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ralphmcw
10-24-2005, 10:19 PM
I am looking into getting a DLP HDTV and want to use it primarly as a sweet computer monitor. Along with my 7.1 audio setup and cordless keyboad/mouse I figure that this will make playing computer games or surfing the net from the couch a much more satisfying experience. I was just wondering if anyone out there has any experience with a setup like this. Would a 1080p display make an important difference. The tv at the top of my list right now is the new samsung 50'' 1080p DLP due to some excellent reviews but I the product manual which is avalible on-line says that the HDMI inputs are not PC compatible. Does this mean that I couldn't use DVI to HDMI adaptor to connect my computer video to the TV?
Any coments or suggestions would be appreciated.

edtyct
10-25-2005, 05:49 AM
It's all up to the TV. HDMI isn't necessarily incompatible with a computer signal. The HDMI input would have to sync with the PC's transmitted refresh rate and match the resolution. Any DVI signal from the TV would have to be digital, however. Unless you have an advanced card, it's likely to be analog. My guess is that Samsung disqualifies HDMI as a PC input for reasons of copy protection. You could always use the VGA connection between PC and TV, or, if you're a glutton for spending, get a VGA to DVI (or HDMI) adaptor for about $300.

Ed

ralphmcw
10-27-2005, 03:31 AM
Thanks Ed,
I didn't notice anything about a VGA or DVI connection in the samsung manual (the tv model # HL-P5078W by the way). What about the IEEE 1394 inputs? What are those for (sorry, I'm new with this stuff)? I didn't realize that some companies disqualify HDMI and a PC input just incase you might view protected material through your tv. Seems a bit harsh that I can't play video games and on-line poker on my TV just incase some punk might want to use this feature to watch a downloaded movie. That's crap.
Does anyone else have a computer to tv setup and want to share how they have it hooked up? How does it look on a 720p vs 1080p?

edtyct
10-27-2005, 05:26 AM
Ralph,

The firewire inputs don't have much play these days. The only thing out there is D-VHS, and that is definitely phasing out because of hi rez DVD on the horizon. HDMI has become the connection of choice, primarily for its copy protection (HDCP), though it has side benefits that would have made it both attractive, and inevitable, even without copy protection. I think that the Samsung has a VGA connection; I doubt if the set carries DVI, though DVI is eminently compatible with HDMI with an adaptor.

On many TVs, you can play online poker and video games via your PC, but not via a digital port (or at least not easily). That's the rationale for the VGA input. The copy-protection situation is a genuine mess at the moment, with controversy turning on what constitutes fair use by a typical, law-abiding citizen. If organized piracy (in Asia) is in fact the rationale for all the paranoia, and if the content providers have been making immense profits despite all this theft, penalizing the average consumer seems hardly justified. Here's hoping that the serious misgivings about copy protection that the launch of hi rez DVD (regardless of the format war) has awakened brings this issue into the limelight on every front. Copy protection for computer use of high definition material is also on the brink of turning vicious.

Ed

ralphmcw
11-01-2005, 02:02 AM
Thanks for answering all my newbe questions so patiently Ed. Based on the information you've posted here and some more research I've done it looks like a VGA connection is the best way to go for PC to HDTV. It is too bad a digital connection cannot be used because I've heard (for LCD computer monitors anyway) that the DVI connection gives a much nicer/sharper picture. Will the VGA to DVI converter you mentioned help the picture quality at all?
I am still wondering if the higher resolution of the new 1080p DLPs will give me a better picture from my computer? If it is not that big a factor I might as well save some money and go for a 720p.

edtyct
11-01-2005, 04:07 AM
The VGA to DVI converter is basically a convenience for those whose inputs don't match their outputs. Any conversion process from analog to digital (or vice versa) has its downside in PQ; you would do well to remain with VGA. Direct DVI-D to DVI-D on LCD, DLP, and LcOS displays is theoretically the connection of choice when available, since it eliminates conversion artifacts and any analog softness, but availability is the issue.

Unless your PC video card is capable of 1920x1080 resolution, any advantage to buying a TV with that pixel count would be merely arithmetic, since scaling from a relatively low resolution to a high one is a PQ killer. More important, even if the digital connection on the new Samsung were operative for PC, it still couldn't accept 1920x1080, since that format is disabled on the great majority of 1080p video displays for reasons of copy protection. The best way to go is to match the resolution from your PC as closely as possible to the native resolution of your TV (or the resolution that your TV will accept from a PC). In my book, right now 1024x768 (XGA), which the Samsungs to date have accepted through VGA, is probably your better choice.

Unless I had really deep pockets, a big room, and/or a serious need to be state of the art, whether it helped me or not, I wouldn't consider 1080p models until they can actually accept their own native resolution, and, as Breezer says, until any source material exists at that format for them to accept. Even hi res DVD will enter the market at 1080i, for the time being, anyway. But I wouldn't presume to make up anybody else's mind.

Ed