Best way to get video from the computer to the TV

[zpapasmurf]

I was thinking of building a Media Center PC to hook up to my Sony Grand Wega TV, but I'm not quite sure how to go about doing so.

I know there are RGB to component video convertors, but how well would that work for going from a computer to a television?

My main goal here is to have the TV be the main monitor for the PC while maintaining the 16:9 aspect ratio and fully utilizing the resolution of my TV.

Any suggestions/solutions are appreciated!

 

[Matthias99]

If it's a newer HDTV, it should have either DVI or HDMI inputs. You can use a DVI->DVI or DVI->HDMI cable to connect to the TV (DVI and HDMI are electrically compatible, but use different pinouts -- you can get adapters that go between them).

If you don't have DVI/HDMI in, you'd need something to go to component (assuming you want HD resolution output) -- ATI makes a custom DVI->component adapter for their cards (I don't think there's anything comparable for NVIDIA), or you can get a VGA->component transcoder box.

Once you get some sort of connection, you can run your monitor at an HD resolution (either 1280x720 for 720p, or 1920x1080 for 1080i), and get output on the TV. You might need a program like PowerStrip to tweak the timings/resolutions (to avoid overscan). Check over at www.avsforum.com for more information than you could possibly ever want on this.

 

[Cawchy87]

I use a 25 foot s-video cable for mine. It doesn't look amazing but better than vhs quality i would say.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
I use a 25 foot s-video cable for mine. It doesn't look amazing but better than vhs quality i would say.

I assumed he wanted some sort of HD output, but yes, otherwise S-Video is your best option (and your only option if your display is an SDTV).

25', though? I'd think you'd get pretty bad signal quality over a cable that long.

 

[Avalon]

I use a 12' s-video cable to play DDR on a 48" Sony tv (not HDTV, though)
Desktop icon text is a bit blurry. This is on a sapphire radeon 7000. Other than that, looks decent.
Probably not what you're hoping for, though.

 

[yadda]

I would have to 2nd what Matthias said about AVSforum. An incredible place....

 

[zpapasmurf]

Yeah, the television does have a DVI input on the back... well it looks like a DVI input, but that doesnt mean its not HDMI. I have read that although the input exists it does not work with a computer input on this television .

 

[kki000]

GWIII Tweakers - ATI/NVIDIA - Powerstrip/Service Mode Thread

Its not so straight forward im a afraid, but if yer willing to slug it out, the steps outlined there will get you awseome results. Im not quite sure if its all worth it though.
Ihad a htpc connected to my old hdtv, and while it used to be the only way to record n play back hidef and get really good quality dvd play, it was an ergonomic nightmare, even with my macro programed remote and wireless keyboard.

Surfing the net on the big screen is kewl, but i like to use my wireless laptop seems is less clumsy to me.

Also with upscaling dvd players with dvi out, and hidef tivo, i lost the 2 main reasons to have a htpc. WIth the dvi dvd player, i get 95 percent of the performance of a top flight htpc along with none of the hassles.
My dual tuner hidef tivo is light years ahead of even where the latest media pc is.
MS support for hidef in their latest media os is laighably inadequate.

The only upside to connecting the pc at this point is for ht gaming and handling other media bits.
My modded xbox handles any media streamed to it from my pc and while it wont match doom3 pixel perfect, it games pretty well.

I have the same tv btw.

Anyway, hidef tivo + dvi dvd player + xbox will prob still cost less than a pre built htpc..
Good luck.
K

 

[rbV5]

MS support for hidef in their latest media os is laighably inadequate.

If you mean having seemless OTA HD+SD epg with an excellent scheduler, no monthly fees and excellent PQ. It maybe laughably inadequate, but its the best I've used by a long shot.

 

[kki000]

hidef tivo

dual hidef tuners, hdmi out, best dvr interface (by far), ability to record ota AND sat, (showtime, discovery, hbo, hdnet etc.) 30 second skip... Im sorry my hidef penis is way bigger.

If you could record anything but ota, then MS might be a possibility.

Only down side u mentioned is monthly fee, which i think is down to 3 bucks amonth since i have directv. Yes it locks u down to dtv, but imho its been the best provider so far for hidef, esp since this device has been launched.

Im sorry i might have gone too far when i said the ms offering was laughable, i thought hd recording was still broken.

Im saying all this from a standpoint of using a htpc to record all my hidef content for a number of years. (was the only way) I thought about keeping my hipix card to have around, but its been siiting unused since i got the hd tivo, sold the card last week. Im sure the ms med edition is light yrs ahead of the hipix gui, but i would never go back to using the pc for day to day tv watching.

The htpc was great when i had it, but advances in standlone boxes are quickly making them a non issue. Like i said, only area i see htpc as being way ahead is the gaming part.

