tv display quality through hdmi

[Arkrival]

I will soon be buying a video card with HDMI outputs and My good 22' monitor just broke . All I have left now is a really old 15' lcd and my 40 inch LG 720p tv. I'm not too excited about having to see my new card on such a small and older monitor so I was wondering if I would get decent quality if I use my tv through the HDMI output. I have used my TV as a display in the past but It was just using the standard VGA connection. The quality was really bad compared to any monitor but I'm wondering if I will see an improvement using HDMI?? My instincts are telling me that it will still be really low quality due to the fact that tv's don't really support high resolutions but what do you guys think?? I don't really have the funds available for a new monitor at the moment.

 

[Soundmanred]

You just said your TV was 720p.
That should answer your question about "TV's not supporting high resolutions".
Just use it.

 

[Arkrival]

You just said your TV was 720p.
That should answer your question about "TV's not supporting high resolutions".
Just use it.

I'm just wondering if HDMI over VGA would make some sort of difference because even on the max resolution supported, the quality was god aweful on VGA(way worse than it would have been on the same reso through my monitor). I'm probably missing some key bit of information here.

I guess my question is whether or not my tv's low resolution will matter since I'm using hdmi??

-sorry about the endless edits, I'm just trying to figure out if I should start looking into saving for a new monitor now, as I wont actually be able to test the quality through my tv(hdmi) until i receive my card which will still be a week from now.

 

[Soundmanred]

Why don't you just try it? (When you get your stuff)

 

[Arkrival]

Why don't you just try it? (When you get your stuff)

That's the plan, but I'm looking for some insight on VGA vs HDMI asap. If someone comes on here and tells me "Monitors over tv displays no matter what" I could go ahead and start saving for a monitor now.

 

[Soundmanred]

I haven't had a "monitor" in a few years.
I use 1080p displays, a 47" in the living room and a 42" in the bedroom (both hooked to cable and a PC.)
I do have monitors running as secondaries (17" in portrait mode in the bedroom, 23" in the LR), but only to show the weather, time, pc status, etc.
Pic of the bedroom setup. I need to get new pics of the LR setup as things have changed alot.:
http://app.onlinephotofiler.com/Img1/A_8/9/9/1/21998/435143756e7c4c48bc4f67415754df7c.Large.jpg

 

[iCyborg]

It depends on the reason why the quality was bad for you. If it's resolution and text sharpness, then no, HDMI won't help you, monitors are much better for PC output, they've been designed for this after all: higher resolution and most importantly much lower pixel pitch. And if your tv is 720i and not 720p, text sharpness will be noticeably poorer on TV.
Even on better LCD monitors lots of people have a hard time distinguishing between VGA and DVI (pretty much the same thing as HDMI), so at 720p it should be a non-factor for all practical purposes.

 

[Concillian]

HDMI is digital, so there might be some improvement. Don't expect major miracles, though.

 

[dpodblood]

An HDMI connection will be better than VGA, but at 720p don't expect it to look amazing, unless you sit quite a way back from the screen.

 

[zagood]

The main issue I've run into has been overscan/underscan. Different models of TV react differently to both VGA and HDMI signals, and sometimes the drivers can't correct for it.

Another thing to watch out for is any type of post-processing done by the TV. Shut all of it off...smoothing, color correction, etc.

You're just going to have to test, sorry. Text is going to look pretty crappy.