computer output to HDef?

I use my computer to view large numbers of stock market charts on multiple monitors. Would it be possible to replace them with one large HDTV? What sort of interface is necessary to send computer output to a HDTV? Would the resolution be any good? How would it compare to resolution on a computer monitor? Thanks.

I have a panasonic 6th generation 50" high def display, it came with the VGA connector, and you can get a DVI addon card if you want that input. It's tight, I am running at 1600x1024 right now, it's one heck of a nice desktop. And your still able to use a second monitor!! LoL

When you say 1600 x 1024, I assume you are referring to the setting in Windows control panel under display resolution. But what resolution does the HDTV actually display? Given that the screen is so large, does this tend to work against sharp detail because it is enlarged? Remember, my goal is to display many financial price charts on the same screen. Lets say 42 charts: 7 down and 6 across on a 50 inch screen. How would the sharpness compare to what I see on a regular computer monitor set at 1024 x 768? It would be an expensive proposition to invest in this if the result would be disappointing.

I understand your concerns about spending the cash and not getting the results you expected, however trust me, you will be amazed. A good 1080i HD panel can display a native resolution of at least 1366 x 768 (thats the actual pixels on the screen).

It's sharp and clear, if viewing at a large resolution from more than 5 or 6 feet away you may wish to use large fonts in windows but the crispness of the information displayed is incredible.

You WILL be impressed.

It is important for you to know what type of HDTV you have and what the capibilities of that display is. Most plasma panels will accept the video from computer video cards directly via either the vga output or the dvi output. The plasma panels also have a much higher bandwidth than the earlier types of HDTVs. Most direct view and rear projection HDTVs are much more limited and most are limited to be pretty close to 60Hz.

If you have a HDTV that has only the component video inputs, then you will need a vga to component video adapter. The ATI video cards have an inexpensive adapter available for their cards, but the one I use is the Key Digital unit that has a vga input, a vga output and the three component outputs. If your hdtv is limited to the 60Hz area, there will be an overscan problem for any resolution greater than 640x480. This means some of the desktop will be off the edge of your picture. If your hdtv will handle 720p you will be able to get near the 768 line output of the standard video card setting, but some HDTVs will not handle 720p input signal and the maximum they will handle for a progressive scan signal is 560p. BTW these signal values are not etched in stone as with the help of software such as availible from powerstrip, you may be able to extend this somewhat. On one of my Zenith rear projection TVs, I can only get to 560p for example.

Next something should be mentioned about the video card. ATI and Nvidia both make cards that will support HDTV formats, which will make the job of interfacing to the HDTV a lot easier. If you go forward with this project, you may want to get one of these.

As far as the quality of the picture, unless you have a plasma panel there are some issues to deal with on HDTVs that require convergence. Even though you get a great HDTV picture, the first time you put your computer display on the HDTV there is a great possibility the picture will need some work. There are ISF services available for most areas to do this for you. My TV needed the convergence tweaked and the left side of the screen was slightly out of focus, for example. Another issue is one of burn in. Unless you have a DLP based HDTV this could be a problem. CRT based rear projection, plasmas, LCD and direct view tube type HDTVs all have the potential of burn in. Nothing will be more irritating than to be watching your favorite movie with a faint outline of the charts showing!

Now that I have addressed the equipment, let us assume you can get to the 1024x768 resolution you mentioned. If the 42 charts are readable on your computer monitor, they will be readable on your HDTV. The only difference will be the size and thus the distance you can be away from the screen. For your application, I would look into a projector system or a plasma panel if your HDTV is not going to work.

links:
VGA to HDTV Adapter (http://keydigital.com/items.asp?CartId={7CF60840-1650-4BCB-BDB5-A56B46FEVERESTA50B1}&cc=500)

Power Strip (http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm)

Most all DLP & LCD front projectors have a high intensity light bulb to help display the image. Most of these bulbs have a life span of around 2000 hours, however these bulbs are some what expensive to replace. Make sure you can replace the bulb yourself and not have to ship the projector to a service dept. I think a DLP is better bet for your ap. Keeping in mind the cost, $300 to $500 per bulb,and the possible down time I mentioned above. :)

I am new to this forum and have been researching a boat load of information. I would however disagree with dlp and lcd burn in.

