back to article Philips 221TE2L 21.5in monitor and Freeview TV combo

All modern TVs can function perfectly well as a computer monitor; however the same isn’t true the other way round. To make a TV you’ll of course need a tuner to pick up the transmitted signal, a decent remote control for all that armchair channel hopping and probably a few extra inputs for your Blu-ray player, games console and …

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  1. Anonymous IV
    Unhappy

    Stereotyping

    In the picture of the heterosexual couple watching TV, I'll bet you can easily guess which person holds the remote control...

  2. John White
    FAIL

    What? 'monitor' and no DVI input???

    re DVI inputs... seriously - have you tried getting a DVI cable anywehere on the high street? £21 - £25 from C~~y's et al for 'gold plated premium version'. 'They don't use DVI any more ' from the oiks in the stores. Er anyone told monitor manufacturer's? Thought not.

    Lack of DVI port is a pain - try using this on your MythTV box and unless you're using the latest m'boards with on-board HDMI [which breaks the point of a MythBox] you're done for.

    So £5 DVI cable/adapter from Amazon are your route but if the DVI ->HDMI input is so bad this monitor/TV fails completely as a PC monitor [as most video cards I've seen in my price range as a private buyer are DVI/S-Video/VGA only] and is really just a TV. Who would revert to VGA??

    Fails as monitor/ TV - better buy a decent monitor with thin bezel + stick a Acer revo/similar + MythTV on the back (don't forget the Hauppauge 221 USB remote - £25 on Amazon - for the '10ft interface'

    1. Tom 38
      Stop

      Just buy the appropriate cable

      Eg on ebuyer.com, a DVI -> HDMI 1.4 cable is £4, DVI-DVI is £5 and HDMI -> HDMI is £6.

      Most budget video cards these days include an HDMI output. For instance, you can get a Palit Geforce 8400GS with HDMI for £21 inc VAT. This would support fully accelerated 1080p H264 playback on MythTV, using vdpau.

      Most motherboards with onboard graphics usually now have HDMI as well, eg Asus P7H55-M (£62) or Biostar TH55B (£55) (the two cheapest Socket 1156 mobos on ebuyer).

      Expecting to find cheap components on the high street is unrealistic, although you may be able to find cheap HDMI cables in QD/poundland etc.

  3. John White
    Coat

    RE What? 'monitor' and no DVI input???

    slip of the fondle keyboard - its a Hauppauge 226 USB remote, not a 221......i'll get my coat now...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Similar to my old LG

    Similar to my old LG.

    Bought when I had a cramped room and needed something to replace a CRT monitor and a CRT TV.

    19" (4x3), 1280x1024 VGA (back in the day when similar sized LCD TVs had a VGA resolution of 640x480, and no DVI back then), Scart, RGB, even RF for old school gaming! No built in freeview but sits on top of an old On:Digital box.

    Still functions and is in the study as a laptop monitor/spare TV/old games console TV, doing its job admirably.

    So this Philips will likely appeal to the likes of students who can use it as a monitor/tv without having to cart around several boxes.

    It is a compromise though, so "power users" would be better off with a dedicated monitor and a TV.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    done by Samsung better

    My samsung 225md from 2007 does all this and has dvi. Admittedly, freeview built in isn't as good as a dedicated set-top box. But for multi-monitor with my laptop, TV & ps3 in the home office, it does a good job. Philips needs to try harder.

  6. Andy Moreton

    Setting up HDMI is a pain

    Turn off overscan in the TV; set scaling on the PC graphics driver to 100%; change pixel output format on PC graphics driver from YCrCb to RGB; finally play around with sharpening on the TV.

  7. Bassey

    Re: I don't get it

    "All modern TVs can function perfectly well as a computer monitor"

    Exactly. So what is the point of this?

    1. Lamont Cranston

      This.

      So far as I have seen, a "PC" input is commonplace on most modern TVs. Do they not work well as monitors, or something?

      1. Andy Moreton

        Because...

        "It supports full HD 1080p resolution – not normally required on a TV of this size, but great for PC use"

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