HD On PC

[blp21]

Ok i have a panasonic tx-32lxd500 LCD tv and would like to be able to watch hd clips on it, now i know that i will need to connect the my pc to the tv to watch these. Now here's the problem my tv has a hdmi slot and to connect it to my pc i would need a 10 metre dvi adapter cable and a 10 metre audio cable but i do not yet have a graphics card capable of using dvi so i will need to buy one, the other option is to buy a laptop with a dvi and connect it by this, i was thinking of getting a laptop anyway for other things but would need to buy a high end one to get in with a dvi connection, also my manual for my tv says under the hdmi connections section that this inout terminal is not intended for use with computers or do i scrap all these and use the normal pc connection how do this compare to the hdmi slot for quality. sorry this is so long winded but it is going around and around in my brain and i just need some help.

[Kramer]

I''d suggest a cheap DVI equipped graphics card. Just so you can do some testing, see how it goes etc.

Should be available for as little as £15 nowadays.

If you have a 16:9 LCD monitor or TV, do you need a special videocard that supports 16:9 resolutions like 1920 x 1200? Which videocards support 16:9 resolutions?

Thanks,

Roy

[blp21]

ok but if i bought a cheap dvi card would it be powerful enough to play hd movies

[Stephen Neal]

Originally Posted by Mandarin Man

If you have a 16:9 LCD monitor or TV, do you need a special videocard that supports 16:9 resolutions like 1920 x 1200? Which videocards support 16:9 resolutions?

Thanks,

Roy

You shouldn't need a special video card - though you might need to use Powerstrip to create a custom video mode if your video card drivers don't offer 16:9/15:9/16:10 resolutions when you connect a suitable display.

I have a 1024x576 16:9 SD resolution on my HTPC using Powerstrip and a VGA to RGB SCART cable, but didn't need to use Powerstrip when I connected a widescreen LCD display via DVI. This was with a low-cost Radeon 9600 Pro, and with a 2.8 Athlon is fine for decoding HD MPEG2 stuff.

What if you use a 16:9 LCD computer monitor. You would need a 16:9 capable videocard then, right?

Blp21, check the system requirements for the video that you would like to display. Get at least a 128mb card for HD material.

Roy

[Stephen Neal]

Originally Posted by Mandarin Man

What if you use a 16:9 LCD computer monitor. You would need a 16:9 capable videocard then, right?

Most video cards are 16:9 square pixel capable - it is a driver issue not a hardware issue. Some video drivers correctly interpret the monitor data flagged by the monitor when it talks to video card to indicate what resolutions it copes with - and if it is a 16:9 monitor (or 15:9 or 16:10) then it corrrectly signals 1920x1200 or 1600x1050 etc. and offers that as a resolution.

If you are feeding a 16:9 display that doesn't correctly flag its resolution, or using a video card with drivers that don't natively support 16:9 modes you may need to use a custom Powerstrip mode. However most cards these days won't struggle to offer 16:9 video. Hardware acceleration of MPEG2 decoding may help though - so more powerful cards might be useful!

Blp21, check the system requirements for the video that you would like to display. Get at least a 128mb card for HD material.

Roy

Yep 128Mb is a good minimum for HD stuff.

[blp21]

where can i find a 5metre audio cable to connect between my hdtv and my pc