HDMI / Living room PC considerations

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Arbinshire

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Feb 26, 2006
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I'm in the investigatory stages of buying an HDTV. Ideally, I want something that has a PC/DVI input, but that's relatively hard to find for the price point I'm looking at.

My question is, if I were to obtain a TV with an HDMI input, and then purchase a Video card with a dedicated HDMI out such as: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127301 would this allow me to use whatever LCD/Plasma screen that I purchase as a computer monitor, provided it had an HDMI input?

I'm vaguely aware that HDMI ~= DVI+ Audio, but that's the extent of my knowledge.
 
Arbinshire said:
I'm vaguely aware that HDMI ~= DVI+ Audio, but that's the extent of my knowledge.
Click to expand...
Thats pretty much it; HDMI= DVI + audio but when it comes to PCs that changes a bit. For PCs it's HDMI=DVI + SPDIF out which is a major disappointment cause SPDIF doesn't have the bandwidth for next gen DVD audio formats like TrueHD (which is the whole point to using HDMI- other then having one cable for both audio and video). On the PC it makes more sense to seperate them, run HDMI for video and go analog or digital out from whatever sound card you have cause unless you have a multi HDMI port receiver you don't want to use the crappy speakers that are integrated into nearly all HDTVs.

In short, don't bother with an HDMI video card. Just get whatever video card you want and get either a DVI to HDMI adapter and HDMI cable or get a DVI to HDMI cable (I went with the adapter + cable route so that I can upgrade to full HDMI system later on down the road). Or make sure your TV has DVI in as well as HDMI.
 
Actually, I wasn't thinking of using the audio bit of the HDMI interface. I just want something that's simple and brainless; basically, something that just works without much thought. Sorta the reason I was thinking of the Video card with the built in HDMI out.
 
Arbinshire said:
Actually, I wasn't thinking of using the audio bit of the HDMI interface. I just want something that's simple and brainless; basically, something that just works without much thought. Sorta the reason I was thinking of the Video card with the built in HDMI out.
Click to expand...
HDMI doesn't mean auto config; some setup is going to be required. In that case what matters most is the driver support for HDMI connections and NV is pretty rock solid with that.
 
Ah! Sweet.

Dumb question: What about those televisions with HDMI inputs that say they're not PC compatible? Are they, or aren't they?
 
Arbinshire said:
Ah! Sweet.

Dumb question: What about those Televisions with HDMI inputs, that say they're not PC compatible? Are they, or aren't they?
Click to expand...

They are, just depends on the resolutions. Check the manual for input resolutions.
 
LCD is going to be your best bet for use with PC. Since you appear to be in the $1k price range, have a look at the Westinghouse LCD's. There's a HUGE thread on the 37'' 1080p model. It has been proven to probably be one of the best time and time again, and I can vouch for it because I own one. The Westinghouse 42'' 1080p is the next one up for about $200 more.

Oh, and for PC usage, 1080p is the easiest to get working. Some of the 720p TV's have a hard time with resolution. The panel itself will be 1366x768, but you'll only be able to run 1360x768 or 1280x720 which results in blurry text. It can also appear to be too small of a resolution for the panel size since everything will look huge. (imagine 800x600 on a 21'' monitor right in front of your face :p )
 
Philips are very nice too.

But you have to remember at the store they are using some crappy distribution amp hooked up to a crappy video feed.. and all the demo TV's are just thrown on the wall uncalibrated. What I like to do is bring my laptop to the store and hook it up to the TV to see what it really looks like before I buy it.
 
w1retap said:
LCD is going to be your best bet for use with PC. Since you appear to be in the $1k price range, have a look at the Westinghouse LCD's. There's a HUGE thread on the 37'' 1080p model. It has been proven to probably be one of the best time and time again, and I can vouch for it because I own one. The Westinghouse 42'' 1080p is the next one up for about $200 more.

Oh, and for PC usage, 1080p is the easiest to get working. Some of the 720p TV's have a hard time with resolution. The panel itself will be 1366x768, but you'll only be able to run 1360x768 or 1280x720 which results in blurry text. It can also appear to be too small of a resolution for the panel size since everything will look huge. (imagine 800x600 on a 21'' monitor right in front of your face :p )
Click to expand...

You can run 1366 x 768 from a PC with litterally no problems. Problems are introduced when you run HDMI or DVI.
 
1366x768 isn't a supported PC resolution. You have to run 1360x768. (which doesn't give you 1:1 pixelmapping)
 
w1retap said:
1366x768 isn't a supported PC resolution. You have to run 1360x768. (which doesn't give you 1:1 pixelmapping)
Click to expand...


Come over to my house and I'll show you some 1366x768 love :p


Hint: Next time, try the VGA cable if you can't get it to work on HDMI or DVI ;) Looks crisp and clean and jsut the way it's intended to be.
 
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