comcast cable box video to computer monitor

3 Aug 2007 6:31 PM

gnews001

I will soon be getting Comcast cable. I'd like to be able to watch
cable TV in a den in which I have a computer and a flat screen
monitor. Can I use a computer monitor to display the video signal
from the cable box? What issues are there with such considerations as
HDTV, encription of the cable signal, (lack of) TV tuner in monitor,
HDMI and DVI, etc. A quick search on Comcast's site showed me that at
least one model of their cable box had only a composite video (single
port) output. Any help would be appreciated.

-mat

3 Aug 2007 8:55 PM

Andrew Rossmann

[This followup was posted to rec.video and a copy was sent to the cited
author.]

In article <1186165868.845564.251***@d30g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
gnews***@loik.com says...

> I will soon be getting Comcast cable. I'd like to be able to watch
> cable TV in a den in which I have a computer and a flat screen
> monitor. Can I use a computer monitor to display the video signal
> from the cable box? What issues are there with such considerations as
> HDTV, encription of the cable signal, (lack of) TV tuner in monitor,
> HDMI and DVI, etc. A quick search on Comcast's site showed me that at
> least one model of their cable box had only a composite video (single
> port) output. Any help would be appreciated.

The non-HD versions usually only have composite output. There is a new
SD-only DVR, the DCT3080, but it only adds S-Video.

The HD versions have DVI or HDMI outputs. If you monitor doesn't support
HDCP, the digital outputs won't work. Even if it does, it may or may not
work, as the Motorola cable boxes have been flakey in terms of HDCP
handling.

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