Connecting game consoles to a VGA monitor?

[MaslowK]

So a friend of mine recently had his television crap out on him, so in the meantime until he can afford a decent replacement we're trying to find a cost effective way to convert composite & component video outputs to VGA, using a monitor as his display. Looking into it we've found this converter which seems like it would do the job, though $50 is a bit out of his price range at the moment.

So my question is, does anyone here have any experience with this sort of setup, and if so, have any suggestions for a slightly cheaper solution?

[dutchmasterkilla]

Free TV works. Check online classifieds in your area.
As far as the conversion goes I can't help you. Most new TV's have the VGA plug on them, allowing the TV to double as a PC monitor. As far as using a regular PC monitor as a TV cheaply, unless you were to wire something up yourself, that's probably as cheap as it'd get.
I mean for what it's worth if it's only temporary a used TV on the cheap or for free is probably your best bet.

[Zorlon]

Do not go with cheap converters there are plenty of cable converters but most cheap ones simply do not work or are intended to be used totally different to what they look like they might be for.

second hand, yeah free is great but a pre owned CRT TV even if it's not free will not cost all that much anyway if you can't find anyone giving there old set away

a CRT TV is a better option anyway if you have light gun games for older consoles like the Xbox and PS2 and older and will do up to the time your friend can affort a TV set instead of spending extra cash on a converter

[aliens8us]

Despite the price of the converter ultimately you want to save up for LCD LED HDTV. I am using a 32 inch for my arcade cabinet. It comes with all the inputs that you would need. My PS3 (HDMI), PC (VGA) and Xbox (Component) are all hooked up. All you would do is choose the input channel on the remote. This may not help right now, but in the long run will be more beneficial for you.