K

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: kki000
hidef tivo

dual hidef tuners, hdmi out, best dvr interface (by far), ability to record ota AND sat, (showtime, discovery, hbo, hdnet etc.) 30 second skip... Im sorry my hidef penis is way bigger.

If you could record anything but ota, then MS might be a possibility.

Only down side u mentioned is monthly fee, which i think is down to 3 bucks amonth since i have directv. Yes it locks u down to dtv, but imho its been the best provider so far for hidef, esp since this device has been launched.

Im sorry i might have gone too far when i said the ms offering was laughable, i thought hd recording was still broken.

Im saying all this from a standpoint of using a htpc to record all my hidef content for a number of years. (was the only way) I thought about keeping my hipix card to have around, but its been siiting unused since i got the hd tivo, sold the card last week. Im sure the ms med edition is light yrs ahead of the hipix gui, but i would never go back to using the pc for day to day tv watching.

The htpc was great when i had it, but advances in standlone boxes are quickly making them a non issue. Like i said, only area i see htpc as being way ahead is the gaming part.

K

Well, there's that whole $900 (FAR more than the cost of my entire HTPC, including two tuner cards and more hard drive space than TiVo!) + monthly fee + having to have DirectTV service (can't get it where I live). And you can't back up your recordings for permanent storage. And you can't use programs like DScaler to upsample 480i content (I'm sure the HDTivo does a good job at it, but I doubt it could match an HTPC). TiVo still has the best PVR interface, but I'm not sure it's "by far" anymore. If BeyondTV's recording/scheduling worked better (they don't have Season Pass, and they don't handle shows on multiple channels as smoothly as TiVo), it would be right up there. I haven't used the new Windows MCE, but it's supposed to be pretty good as well.

Also, they only make PC HD tuner cards for OTA transmission, but you can record unencrypted HD content to your PC through a digital cable box with firewire output if your provider supports it. It's not as nicely integrated, though.

 

[rbV5]

Im sorry i might have gone too far when i said the ms offering was laughable, i thought hd recording was still broken

Not broken, and working very well with my HDTV Wonder. I also have been recording HD for a couple years using a hardware MyHD card.

I wouldn't knock MCE 2005 unless you've tried it on a working system. I was not a big fan of MCE for a variety of reasons, now that anyone can legally buy the OS and put together their own rig, I thought I'd give it a shot..and I'm sold after only a couple of weeks of use.

My family can actually use MCE like its the cable Co STB, and it is superior in every way. The scheduler works great, even recording 2 analog and 1 digital together..it handles it fine, the HD and SD are seemless and integrated. I also understand it supports dual HD tuners, however my setup is currently dual analog + a single HD tuner.

When you add in DVD playback both local rips from the hardrive and from the ROM player, My photos, My Videos (including WMV HD and Divx HD, ect) and FM radio tuner (can't record FM within MCE however) and third party plugins like MyWeather and others...its a pretty kick-ass HTPC solution. The best, hands down, of all the HTPC frontends I've tried.

Its not HD TIVO, but far, far from laughable, quite powerful actually..and stable. The lack of HD recording from Cable Co. or Satellite providers isn't just an issue with MCE.

 

[kki000]

Ive used dscaler before, great program, but sd is sd. Im much more impressed with ota sd on digital channels with anything dscaler was able to provide. Its a great upscaler and no denying its the best bang for the dollar, (free!) but making crappy signals a little bit better wasnt worth the cost in ergonomics. (back then)

You guys have certainly convinced me to give mce a whirl. Id love to get my computer setup again for the gaming. There is a problem since i own the same type of television, makes setup a little bit of a problem, lots of service menu edits n such before i can get it all working well.

For all other features including archiving, i have to tell you the truth, not much out there i want to keep forever and ever. Back in the day i actually dumped a few hd recordings from the hipix to firewire to mini dv tape. I have saving prvat ryan and a few episodes of smart travels on dv tape somewhere. I looked at getting the 169time box, but theres nothing out there i would want to keep for a long time. Thats considering all the premium content I get, i certainly cant imagine keeping anything from ota broadcasts. The 250g hardive so far has been more than enuff, i can add another 300 gig with the kits available now.

Im sorry you cant get directv, the power from dual hidef tuners with all premium content is really nice.I would have paid alot more than 899 for this box, its really that good. I can watch 2 hidef football games at once, skipping commercials, in between commentary etc. 30 sec skip with the 40 sec play clock, its perfect. I can switch hd tuners with one button, keep things paused yadda yadda, i just cant imagine any ms product being as intuitive and easy to use. I will try it out tho.

All the other media options i already have via xbox, incl weather and the dvd server is still 2 expensive for my entire collection.

Im no htpc hater, i loved to tinker with mine when i had my old tv. Its certainly the most feature rich and cost effective solution to handle lots of differnt types of media. I just found more user friendly options to get me 95% of the htpc route. And with the hd tivo, it surpasses anything the htpc can do right now short of permanent archiving.

K