You have an HDTV? I got a question...

[Brett]

Hey folks,

I am trying to find someone who has an HDTV. If you hook it up by DVI/HMCI does it make a significant difference in terms of the look & cleaniness of the windows enivornment? I mean for example will it make the fonts finally readible as if it were a standard monitor?

I want to buy a new small TV (32") going HD doubles the price. I have NO HD content, but if its gonna make everything in general look crisper I may like it.

So any suggestions, comments, rants?

-Brett

[Baylo]

Hey Brett,

I have a 30" Sony HDTV, connected to a 6600GT video card via DVI/HDMI. Some thoughts...

Many times, an HDTV shows the limitations of standard def content. I use the new nVidia MPEG decoder in BTV and am happy with the upscaling that it manages to do. HD content is, of course, great to look at - looking forward to being able to use BTV to record it... Also, using BTV to zoom widescreen SD broadcasts to fill the widescreen display looks very good.

DVDs look absolutely fantastic.

As regards the desktop environment, the DVI connection is of course way better than S-Video. Here's your problem, though. You'll be using an HD resolution (720p or 1080i) which means your font sizes will be correspondingly smaller. So it's a bit of a trade off: cleaner picture, but smaller fonts. You can increase the font size in Windows settings, but not all fonts are affected by this setting, including a number of standard Windows dialog boxes. Keep binoculars handy.

Also, you're going to need to deal with overscan. The current nVidia drivers do a good job of dealing this, and there's always Powerstrip if need be.

My Sony is a CRT. Despite the "HD" tag, I'm sure the physical number of phospher dots doesn't create a true HD resolution, and this creates some fuzziness at the pixel level when looking at text. A fixed pixel display like plasma or LCD wouldn't have this problem.

I hope that helps. I wouldn't go back to an SD display now for HTPC purposes. For general computer usage, I'd want a fixed pixel display.

Will be happy to answer any other questions if you want to PM me.

Mark

[Brett]

Originally Posted by Baylo

I hope that helps. I wouldn't go back to an SD display now for HTPC purposes. For general computer usage, I'd want a fixed pixel display.

Thanks! I went ahead and made an impulse buy. Got me a 32" HD Sony Wega or something like that. Comes right before super bowl!

Thanks again,
-Brett

[Deuce911]

Originally Posted by Brett

Thanks! I went ahead and made an impulse buy. Got me a 32" HD Sony Wega or something like that. Comes right before super bowl!

Thanks again,
-Brett

Boy a guy gets an Internship and he turns into Mr. MoneyBags!!

Nice buy by the way.
Mike

[Brett]

Originally Posted by Deuce911

Boy a guy gets an Internship and he turns into Mr. MoneyBags!!

Hmm... I forgot about the internship that I'll be starting in the coming weeks. Hmm... maybe I should have gotten a larger tv?

-Brett

[Brett]

Ok... I chickened out. I cancelled my HDTV and went with an old-fashion (and much more affordable) SDTV instead. Baylo, thanks for the advice! After sleeping on it, I decided if I am gonna get a HDTV I want it to be a wide fixed pixel display, and I simple do not have a room to handle one of those (my cabinets are custom built).

Thanks again,
-Brett

[Xiadix]

Then were are we ALL going to go watch the Superbowl? We were planning to head to your house to see your BTV in action on HD.

Bummed,

KevG

[Brett]

Originally Posted by Xiadix

Then were are we ALL going to go watch the Superbowl? We were planning to head to your house to see your BTV in action on HD.

Hehehe, actually I did order the TV for the Superbowl. My friends are all as blind as me, so I don't think we'll notice the missing lines of resolution. Besides, it would just be an upscaled image, right? I am not using an HD tuner / ant.

-Brett