Perhaps a stupid double question but here is the situation. I have one of those dual DVR receivers from Dish - TV 1 is HD and connected to my big TV. TV 2 is SD and was connected to an old CRT via coaxial. Exit the old CRT and I now have a problem because most new TVs no longer have coaxial connections. How can I hook up a coaxial cable to a TV without that input? I have seen RCA to coaxial converters to hook up a DVD player or whatever to an old TV but I have not found anything in the reverse. TV 2 just needs to be set to channel 73 and then only the volume control gets used. So it seems like it should be simple but none of my searches have pulled up a solution (other than buying an external tuner that has coaxial with a different out but those are $40-50 and seem silly since I don't really a tuner. Next, I could ignore the new TV and use my 27" iMac. But I don't know the best way to make that happen. Again, all I need is a passive monitor to view and control volume. The dish receiver and remote will be doing the channel changes. I know about Elgato eyeTV but quality seems sketchy and I am still unsure whether it will be able to read the Dish signal through coaxial and whether the tuner goes up to channel 73. Any thoughts for how to hook up an SD signal running through coaxial to an iMac? Is it eyeTV or bust? or just ignore TV2 and use Netflix and such and pretend it is a TV? That is fine for shows and movies but what about live porting events and the like? I usually spend all of my time reading/thinking about audio technology, so I am fuzzy with things outside that realm from time to time.
You need a tuner in between the two. An old VCR or something of the like should work. The only time a TV comes without the connection in question is when it doesn't have a built in tuner.
I have been looking on Amazon and when they list connectivity I never see coaxial listed. So few of them actually show pictures of the back, though, so maybe it is just assumed that they or on there? Maybe I am an idiot?
OK, I am definitely an idiot. I looked up a user manual for a TV on Amazon as a reference that does not list coaxial and, sure enough, it has one on the back. I guess whenever they list inputs they just list everything but. So now my question is...just the iMac one. Any decent way to make the iMac a passive monitor via coaxial cable?
usb tv tuner that generally runs from 30-60 bux. Turns the computer into a tv with the provided software. If you had a direct cable line, software and the provided remote would change channels for you. Your setup would sound similar to running the Dish connection through a VCR.
There's no easy or cheap way to do this. You're going to be up to your eyeballs in adapters that cost $ if you want to use your iMac as a TV monitor. And then you're driving the car that only the mechanic can get running- if anyone else wants to use it, there will be frustration. You're better off finding a cheap TV in the $200 price range.
