv on the same monitor. I don't think it is unreasonable for an analog device like this to be this cheap. It is not cutting edge, I wouldn't expect any worse PQ than what you get out of some shit PCI SD tuner.

The reason I recomend it is because that is pretty much what I think you are looking for, use whatever VGA monitor you choose and slap that in there. On top of that it seems to play nice with an HTPC but with out the hastles of a software tuner.