Huge Computer Monitor, or HDTV?

[mattdisaster]

Hey everyone, well I think it's time that I get something better for this htpc now that its starting to get alittle bit more mature. But I can't decide on a computer monitor or to venture out into the unknown and get a hdtv with componant in and do it that way. I recently bought an ati raedon 9600 with 256mb ram and couldnt be happier with it. And for the longest time I was thinking about only using a computer monitor with this thing, but with the chance of having a 52" tv with componant in at my disposal for a reasonable price (close to free) I've started to think otherwise. I don't really know anything about the conversions and such and was looking for some guidance. Anyone have any opinion in the matter? I'de like it to run dvds as well as games and such, but as you can tell I'm completely in the dark about this all. My skin is set for 1024x786 res what are the resolutions supported by dvi-hdtv? I'm gonna read up on my own but any help would be awesome. Thanks everyone!

-matt

[JayDaCodeMonkey]

I'm running my HTPC on a Pioneer 433CMX plasma television. I use the DVI input with the PDA-5002 addon card. The image quality is incredible. It looks as clear as an LCD, but its 43". It runs at 1280x768. I haven't played any games on it, because it is not a very powerful computer, but DVDs look AMAZING. I almost shat myself the first few hundred times I watched even divx movies. Even tv looks beautiful on it. I strongly recommend a plasma tv for an HTPC and this one is known as the best for computer input. You can get it for about $4000 with the addon card. Check http://www.avsforum.com for more information.

[mattdisaster]

Thanks for the recommendation, that is way out of my budget but maybe next year. heh.

-matt

[trevis]

Hey matt,

Check out avsforum.com for more info on connecting an HTPC to an HDTV. I myself run my HTPC on a DLP front projector, but i also have a "small" 46" HDTV that i mostly use for games. Also, it has DVI input. A few months back I decided to check out the HTPC on that TV and ended up having to tweak things quite a bit with Powerstrip. It seems that TV's even HD ones have really horible overscan and understan - the image is either cut of on one more edges or one or more edges dont meet the edge of the screen.

There are lots of threads on AVS about using powerstrip for correcting these issues, and as long as you've got the patience it should be posible.

The other issue that i ran into is that the HDTV was never really intended to be used as a computer monitor so *mine* dosen't support any of the standard VGA modes which means that i couldnt see the boot sequence and had a tough time seeing powerstrip inorder to tweak things. I ended up using a wi-fi notebook PC and a remote desktop application called WinVNC.

So, yes HDTV+HTPC is posible, and clearly if you're going to use it for movies the size will be a very very very nice thing, the bigger the better but HDTV's are not PC monitors making desktop stuff kind if a pain. Some of the nicer plasma models that do support higher resolutions and DVI seem to be much better in this regard, but then again 4k+ for a TV isnt really posible for everyone.

If you can, i'd try to see if you can get your HTPC and this TV into the same space for a little while so you can test it out so you can know what you're gettting into.

Good luch.

[smurgle]

Agree with what trevis said.

I went through the whole powerstrip thing with an ATI card with HDTV->component adapter to drive my Tosh 56" rear projection 16x9 HDTV. It took quite a bit of tweaking but now my god it is beautiful. Mine actually shows bootup and everything since the ATI HDTV adapter supports 640x480p, as do most hdtvs.