I'm buying a new tower. Is hooking it up to my HDTV as easy as I'm lead to believe? Store websites say it's easy, but when I googled it, it looks real complicated.

Plug one end of the HDMI cable into the TV another into the graphics card. Done.

(maybe twiddle a few settings on the card, if that)

Yes. As long as both devices have an HDMI port, it's as simple as connecting a cable. If you run into trouble, be sure to connect the PC end first, then the TV end second.
 
edit: That's not meant to be sarcasm. The order in which you connect the cables can make a difference on some screens or videocards.

@Tennmuerti said:

Plug one end of the HDMI cable into the TV another into the graphics card. Done.

(maybe twiddle a few settings on the card, if that)

a HDTV is a monitor. there is no difference. you just plug it in.

Yes. It's really simple.  
These days its just plug and play. The most you would have to do- maybe- is adjust the screen to center or change the resolution or something of that nature. But None of it is difficult.

I've had a couple of strange things happen using my TV as my monitor but I think it was probably driver related. And a couple of times the computer wouldn't recognize the TV as sound and video just video. But for the most part I just plugged it in and it worked.

If you are building a tower, you may need to connect a digital line out from your sound board (usually your motherboard these days) to your video board in order to get audio out of HDMI. Pre-built towers and laptops should already be set up this way. Even if your video card doesn't have an HDMI port, you can get a DVI to HDMI adapter or cable and connect that way, but you would need to route audio separately. 

One of the things you may notice is that even on a 1080p HDTV, text may be unreadable and UI can be hard to navigate from the distance you would normally be sitting. Windows has settings buried somewhere under Display Settings for font smoothing and UI DPI that you can tweak if you have problems. Even with that, I wouldn't recommend hooking up a computer to a TV for purposes other than presentations or full screen games.

Most cards with HDMI have one on-board audio chip per port that's just like the Realtek HD chip that comes on most motherboards. He won't have to connect any wires internally if he gets the right card.

Yeah, Control Panel -> Manage Audio Devices -> HDMI Output -> Set Default.

To make text look good, it's best to turn off your TV's picture enhancement effects (Smart Edge, Cinema Picture, Enhanced Blahblahblah).

@jetsetwillie said:

a HDTV is a monitor. there is no difference.

It's not quite that simple, but yeah, outputting PC to TV is pretty much plug-and-play if you have HDMI on both ends.

I have a 32 inch Bravia that has a VGA plug on the back. So it was simple as hooking up any other monitor. As said there ARE differences because of how sub-pixels are arranged on monitors versus HDTV's but its not an issue that should keep you away unless your an insane videophile. Your other option as stated is HDMI but personally I like to use VGA as I have my PS3 and 360 also hooked up to my TV as well as my cable box. So I take full use of every damn connector on the back of the TV pretty much.

Just make sure the HDTV isn't laggy.

Just make sure the HDTV isn't laggy.

I have been using a HDTV as my primary monitor for 4 years now. It is as simple as plugging it in. Just make sure you set it to the native resolution of the TV.

@MrKlorox said:

@ThePhantomnaut said:

Just make sure the HDTV isn't laggy.

Yes. Most HDTVs have a game mode that should disable the various post processing effects that introduce lag (such as 120hz smoothing, etc...). It's important to try each video mode out and try to notice any delay between when you move the mouse and when you see the cursor move.

For sure, though even with game mode on, there can still be some lag there unfortunately. But it will reduce a majority of the issues nonetheless.

I got scared and just bought a laptop LOL. I just wanted to buy my own computer, locked from the girlfriend and kids (who are also girls. Hint?) :) 350$ at Futureshop in Canada. Not bad for a basic laptop. I can browse the web in freedom! yay! and Also don\t have to worry about "Grandma! Ryan broke the computer you bought us!" lol

To this day I still can't get audio through my TV using an HDMI cable through my Nvidia card. I just gave up.

Video is fine since I use it as my monitor, I'd just love to not have to wear headphones every once in a while :(

But if you're using headphones then sure, just plug it in like a monitor.

@MrKlorox said:

@ThePhantomnaut said:

Just make sure the HDTV isn't laggy.

Yes. Most HDTVs have a game mode that should disable the various post processing effects that introduce lag (such as 120hz smoothing, etc...). It's important to try each video mode out and try to notice any delay between when you move the mouse and when you see the cursor move.

I actually need to figure out if there is an on/off setting for this. I have my Xbox 360 hooked up to Component (old version and no HDMI cables), and in some games there are one or two audio effects that delay up to three seconds. I have a Haier 28 in. 720p HDTV, (yes, it's not the greatest brand, but I got in on the cheap, and have had no issues).

@Brad said:

@jetsetwillie said:

a HDTV is a monitor. there is no difference.

It's not quite that simple, but yeah, outputting PC to TV is pretty much plug-and-play if you have HDMI on both ends.

Yeah, you need to set your input on the TV and likely set the TV to Game mode.

I've been doing it on my seven year old shitty 1080i (that's 1080 INTERLACED) HDTV for...well...seven years, it doesn't even have HDMI!

Just plug that hot hot cable into your sexy TV, and away you go.

@Napalm said:

@MrKlorox said:

@ThePhantomnaut said:

Just make sure the HDTV isn't laggy.

Yes. Most HDTVs have a game mode that should disable the various post processing effects that introduce lag (such as 120hz smoothing, etc...). It's important to try each video mode out and try to notice any delay between when you move the mouse and when you see the cursor move.

I actually need to figure out if there is an on/off setting for this. I have my Xbox 360 hooked up to Component (old version and no HDMI cables), and in some games there are one or two audio effects that delay up to three seconds. I have a Haier 28 in. 720p HDTV, (yes, it's not the greatest brand, but I got in on the cheap, and have had no issues).

HDTVs and monitors might have special visual options including a Game Mode which is intended to remove a majority of the post procesing. If you have a VGA input, it should automatically remove the post-processing.

@Napalm: No need to defend Haier, they aren't "off-brand" really, just not well known in the West. Apparently they are huge in China where they dominate the major appliances field. I know this because I did some research on them before picking up a very nice 32-inch HDTV on a killer sale. Audio quality on it isn't the best but I couldn't really ask for better picture quality (which is what counts as audio is fixable with speakers and such).

Mine was very easy as my vid card support hdmi video/audio out so it was just a matter of plug it up. Depends if you vid card supports hdmi out I guess. Then I just had to set it to game mode on the tv.