HDTV for pc ?

[Sorze]

Hello everybody!

Do any of you have any experience of hooking up a pc to a hd-tv instead of a regular monitor? I really want to get rid of this 19"CRT monitor I have, as it's pretty much the biggest consumer electronics product on the planet ...
I would buy just a new monitor, but the thing is I'd really like to be able to hook up video games to this screen without getting more stuff (a tv too..), since space is limited.

If you want to use both pc and videogames on one device it seems that HDTV's are the way to go, there are no really good pc-monitors for this, correct?

So, I'm looking at this one, for example.

http://www.smarto.se/produktinformation/QidE100AavE1AcE854AaE4080104_default.aspx

The page is in swedish, but you should understand the important parts.. Otherwise, this is what seems to matter the most:

23" Widescreen
8ms responsetime
resolution 1366x768

the cables etc.(which I don't know much about at all...):

1 x DVI-I ( 29-pins DVI )
1 x linjeingång för ljud ( minihörlurskontakt, stereo 3,5 mm )
1 x seriell ( 9 pin D-Sub )
2 x SCART ( 21 pin SCART )
1 x HD-komponentingång ( RCA-hörlursingång x 3 )
1 x S-video ( 4 pin mini-DIN )
1 x linjeingång för ljud ( RCA-hörlursingång x 2 )


So, does this seem like a good idea or what?

Edit: Oh, and my videocard is an Ati X850XT.

 

[giant384]

you should be able to connect with it dvi but im not sure if the x800 series can do hdtv

 

[Sorze]

Well, it can do up to 2048 x 1536 resolutionwise, so that seems fine. Is there anything else I'm not thinking about, refreshrate or something?

 

[Revisedsoul]

could always just get an hd tuner card instead. not sure how well those are working though these days.

 

[Sorze]

Well, the reason I want a hdtv is not that I want to watch tv really, I don't really care about that. I just want to be able to play videogames every once in a while, and I don't have a tv right now...

 

[NetGuru42]

It should work fine. You will need to have a DVI cable for your X850XT, and use it to connect to the HDTV. I'm assuming that you will want to hook up your gaming console to the RCA connectors.

The only thing to note is that this monitor is a non-standard HDTV resolution. It will work fine, but if you want to watch HDTV (or HD movies) sometime in the future with this monitor, it will be scaled-up 720p. I doubt if it would scale down 1080i/p.

 

[Sorze]

It should work fine. You will need to have a DVI cable for your X850XT, and use it to connect to the HDTV. I'm assuming that you will want to hook up your gaming console to the RCA connectors.

The only thing to note is that this monitor is a non-standard HDTV resolution. It will work fine, but if you want to watch HDTV (or HD movies) sometime in the future with this monitor, it will be scaled-up 720p. I doubt if it would scale down 1080i/p.

Ok, I see, thanks for replying. So what is a standard HDTV resolution then?

 

[giant384]

most hdtvs are 1080p (1920x1200)

 

[Asus]

most hdtvs are 1080p (1920x1200)

Really? I didn't think there were that many 1080p models out there. I thought most of them were still 1080i/720p.

 

[giant384]

nope the 1080p's are and i cant stand interlaced tvs they hurt my eyes. also the resolution was 1920x1080 and i forgot that the 1080p stands for the pixels that are horizontal on the tv.

 

[NetGuru42]

Really? I didn't think there were that many 1080p models out there. I thought most of them were still 1080i/720p.

keyword is *most* here... there are actually very few 1080p HDTVs available at this time... but they ARE available. Most HDTV people I know have an LCD 720p - like a small wall-mount. People that go for the 40-inchers+ generally have 1080i for now. I don't know for sure, but I believe the 23" he's looking at is a 768p? Not exactly sure.

 

[giant384]

well the 1080p are higher quality

 

[Sorze]

This is what it says, it sounds like your "average" HDTV.

DTV-upplösningar som stöds: 1080i (via komponent-sockets), 720 p (via komponentutgångar), 576i (via komponentutgångar), 576p (via komponentutgångar)

 

[Revisedsoul]

1080p does not mean better quality, you can buy a tv with 1080p and still look like shit. and 720p is the most common form of high def resolution out there.

best thing to do is go around to stores ,look at some screens and see what you like, then look the model numbers up if there are any problems with those certian series. because all the specs mean shit if you dont like looking at it.

also stay away from plasma(wont find it in a small screen anyways) because they look like garbage with computers.

 

[MattJones2k6]

Have the USA made the big switch to HDTV yet?

Wales is one of the first over here to switch ... we switch before england HAHA

 

[Revisedsoul]

they have it available but they keep on pushing back the cut off date