The two technologies lcd and dlp I would have to say would not burn in like traditional crt.

LCD will not burn in however, you may have issues with the Liquid drying up over time thus degrading the clarity of the Crystals light emitting attributes. Also you can have bad pixels. locked on locked off. This can be a negative affect of LCD however burn in is not one of the drawbacks of lcd.


The same with DLP dlp is a semiconductor. With reflecting micro mirrors. This could lock in place over time but I believe if you start having lock ups of this nature the chip will probably fail before the actual reflecotor locks up.

So in turn DLP will not burn in either.

Here is a nice link for DLP explained byb the innovator and developer of DLP.

http://www.dlp.com/Default.asp?DCMP=TIHomeTracking&HQS=Other+OT+home_dlp&bhcp=1#Scene_1

Hi,
I've been using my 65" Tosh rptv as a computer monitor for years. The best viewing resolution with a minimum of overscan for me is 856 X 480.

I used to use the KeyDigital vga to component transcoders but the video card maker ATI made life easy for me by coming up with a group of cards (different price ranges) and a small vga or dvi to component addapter (they call it a dongle).

If you want to simplify your life, get the ATI card that best suites your needs (and make sure its one that can use the dongle). Dnload a free program, (i would buy it if I were you, its been a lifesaver for many of us) called powerstrip.

Its also great for watching dvds from your pc if you want.

goodluck,
Peter m.

I have just started Tinkering in Hi def a year ago. My first purchase was a Sony XBR 40 Inch. Picture is awesome , But no widescreen is annoying. I bought it under the assumption that as nice a pic as all the new hi tech tv's have , the CRT's still dominated with Reliability and Black level's. Anyway , to my problem. I also believed that with the DVI connection I could connect my Dell 8300 with a Nvidia 5200 graphics card to the set..I have the computer connected to a dell Flat panel with a 1024 x768 resolution setting and can adjust at will through a DVI connection!! Now that I study your website and learn about Burn IN , My main objective , To play games and watch movies in High DEF is pretty much shot!! But my curiousity still peaked, I connected the computer to the Sony XBR 40 . My Graphics card is no longer adjustable , It will only display in the lowest setting 600 x ????. Hertz goes from 75 down to 60 with no adjustment .. I installed powerstrip , No help. I tried manually changing the Driver to accept 1080 . No good . I am pretty stumped. I was planning on buying the ATI 9800 with Break out box and remote to incorporate everything I wanted into one package( camcorder plug in, DVR, Hi def dvd player) But I don't know if the tv will accept my plans??? It plays in 1080i through 2 component connections and 1 DVI plug??? This disapointment will go along with my purchase of the samsung hd931 HD DVD player with DVI output. Pic is crisp but it compresses it so much it is not worth watching on a 4/3 or any widescreen I think for that matter.I just use it in progressive scan mode. Any one with any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mike

I assume you were talking about connected via the DVI port. The problem I had was getting the video card set to interlace at the 1080 setting. The first setting turned out to be 1080p which is what is assumed by powerstrip.


Also at this point I will say that I have an ATI Radeon, so the nvidia card could have different choices.

Go to this link:
MonInfo (http://www.entechtaiwan.com/files/moninfo.exe)
and download this program. It will allow your video hardware to ask your TV what resolutions it will accept through the DVI port. Knowing that will eliminate some of the trial and error methods of trying many resolutions. Hopefully the 1920x1080i will be listed.

Next, I would try in powerstrip to pick a standard resolution that matches a resolution reported back by MonInfo.

Note for setting resolution you want to get into the powerstrip display configuration software and click on the "Advanced Timing Options" button. Next click on the "Custom resolutions" button. The interlaced resolutions will be near the bottom of the list and most 60hz monitors will need one of the 1920x1080i resolutions. If those resolutions are not listed, it is an indication your nvidia card won't accept them.

