Integrating PC into Home Theater

[Smokey]

Since I hooked up my PC to 32 inch TV and see how good it looked, I officially moved the PC close to TV on top of the subwoofer since the VGA cable I got is only 6 feet. And hooked up audio out from computer to TV also.

Let me first say that picture quality from PC on TV (VGA) is simply awesome. The text is sharp as could be with no overscan or distortion. The computer automatically recognized TV's native resoution (1360x768) and and set it in widescreen mode. Going from my old 16 inch 4:3 CRT PC monitor to 32 inch widescreen monitor is like night and day and adjusted my sit so only sitting 5 feet away from TV.

The images and photos om intermet look so much better and colorfull on TV (not to mention bigger) than my on old monitor. I also downloaded 5 minute nature clip in 1920x1080 resolution and played it in WMP 9 and PQ was simply jaw dropping. If bluray looks like that, then I am hooked.

And since TV have analog audio output (to my amp) , I can get audio from different sources (TV, PC, DVD player) with just TV remote by toggling between inputs. Can't get simpler or more convenient than that.

Anyway as they say in UK, that's a Good Show :)

[Feanor]

Since I hooked up my PC to 32 inch TV and see how good it looked, I officially moved the PC close to TV on top of the subwoofer since the VGA cable I got is only 6 feet. And hooked up audio out from computer to TV also.

Let me first say that picture quality from PC on TV (VGA) is simply awesome. The text is sharp as could be with no overscan or distortion. The computer automatically recognized TV's native resoution (1360x768) and and set it in widescreen mode. Going from my old 16 inch 4:3 CRT PC monitor to 32 inch widescreen monitor is like night and day and adjusted my sit so only sitting 5 feet away from TV.

The images and photos om intermet look so much better and colorfull on TV (not to mention bigger) than my on old monitor. I also downloaded 5 minute nature clip in 1920x1080 resolution and played it in WMP 9 and PQ was simply jaw dropping. If bluray looks like that, then I am hooked.

And since TV have analog audio output (to my amp) , I can get audio from different sources (TV, PC, DVD player) with just TV remote by toggling between inputs. Can't get simpler or more convenient than that.

Anyway as they say in UK, that's a Good Show :)
Good going, Smokey, but it can get even a little simpler

I recently connect one of my computer to my Panasonic plasma. In my case my computer has HDMI output; I connected this with my Onkyo receiver which in turn is connected to the Panasonic. I had to get an additional, 15' HDMI cable to connect computer & receiver, but of course this connects both picture and sound.

My Vista machine's integral Nvidia video provides two monitors, (for the DVI and HDMI outpus). I had to select that the secondary monitor is a "clone" of the primary, i.e. an identical picture is displayed. The Nvidia "sees" the Onkyo model number but as I recall I had to specify the resolution, 1920 x 1080, (which happens to be the same as my desk monitor, though I think it might have been scable to a smaller size). Also, I had to fiddle the TV itself to display 100% of the input instead of 95% which is the default for some reason.

The picture is very crisp and the color good, though the contrast is not quite right making it a bit hard to read, say, black text on a grey backgroud (such as you're looking at).

[Smokey]

So your PC does not have VGA output?

On VGA input, the TV have additional picture adjustments which are grayed out in other inputs. So one can adjust vertical or horizontal positioning to fill screen 100%. And may be have better contrast for easier read.


The picture is very crisp and the color good, though the contrast is not quite right making it a bit hard to read, say, black text on a grey backgroud (such as you're looking at).

Grey background on a bigger monitor do bother my eyes. So I changed the background to Black color with Yellow text. So much easier on eyes.

[BadAssJazz]

Since I hooked up my PC to 32 inch TV and see how good it looked, I officially moved the PC close to TV on top of the subwoofer since the VGA cable I got is only 6 feet. And hooked up audio out from computer to TV also.

Let me first say that picture quality from PC on TV (VGA) is simply awesome. The text is sharp as could be with no overscan or distortion. The computer automatically recognized TV's native resoution (1360x768) and and set it in widescreen mode. Going from my old 16 inch 4:3 CRT PC monitor to 32 inch widescreen monitor is like night and day and adjusted my sit so only sitting 5 feet away from TV.

The images and photos om intermet look so much better and colorfull on TV (not to mention bigger) than my on old monitor. I also downloaded 5 minute nature clip in 1920x1080 resolution and played it in WMP 9 and PQ was simply jaw dropping. If bluray looks like that, then I am hooked.

And since TV have analog audio output (to my amp) , I can get audio from different sources (TV, PC, DVD player) with just TV remote by toggling between inputs. Can't get simpler or more convenient than that.

