THIS is how HL2 needs to be played!

[NJspeed]

On my new 32" Sony WEGA with 5.1 surround sound!

Ok so it's not a HDTV but at $650 its the closest you can come.

How many other people here play using their tv outputs?

I just got this TV from my girl for Christmas, and last night was my first playing Half Life 2 on it. Let me tell you IT LOOKS ABSOLUTELY INSANE. Previously I would play on my 19" flat screen monitor, and at 32", the DETAIL is just so much crazier. You can see tiny little things in perfect detail.. I notice so much more than before it seems. All I can say is WOW. I got to Black Mesa East in about 3 hours last night.. OMG the water board was insane!! I was flying and bouncing all over the place. Can't wait to play the rest.

And now instead of having 5.1 computer speakers, I outputted it to the TV and now I have 5.1 blasting all around me from my home theater. It's great! The only thing I had to buy was a cordless keyboard and mouse from Logitech (LX 300 if you want one, it works awesome).

Anyway since all you guys with good video cards have TV outputs, you may want to consider giving something like this a whirl. With a good TV, its worth it. If you already have a good home theater, its a must. It didn't look good on my old, non-flat 28".

 

[FaultySanity]

Sounds like fun


If i happen to come across a large lump-o money (say...a few grand) id do the same.

 

[Dracarys]

ya... many of us have crazy computers, but little or no home theatre setup. My TV is something like 15 years old...

 

[Ricter]

I have a 30 inch wide screen toshiba with HDTV. I wanna play on it, it has a DVI input which im thinking of using to hook it up to the comp. What did you use Njspeed to hook it up. And does anybody know if you need a really good video card to do the DVI thing.

 

[deathscent]

Two projectors hooked up to a dual port X800XT 256 video card, and like three audio cards, all with 5.1 compatibility. Therefore, 15.3, and whatever screen res I want because the possibilities won't end... I love this basement...

 

[VeryProudOfYa]

Holy F****!

Ohh my god... And I thought I was happy with my new 19 inch CRT... lol... Well If I feel like it, I can plug my computer up to my big screen... But then again, I dont have the privacy because I share my house with family... lol... So my brother would wanna whatch TV and Id wanna play Half Life 2 or Far Cry... And shit, that just wouldnt work... And yes, 5.1 is the shit... I have Logitech Z-640's hooked up to TV and Computer... Great speakers for small rooms... Good luck with yalls nice dual projectors, and all that stuff... lol...

*Walks away with a smacked face... :flame: *

Naaw... I guess I shouldnt be complaining with my big screen beingn a HDTV 68Inch LCD Flat Panel... lol... But anyways, I have never done anything projector wise... Sounds cool, Might have to try it... Later, I have blabbed my mouth off way too much...

 

[Sid Burn]

Damn... I wish I can do the same thing.

 

[DesertChicken]

Yah, z-640 straight up, brother! Pretty good 5.1 option for the financially unable. Got mine for about 50 bucks.

 

[NJspeed]

If you have a good video card, it probably has a TV output.

You have to use an S-video cable, so your TV has to be semi new, otherwise it wont have an S video input. And unless it's flat, it will probably look like garbage, which was the case with my old 28". Even though it had s-video input, and I could still have surround, it just looked like crappp on games, but it was okay watching movies.

Even if you don't have a TV output, some HDTVs LCDs and Plasma's actually have monitor inputs if you check the back of them.

How you rig up your audio pretty much depends on the card, but even with the cheapest card you can do it. Heres the options:

#1 - My sound card doesn't have RCA outputs. How can I connect it to a TV or surround sound?

You need to get a mini-jack to RCA splitter wire. They are pretty cheap. This wire has a plug on one end that looks like a standard speaker plug (mini-jack), and this goes into your PC exactly where you plug in your normal speakers. Then the wire splits and there's RCAs on the other end, which you can plug into your receiver or TV. The drawback with this setup is you only have left/right, theres no front or back. Even still, this sounds pretty good. Even if you have surround it's not a bad option, it's just stereo.

#2 - My sound card doesn't have RCA outputs, but it has two mini jack outputs for front and rear.

You can get two splitter wires and run it directly to your receiver, which should have inputs on the back that say TV and then have 4 RCA inputs (2 front 2 rear, 2 = 1 pair of RCAs) . Wire it up there. Then you have front/rear and it's also divided into left/right, which is pretty damn good. If you want to get it to your TV, you can then output it from the receiver to the TV. This setup is not bad at all!

#3 - My sound card says it has 5.1 and can hook into a home theater, how do I do it?

For true 5.1 you need a soundcard with digital output going to a receiver with a digital input.

Umm and the only difference with this versus the setup above is #1 its digital, but #2, it uses a seperate center channel too.

You can actually get a center channel going with any of these setups, even if it doesn't look like your receiver has enough outputs. It's considered a simulated 5.1, and you do it by connecting the positive wire of the speaker to the positive output of the front left or right speaker, and then the negative to the negative output of the opposite side. This will make the sounds of both sides come out the center.

 

[Alsi]

...three audio cards, all with 5.1 compatibility. Therefore, 15.3,...

of course.....
please explain your speaker setup if you don't mind, cause i really don't believe you.
That beamer part was ok - but 15.3 doesn't make any sense

 

[Ricter]

I was about to buy a DVI cable, and i read in my TV manuel that I could not use it with my computer. I was very sad, my only option is the s-video, is it any good, or is the resolution awful.

 

[Alsi]

well, if I use my s-video option i don't need any AA cause the quality is so bad that the image already looks anti-aliased
And my resolution is limited to 1024x768

DVI is MUCH better i think

ps: yout TV-Manual tells u what your PC-Hardware is capable(spelling?) of??? :S