Good luck.

have just purchased a D52W19 RCA 52" HDTV Compatible Monitor. I already had a MSI FX5200-TD128 with DVI-I output. I purchased a cable ($70.00) to connect the computer to the TV hoping to watch all of the stuff I have on the computer on the 52 inch TV. The problem is the picture is not all it could be. I have ghosting from text and the video does not fit on the screen properly and I cannot access all of the buttons like (Start). Is there something that I am missing? I am using the latest drivers from Nvidia 61.77_win2kxp and Windows XP Media Centre. Please help the wife is going to kill me soon for buying the TV and not being able to do this which is what we wanted to do. I am also not able to do much adjusting as this makes the screen completely unusable. Gotta fix this and I know someone else must have run into this already. Does anyone have the poerstrip settings that will work or any info for thaqt matter as everytime I do something the video goes out and I have to reboot in VGA mode. :?

Your best bet is to work with powerstrip to get as much overscan removed as possible. Next play your videos in a window that is sized to fit your screen. I use a separate LCD computer monitor for launching and control of the computer. It is a pain, but with the overscan that is built in to TVs, there is no way arround it. Sales people should warn away people from using TVs as computer monitors.


Check out the post on Overscan (http://www.highdefforum.com/showthread.php?t=918) and all of the threads in the Computers (http://www.highdefforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=44) forum.

There should be software that could be created to place your desktop in a smaller window to allow for the TVs overscan, but so far I have not been able to locate any such software.

Great forum guys!

This weekend I pruchased a Sony KVL-26HG2 LCD HDTV Television. I have a BFG Nvidia GeForce Ti 4600 with a DVI output. I bought the Sony LCD thinking I could have wide screen computer monitor with HDTV capability and a nifty Xbox monitor too.

The Sony manual says the DVI input on the TV is not designed for use with a computer. However, I was determined to make it work. I got my computer working on the monitor in 720p. I can't get the resolution higher than 1024 x 768. I had the same problem with the computer image going beyond the edges of the LCD screen. No start button visibility, barely visible task bar, etc.

Nvidia's new Forceware drivers cured it all. These drivers add Consumer electronic display support for DVI-based digital displays, such as widescreen plasma screens (CEA/EIA-861B) according to Nvidia's website. There's a nifty little program called NVKeystone I think in the download that allows you to adjust the screen size from corner to corner. I have my entire computer screen visible now.

I am somewhat disappointed in the picture on the LCD. It's not as crisp as my laptop LCD monitor from Dell. I'm still exploring this issue as much as possible and would welcome any feedback to it. I'm thinking of upgrading AGP card for HD output capability for 1080i. The LCD recognizes this resolution, but the image becomes jittery with severe ghosting that is constant. Hope this helps hope you guys can enlighten me too.

The link for the download is as follows:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_61.77.html

Great stuff! Thanks.

I have a Zenith R40W46 rear-projection TV. I've connected my ATI Radeon AIW 9700 Pro to it using the component video adapter. After some messing around, I cannot seem to get rid of the "annoying flickering." It's too bad. I have the desktop resolution set just right to fill the field of view, yet it's unwatchable. I may have to bite the bullet and reduce my resolution. The downside of this seems to be that I now cannot view the entire desktop all at once.

If I can solve this video problem, I'd also really like to get it so that my audio comes out of the SP/DIF coaxial connector on the adapter. This would be the ultimate, since I would then be able to play a wide variety of games on the big screen.

Pointers, anyone?

here is a picture of my desktop on my mits 62" dlp. It looks perfect. I use 1200x666 to remove any overscann. The tv says it is a 'PC720p' signal! I connected using the vga connector on the set, which, BTW, mits says will not do hires, but it sure does!

http://www.highdefforum.com/showthread.php?t=4047

I have the same TV the Zenith R40W46 and have tried everything to get a good flicker free picture. The best picture is had at 940x540p which my setup will do with powerstrip. 1920x1080i flickers and the only other resolution that will work is 720x480p. Well actually 1440x540p works, but the aspect ratio is terrible.