Anyway as they say in UK, that's a Good Show :)

Blu Ray will blow away whatever it is you're streaming or downloading on PC. Either buy a stand alone player -- or a blu ray drive for your PC -- and try it out. You won't be sorry.

As for hooking up the PC to the LCD, congratz and welcome to the new world of infinite possibilities. There are so many options out there connectivity-wise, especially now that sound and graphics cards with HDMI, digital coaxial/spdif and other connection options that once were found only on stand alone components are easily had.

I only wish that I had all of that back when I was in college. It would have saved me from having to move my clunky CRT, PC, and shelf/boombox stereo from dorm to dorm.

[pixelthis]

So your PC does not have VGA output?

On VGA input, the TV have additional picture adjustments which are grayed out in other inputs. So one can adjust vertical or horizontal positioning to fill screen 100%. And may be have better contrast for easier read.



Grey background on a bigger monitor do bother my eyes. So I changed the background to Black color with Yellow text. So much easier on eyes.

MY videocard has HDMI and DVI/VGA.
I prefer HDMI, carries both sound and video, and the card was
less than a c-note.
Not going back to VGA, which is analog. GLAD you discovered the joys of large screen surfing. GO TO hulu.com, for a ton
of free content(tv and movies, etc).
ALSO iffen you want my old VGA cable (with a gender changer
adapter) email your adress, I will send it collect.
ITS quite long. I am sticking to HDMI from here on out. Great
pic.:1:

[Smokey]

Blu Ray will blow away whatever it is you're streaming or downloading on PC. Either buy a stand alone player -- or a blu ray drive for your PC -- and try it out. You won't be sorry.

It is getting very tempting. The only reservation I have is reading some of movies on bluray not living to its medium potential. I tend to like older movies and picture quality on bluray seem to be hit and miss on older titles.


ALSO iffen you want my old VGA cable (with a gender changer adapter) email your adress, I will send it collect. ITS quite long.

Thanks for offer, but current set up of PC next to TV seem to be working fine. This way I can keep the audio cable from PC to Tv short also. As for keyboard and mouse (USB) being far away from the PC, tried a Gearhead wireless mouse and it was piece of junk. So end up using USB extention cords.

[pixelthis]

It is getting very tempting. The only reservation I have is reading some of movies on bluray not living to its medium potential. I tend to like older movies and picture quality on bluray seem to be hit and miss on older titles.



Thanks for offer, but current set up of PC next to TV seem to be working fine. This way I can keep the audio cable from PC to Tv short also. As for keyboard and mouse (USB) being far away from the PC, tried a Gearhead wireless mouse and it was piece of junk. So end up using USB extention cords.

GO WITH LOGITECH, have had one for years, and the newer
bluetooth models are great also.
And like I HAVE SAID, SOME of the older movies(excepting such as CASABLANCA) are a bit disappointing, but this is marketing
over love at work.:1:

[Woochifer]

It is getting very tempting. The only reservation I have is reading some of movies on bluray not living to its medium potential. I tend to like older movies and picture quality on bluray seem to be hit and miss on older titles.

Ah, another Blu-ray thread! :cool:

As mentioned before, no matter if the Blu-ray picture quality is a hit or miss, I don't know of a single Blu-ray title that's actually inferior to the DVD version. So, even if it's not "living to its medium potential" it's still better than anything else you can currently play on your HDTV.

Yes, certain titles are better than others, but that only applies when you're comparing Blu-ray titles with other Blu-ray releases. Compared to HD broadcasts, downloads, "HD" streaming, and all SD sources, even a comparatively bad Blu-ray will still look better than all of those other sources.


I also downloaded 5 minute nature clip in 1920x1080 resolution and played it in WMP 9 and PQ was simply jaw dropping. If bluray looks like that, then I am hooked.

That would depend on the filesize, but the WMP9 files I've tried before all use a much lower datarate than Blu-ray. With a good AVC encoded Blu-ray, it will likely make that WMP9 file look washed out by comparison.

[pixelthis]

Not to mention that DVD looks better on a BLU player, still not BLU q but still quite good.
AND check out the stripped down DVD discs that come out these days, that formats days are numbered, especially with the death
of video stores, which means that people won't be buying that many anymore.
And why buy a DVD player when a BLU player is 68 bucks for a
decent one?:1:

[Smokey]

Compared to HD broadcasts, downloads, "HD" streaming, and all SD sources, even a comparatively bad Blu-ray will still look better than all of those other sources.

How can bad bluray look better than HD broadcasting or downloads when you have noise, inadequate color saturation and drabby looking bluray film. You assume all films on bluray have been cleaned up, but some of the online reviews say other wise. Like some of movies on DVD that ook awesome and some that don't, I am assuming the same for bluray untill I get a bluray player :)


That would depend on the filesize, but the WMP9 files I've tried before all use a much lower datarate than Blu-ray. With a good AVC encoded Blu-ray, it will likely make that WMP9 file look washed out by comparison.

