Expert: Bobbert - 3/13/2010

Question
I have a HP Pavilion a250n.  I want to replace the video card so thyat I can clone my TV to the PC. The existing card does not seem to have this function.

Answer
Just as a matter of clarification, do you wish to view television on your PC, or use your television as an output display alongside your computer's monitor? (either as a secondary display, or as a mirror image of the computer's monitor)

If the aforesaid, a television capture card is necessary, they cost around $30-$40, I suggest Hauppauge or Leadtek.

If the latter, your system should have shipped from Hewlett-Packard with a GeForce 4 MX 440, an adapter able to drive cloned output to two displays, however not two independent displays. However, if this adapter either isn't working correctly, or doesn't support the resolution you need (or you do need two independent displays), you can simply replace it with either an AGP 4x/8x or PCI (not PCI Express, unfortunately) compatible adapter. The newer GeForce FX 5200 still enjoys popularity, is available for both AGP and PCI, and can drive two displays independently among other features that it can hold over the GeForce 4 MX. Shouldn't cost much more than $30-$40, I suggest eVGA, XFX, and Asus as board manufacturers.

-bob