Asus HDTV Suite-HDMI turns your monitor into a TV

We've certainly seen our share of devices to bring your computer and TV together, but the HDTV Suite-HDMI from Asus brings it back the other way, providing a TV tuner and a variety of TV-oriented inputs for your computer monitor. The box accepts a host of inputs from HDMI to coax, converts, finesses and upscales the signal up to 1080p, and outputs over DVI or VGA, turning your old display into a viable television. The multiple inputs and TV tuner support PIP, and there's also a bundled remote to control the on-screen menus, completing the TV makeover. Sadly, there's no word on price, but PAL and NTSC support hints that we might see this box hit our fair shores -- looks like it's time for a monitor upgrade, eh?

[Via PCLaunches]

[John P @ Feb 19th 2008 4:46PM]

This is something I've been looking for for some time, and im quite excited. Hopefully it will not cost too much. Does it have component and/or rca in?

[madeforidiots @ Feb 19th 2008 4:49PM]

TV system
Analog (PAL or NTSC)

Input
HDMI
DVI / VGA
Line-in (PC Audio)
VHF/UHF (TV signal in)
S-Video & Composite & YPbPr(up to 1080p)

Output
HDMI
DVI / VGA
Line-out（Earphone & Speaker）

[TDG01 @ Feb 19th 2008 4:56PM]

I completely agree...I don't understand why we haven't seen more of these devices...especially w/monitors getting larger and better. I have a Dell 24", which provides PIP with component, but it's clunky. I'm glad to see this and hope it delivers.

[Whubbsie @ Feb 24th 2008 4:56PM]

Someone please tell me this will work on my my 30" mac monitor....please I've been waiting for soooo long

[John P @ Feb 20th 2008 10:28PM]

It has DVI, so yes, I believe you're in luck.

[madeforidiots @ Feb 19th 2008 4:46PM]

If this enables me to plug my PS3 into my monitor, then I want it.

[madeforidiots @ Feb 19th 2008 4:51PM]

Just checked...

"PS3, PS2, Xbox360, Xbox or Wii; or even DVD players"

But will it do HD-DVD?

[Fuzzball @ Feb 19th 2008 5:04PM]

So it strips out HDCP? Wouldn't that cause lawsuits for violating the DMCA?

[wslcrew @ Feb 19th 2008 5:09PM]

Just get a HDMI-DVI cable. I bought one for 5 bux on Amazon.

[rektide @ Feb 19th 2008 5:12PM]

HDCP makes me think the odds are very very low.

re: The person suggesting the HDMI->DVI cable, that only works if your monitor supports HDCP. Very few DVI monitors will, and only some HDMI monitors will.

[MikeG @ Feb 19th 2008 6:04PM]

@rektide

Only for Blu-Ray movies, games are not HDCP protected.

[DavidM @ Feb 19th 2008 4:54PM]

No QAM/ATSC tuner hurts the sell a little

[DavidMac @ Feb 19th 2008 4:52PM]

This is a definite must buy. I was going to buy a small tv for my room, but I'll just get a nice 22 in montior for 200 and add this to it.

[rektide @ Feb 19th 2008 5:13PM]

$100 monitor $150 box...
does not compute

[DavidM @ Feb 19th 2008 5:54PM]

Where is the price of the box listed?

[mr.me! @ Feb 19th 2008 5:14PM]

If it has a remote control, is there going to be a way to turn off the screen?

Iv never seen a screen without any tv bits inside with a remote control to turn it on/off (thought some may exist), so how would the screen turn off? Plug the screen into the box? But then when you turn it back on (via remote), the screen might just have power going to it, but not actually turn on (still be in standby)...

[turn_self_off @ Feb 20th 2008 3:27AM]

most computer monitors today can go into standby when there is no signal going to it, or by special signals (like how it will go to standby after x time with screensaver displayed and so on).

[Sam @ Feb 19th 2008 5:14PM]

Now why can't Apple let me have some AV options like this on my iMac? I have a glorious 24" screen AND I CANT CONNECT A BLASTED HD SOURCE TO IT!!!

[telepheedian @ Feb 19th 2008 6:32PM]

Like this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_TV

[J. Evans Turner @ Mar 24th 2008 5:04PM]

You had better hope that the monitor has HDCP support.

[Tak @ Feb 19th 2008 5:16PM]

Excellent! I was just going to get a Kworld 1680ex (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=23580SU5186&vpn=KW-SA220&manufacture=KWorld%20Computer), but this is much better. I just hope that the price is competitive with the Kworld products.

[Harbo @ Feb 19th 2008 5:27PM]

SOLD!

