Can I use my pc monitor’s dvi connection to connect directly to my HDTV?

I have a older pc using windows xp and my monitor has a vga that is used to connect to the pc and then also and dvi I just discovered, can i connect dvi on monitor directly to dvi input on my tv, when I do that my tv screen is just black, doesn’t seem to recognize it???

I also purchased a dvi to vga adapter and tried plugging the dvi cable from tv directly into the pc using the dvi to vga adapter, but also nothing, which is better?

Will either work?