Viewing DVD/Divx/HDTV on Samsung HDTV?

radiokid

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Hi all,

I've got a PC that i want to install MCE2005 on. The PC has a 6800Ultra which has two DVI ports. Now, I want to be able to connect this PC to both my Iiyama 19" LCD Monitor and my Samsung 32" 16:9 LCD-TV.

This PC is still going to be used for everyday PC things, playing games, internet, work etc, but I also want to connect it to my new HDTV Samsung set to be able to watch movies etc.

The Samsung TV when connected to the PC will be mainly used for watching DVD's, DivX's and also some HDTV (.ts) files I have on my PC.

Heres my question, should my Samsung LCD-TV be set as a clone or a extended screen in my Nvidia settings? The native res of my LCD-TV is 1368x768 or thereabouts, however the native res of my Iiyama LCD monitor is 1280x1024. There are obviously different resolutions with different aspect ratios.

Does MCE2005 display on an extended monitor, or do I have to set it as a clone, and therefore change the resolution from 1280x1024 to 1368x768 everytime I want to view movies using MCE2005 on my LCD-TV.


Cheers,

Tom.
 
Someone must have an idea on what I should be doing. I really would appreciate any comments.

Thanks.
 
tbh I'm not sure about the clone/extended screen part of the question as I have my HTPC connected solely to my 42" Panasonic Viera.. But for some general advice I'd work on making your PC quieter first..

A water cooling kit can be a simple and quick way of doing it without replacing components. One that cools your CPU and graphics card. Maybe buy a silent PSU too..

For me the noise of fans really gets on my you-know-whats and with me it's just one fan on my Jamo amp (that I'm replacing for a Denon 2805).

On another note why don't you consider using it to watch Sky or Freeview on too.. If you get MCE, a 2 input MCE TV card and SKy multiroom for £10 a month you can connect two Sky boxes to your PC and use it like Sky+.
 
Thanks for the tips there chopper. My PC is in a different room to my TV, and they are connected through cables in the wall, so sound from my PC isnt really an issue. I've just got the one DVB card in my PC and thats fine also. I'm only really interested in using MCE to stream high def videos from my pc to my TV. Once the Xbox360 is out and I have one then most of this wont really be an issue as it has the MCE extender.

But for now i'd still like to get some advice on my initial post, if anyone can help.
 
I have a 1280x1024 LCD monitor and a 1280x720 projector connected to my PC. I set the LCD monitor as the main display and use the extended desktop option to extend the desktop onto my PJ. I can start the MCE app and either move it between desktops by using the mouse or using a keyboard shortcut. I have a Radeon card, but presumably the Nvidia software will let you set up similar keyboard shortcuts to move applications between desktops.

I've also had girder running and assigned the red button on the MCE remote to execute the keyboard shortcut, so even if I was sitting on the sofa and the MCE app started on the monitor, I could quickly move the MCE app to the PJ.

If you use clone mode, you will get a distorted display on one of the monitors since the monitors in question are differently shaped.
 
On another note if it's HD you're after viewing I highly recommend Theatertek (2.1 is nice and stable, 2.2 is having a few teething troubles right now)..

It installs the lates NVidia purevideo codecs, allowing you to use post-processing and is a pleasure to use. It even joins .ts files on the fly so you don't need to HDTV2MPEG them all together if you don't want to..

If you have any resolution difficulties when trying to select 1080' or different Hz settings try using powerstrip.. MAke sure you read the tutorial on its forum before fiddling with it though!
 

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