Blu-ray on a PC with CRT monitor?

[shinylatexkitty]

(I posted this in the Computer Optical Drives section but was told it's the wrong section... hope I got the right one I'm kinda desperate now to get some sort of useful reply )

Hi, I have a graphics-design orientated CRT, the 19" Viewsonic G90fb-4 and a PC with a Radeon 4870x2 graphics card and PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra Blu-ray viewing software installed.

Since my graphics card's output is digital "DVI" (which LCD flatscreen monitors use) I use a Belkin DVI to VGA adapter

now I recently read about how on the TV side of things the analogue outputs are downgraded (due to the "analogue hole") and I was wondering, is it silently downgrading everything I watch just because the signal is being converted to analogue?

If so that would really suck as my monitor is at 1920x1440 pixels resolution which should be easily capable of handling HD given that the leaflet for Blu-Ray that came with one of my discs says it is "full 1920x1080 pixels resolution"

I had the £1,000 30" Dell 3008WFP LCD before but I switched back to CRT because I prefer the deeper blacks without the "backlight glow" issue (it made black look washed out grey) - I like horror games and films LCD isn't really an "upgrade" for me it was a downgrade

Thanks for any info and help!

[andromedaHD]

You need HDCP support for bluray playback.
i think your crt display does not support HDCP, but you should check it out.

[shinylatexkitty]

hmm it seems that's digital only? I'm a bit confused

like I said my graphics card has a digitial output, it's just I have an adapter that converts it so that my VGA plug from monitor can connect (graphics card> adapter> monitor)

I dont really know how it works tho so I don't know if I'm getting the same thing or somehow it's detecting it

Is there any testing software or something so I can find out exactly what resolution I am getting for certain? I am using PowerDVD but it doesn't seem to have any option to show at 1:1 1:2 etc, only resize the window to whatever size you pull it to, or full screen

[Abu]

I might be totally wrong here, but I cant see why it wouldnt work. If a blu ray can be played on a ps3 attached to a crt through rca's I cant see why it wouldnt work in this sense.

If your monitor is actually 1920x1440 and in windows you've set it to that then the dvi>vga converter wouldnt make a difference to the res shown by the monitor. It should be 1:1.

[NeoBlade]

Its been a while since I've looked at the various technologies but I believe HDCP is only active via HDMI so you should be okay. LCD technology is improving if you need colour accurate screens for industry use, but they certainly cost a pretty penny! Easily over £800 for a decent one.

There are various tools out there which you can use with a PC to achieve the correct pixel ratio and that if you want to tweak things but it should actually work fine without it. Your display is capable enough in terms of resolution so it certainly wouldn't harm to give it a try. Hit us back with the results ^_^

[shinylatexkitty]

I managed to find a program that would let me take screenshots with PowerDVD (anydvd hd) and that helps cos you can take pics of the source size so I can find out exactly how many pixels I am getting

im happy to say it seems to be fine, check the link
Blu-ray Forum - View Single Post - Blu-ray Screenshot Thread (Large Files)


with the LCDs well, read my first post at the top of this thread - I used one of those "colour accurate" monitors which was highly rated and yeah, over £800, it was £1000, and was not at all impressed - it's not an issue with the colours but dark colours and black are tainted by the backlight behind the screen making a glow like the sun's shining on the screen - which CRTs don't have

[NeoBlade]

Glad to hear you got it working after Shiny. Enjoying the picture quality?

I tend to do a bit of work on graphics myself and have been tempted in buying a monitor calibrator, however that's a totally different topic in itself. With Blu-Ray, the output should be 1920 x 1080 and there are other tools, mainly used to calibrate the video output to projectors and other displays (Powerstrip). Not sure if it would be of any use on a CRT though since it should handle the resolution and refresh rate regardless.