[Brandson @ Feb 19th 2008 5:44PM]

So does this actually scale video to your monitor's resolution? If I have a 480p or 720p source over hdmi, will it scale it to a 1920x1200 16:10 signal with black bars to maintain the aspect ratio? I just skimmed the press release, and that bit wasn't clear to me. If it can do that, this will be very useful.

[vcx @ Feb 19th 2008 6:03PM]

"hit our fair shores" - that sounds racist !! :-p

[Christian @ Feb 19th 2008 6:09PM]

wait it says analog ntsc.... will it work at 2009?

[Galley @ Feb 19th 2008 6:09PM]

NTSC? So, in other words, the tuner will be worthless in less than a year.

[Mike @ Feb 19th 2008 8:09PM]

Exactly what I was thinking. How can they call it HDTV with only analog tuners?

[OziD @ Feb 19th 2008 8:12PM]

Thats for TV coming straight from the street to the Asus box. If it goes to a box before this, its digital.

[Allen @ Feb 19th 2008 6:19PM]

So this is for all the losers who haven't already been using their TVs as monitors. Suckers...

[vedabrain @ Feb 19th 2008 8:12PM]

Or... for all the losers who haven't been using their monitors as TVs?

An HDCP LCD and an HD cable box with DVI output makes it far too easy but this box does way too much to ignore.

Now if only I hadn't spent that $50 on an Xbox 360 VGA cable...

[MMalecky @ Feb 19th 2008 6:29PM]

It's about time that a product like this was produced.

Unfortunately, this will very possibly be made useless as full scale HD downloads come to fruition. It's too late, at least in my perspective.

[OziD @ Feb 19th 2008 8:09PM]

Channel Surfing > Downloading Content.

But I like a good mix of both.

[CraigJ @ Feb 19th 2008 6:48PM]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm more interested in using my TV as a monitor...

[Hax Or @ Feb 19th 2008 7:20PM]

Looks great! Long awaited!

[Carl @ Feb 19th 2008 9:13PM]

So is this the incoming EeeTV?

[Joshua Walters @ Feb 19th 2008 10:12PM]

Im not sure. You can score a hi-bred monitor/TV with a fast refresh rate for $300-400 for a 21".

Unless the box is super cheap, its not going to be worth it unless you have a $800 monitor with some insane resolutions.

[BorisBorf @ Feb 20th 2008 3:35AM]

wow... HDMI->VGA finally means that my 51 inch sony HDTV that i bought before there was HDMI will now support freakin HDMI!

HDMI->VGA and then VGA->Component

[WilfordBrimley @ Feb 20th 2008 9:40AM]

My guess is that if the HDMI signal has HDCP then the HDCP will be passed through to the DVI output and VGA output won't work.

If it will take anything you throw at it and resize it to fit 1920x1200 while keeping the proper shape, then I want one.

[FallenCow @ Feb 20th 2008 1:09PM]

This would be great if I still had my 30" Dell LCD... Wonder if they'll be any input lag or video scaling/upconverting?

[solodragon @ Feb 20th 2008 5:54PM]

"...upscales the signal up to 1080p, and outputs over DVI or VGA..." Wait...what?! You get HDMI input then 1080p out put...to VGA?! Am I missing something here?

[ZeroCorpse @ Feb 20th 2008 6:29PM]

NTSC support?!?!

Why?

I mean, NTSC has less than a year to live, and looks like crap on a high definition monitor anyway. Put an ATSC tuner in it, price it under $125 and you've got a sale!

Otherwise, it's stupid. You can get a new monitor with all those connections built-in these days. My Gateway has everything but coaxial and HDMI... Two component, VGA, DVI, S-Video, Composite... And I really don't need another NTSC tuner in my house. I already got stuck with an "HD-Ready" HDTV that only has an NTSC tuner. I don't need something to simulate that experience on my computer monitor.

It's ATSC or nothing, these days.

[Aymon F @ Feb 21st 2008 12:14AM]

Does this mean that I can finally hook my Xbox up to my Alienware m5500? Does it work for laptops?

[Pastry Chef @ Feb 23rd 2008 2:11PM]

Will this work with 30" monitors with 2560x1600 resolution?

[GargantulaKon @ May 1st 2008 1:45PM]

This looks promising, but I am afraid that it is going to be way too expensive when compared to hybrid LCD monitors that have HDMI ports. I want to use the ASUS HDTV Suite-HDMI on my CRT monitors.

[gopher38 @ May 17th 2008 7:26AM]

Is there any news regarding this? Seems really close to what I'm looking for, but there was the press release in mid-Feb which generated a lot of noise, and then nothing since. Is it dead?