Ooops, I meant WindowMediaPlayer 12 not 9. My bad.

The high resolution file I downloaded was in MP4 format which I believe is the format for bluray also. The video had high bit rate since the size was like 500 mgb, and it only ran for about 5 minutes.


AND check out the stripped down DVD discs that come out these days.

Now days, the DVD trend is to include several movies in one DVD case. I would definitely stay away from these DVDs. Recently bought a DVD (below) that had 4 movies on it (2 movies per disc), and you talk about noise and compression city on films.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VZaVe9a0L.jpg

[Woochifer]

Not to mention that DVD looks better on a BLU player, still not BLU q but still quite good.

Not always. It wasn't until the 3rd generation Blu-ray players that most of them finally started passing the basic DVD benchmark tests. Before that, Blu-ray players couldn't even pass the most basic tests that most DVD players routinely cleared. And even now, a good DVD player will still outperform most Blu-ray players on DVD playback.

Even now, I prefer to play my DVDs on my Denon DVD player, because its deinterlacing performance is visibly superior to my PS3, which handles Blu-ray playback much better than with DVDs.


AND check out the stripped down DVD discs that come out these days, that formats days are numbered, especially with the death
of video stores, which means that people won't be buying that many anymore.

This is only an indicator that the collectors (i.e., the ones that bought the loaded special edition DVDs, and are willing to pay more for them) have abandoned the DVD format. Overall, the DVD format still accounts for 79% of total disc sales. It's still very much an open question as to whether Blu-ray will surpass the DVD format before optical discs as a whole begin to disappear.

[Woochifer]

How can bad bluray look better than HD broadcasting or downloads when you have noise, inadequate color saturation and drabby looking bluray film. You assume all films on bluray have been cleaned up, but some of the online reviews say other wise. Like some of movies on DVD that ook awesome and some that don't, I am assuming the same for bluray untill I get a bluray player :)

But, you're assuming that HD broadcasts and downloads don't have all that same noise, inadequate color saturation, and drabby look. In my comparisons, I can tell you that the so-called "clean up" done on HD broadcast often consists of stripping away the detail that would otherwise reproduce poorly under low bitrates. That kind of washing out is necessary with DVDs and even HD broadcast, but not so with Blu-ray. Even the most mediocre Blu-rays in my collection look better than nearly all other HD sources.

As I said before, these online reviews are comparing mediocre Blu-ray against quality Blu-ray. They are not comparing mediocre Blu-ray against DVDs or other low bitrate sources.


The high resolution file I downloaded was in MP4 format which I believe is the format for bluray also. The video had high bit rate since the size was like 500 mgb, and it only ran for about 5 minutes.

That still only stretches out to 12 GB over two hours. Consider that most major Blu-ray releases use 50 GB dual-layered media. The MPEG-4 AVC codec that most Blu-rays now use looks absolutely insane when the bits are maxed out on the better Blu-ray releases.


Now days, the DVD trend is to include several movies in one DVD case. I would definitely stay away from these DVDs. Recently bought a DVD (below) that had 4 movies on it (2 movies per disc), and you talk about noise and compression city on films.

Oh man Smoke, there's cheap and then there's CHEAP! :cool:

Might even be worse if they're using single-layer flip discs. This is reverting back to the early dark days of the DVD format. Unfortunately, there are also these kinds of multi-movie discs appearing on the Blu-ray side as well.

[pixelthis]

How can bad bluray look better than HD broadcasting or downloads when you have noise, inadequate color saturation and drabby looking bluray film. You assume all films on bluray have been cleaned up, but some of the online reviews say other wise. Like some of movies on DVD that ook awesome and some that don't, I am assuming the same for bluray untill I get a bluray player :)



Ooops, I meant WindowMediaPlayer 12 not 9. My bad.

The high resolution file I downloaded was in MP4 format which I believe is the format for bluray also. The video had high bit rate since the size was like 500 mgb, and it only ran for about 5 minutes.



Now days, the DVD trend is to include several movies in one DVD case. I would definitely stay away from these DVDs. Recently bought a DVD (below) that had 4 movies on it (2 movies per disc), and you talk about noise and compression city on films.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VZaVe9a0L.jpg

With this DVD of yours not being able to see it would be a benefit.
NOT TO MENTION that to fit four movies (a generous description
of your stuff) on a dual side DVD would still require 600x480 res,
if that.
BTW Smoke, movies are not potatoes, buying them by the pound is not always a bargain, although I AM ONE TO TALK.
Bought twelve "end of the world" cheap sci fi b&w movies,
when I OPENED IT IT WAS ONE DISC!!!
Jeeze...:1: