My old monitor was collecting dust, so I turned it into a capable smart TV

Published Sep 5, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto. Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more. Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. A few years ago, I purchased a new monitor. It was a couple of years after the release of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, and I was very into Halo Infinite at the time, so I figured it was time to upgrade to a 4K/120Hz capable monitor. I landed on LG's 24-inch UltraGear 27GP950 because it was one of the few monitors at the time that supported 4K and 120Hz (this is way more common now).This meant that my 32-inch Benq EW3280U 4K HDR monitor would be relegated to my crawlspace. Then I remembered I'd been thinking about buying a small TV for my bedroom and realized that instead of turning my very capable Benq monitor into a pricey dust collector, I could repurpose it as a reasonably sized bedroom TV. This made even more sense given 32-inch TVs are pretty uncommon these days, and I have no interest in putting a giant 55-inch to 64-inch TV in my small bedroom. Also, who doesn't like saving a bit of money? Using a monitor as a TV is very easy Just plug a streaming device into the HDMI port Along with DisplayPort, most monitors feature at least a few HDMI ports and sometimes even a 3.5mm headphone jack. In my case, I had an extra Apple TV 4K sitting around, so I hooked it up to the Benq EW3280U's HDMI 1 port, and I was mostly up and running right away. You can also use pretty much any HDMI streaming device with your monitor, whether it's a Fire TV Stick, a Roku streaming device, or even something from Walmart's Onn brand — pretty much everything should work. That said, you need to make sure your monitor is compatible with High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP), or you might not be able to stream copy-protected content from apps like Netflix and Disney+. Most relatively recent monitors should support this feature, but it's possible it won't if it's older and from the 2000s DVI port era. In this case, your monitor might only support HDCP 1.3, not HDCP 2.2/2.3, so 4K TV shows and movies might not play at full resolution. If you encounter HDCP issues, using a self-hosted streaming app like Plex or Jellyfin is a great way to work around potential copy protection issues. One odd problem I've encountered is that HDR content doesn't display properly on my Benq EW3280U when I'm streaming TV shows and movies with my Apple TV 4K. For some reason, the picture fades in and out ever so slightly when I turn HDR on, and nothing seems to fix the issue. I've tried 4:4:4 and 4:2:0 chroma settings, but nothing seemed to solve the problem, so I just turned HDR off. It's a good idea to spend a bit of time tweaking your monitor's display settings. In my case, I needed to increase the brightness better to optimize the picture for darker TV shows and movies. Some monitors will have different display modes optimized for specific kinds of content, similar to standard TVs. Audio might be a problem If your monitor doesn't feature built-in speakers, things get a bit more complicated My Benq EW3280U features built-in speakers, so audio worked instantly, but a display with its own speakers is pretty rare, especially if it's several years old. If that's the case, you still have several audio options. The easiest way is to plug a set of computer speakers into your monitor's 3.5mm headphone jack. This is a quick and cost-effective solution, and you can often find a set of decent computer speakers for $20-30 on Amazon. If you're using a streaming device like the Apple TV 4K, you can output sound directly to a HomePod mini. Google offers similar functionality with its Google TV Streamer and its new Google Home Speaker. Some streaming devices also work with Bluetooth speakers, allowing you to connect something like a UE Boom to them. If your streamer supports Bluetooth, headphones or earbuds are also an option. Of course, if you're planning to watch TV with other people, this likely isn't the route you'll want to take. Alternatively, if you're planning to use a higher-end audio setup with your monitor, like a soundbar or a more traditional surround sound setup, you could add an HDMI Audio Extractor. This adapter is useful if your monitor doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack or built-in speakers, since it offers a wide variety of inputs, including RCA and optical. Repurposing old tech is never a bad idea Whether using a monitor as a TV will work for you ultimately depends on where you plan to set it up. In my case, I wanted a small display in my bedroom, and the 32-inch Benq EW3280U is perfect for that. A monitor could also work well if you want a small TV in your kitchen or your child's bedroom. However, if you're after a full-fledged living room or basement TV replacement, a monitor likely isn't your best bet, especially if it's well under 32-inches.