HDTV as computer monitor: feasiblity?

W

Wblane

Does anyone out there know the feasability of using an HDTV as a computer
monitor? It seems like most vid-cards have DVI connectors (for flat-panel
displays). Aren't DVI connectors also used as inputs for HDTV's? It also seems
like most video card drivers support widescreen formats as well. How much would
a 24" to 25" HDTV with DVI inputs cost these days?

I'd imagine HDTV's can't handle text modes right? So and HDTV wouldn't be of
much use when booting a PC (viz. since you couldn't see anything until you get
into the GUI).

What kind of refresh rates can HDTV's handle? What kind of resolutions? Has
anyone else tried this? Any FAQ's out there?
-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)
 
J

J. Clarke

Wblane said:
Does anyone out there know the feasability of using an HDTV as a computer
monitor? It seems like most vid-cards have DVI connectors (for flat-panel
displays). Aren't DVI connectors also used as inputs for HDTV's? It also
seems like most video card drivers support widescreen formats as well. How
much would a 24" to 25" HDTV with DVI inputs cost these days?

I'd imagine HDTV's can't handle text modes right? So and HDTV wouldn't be
of much use when booting a PC (viz. since you couldn't see anything until
you get into the GUI).

What kind of refresh rates can HDTV's handle? What kind of resolutions?
Has anyone else tried this? Any FAQ's out there?
Click to expand...

A real HDTV works reasonably well as a monitor. What you have to watch for
is the ones that have a digital input that they then downscale to SD
resolutions, which is what most of the inexpensive sets do.

There is no such thing as a "text mode" for a PC monitor--as long as the
monitor can display 640x480 it can display the boot screens.

The highest res in the HD standard is 1080x1920, interlaced, and I don't
recall what the refresh rate is but it's not super high.

If the video board can put 720P or 1080i on the DVI output then you should
be in good shape. This is doable with most boards currently in production
using Powerstrip.

The only true HD TVs you're going to find that are smaller than 32 inches or
so will be flat panels and they aren't particularly cheap.
 
N

nobody

sheer said:
You really are talking an LCD with inbuilt HDTV tuner?
Click to expand...

Actually, I've noticed that the DVI input of my HDTV doesn't really work
well with the DVI output of the video card. Generally the PC doesn't
know how to deal with the monitor to display things properly at correct
resolutions/etc....also many games refuse to deal with the display
altogether and just crash. Could just be my TV not being equipped to
deal with PCs.

However, ATI does sell a DVI (or VGA) to component adapter that plugs
into the video card.

http://www.ati.com/products/hdtvadapter/

I got this at newegg for $35 (including shipping).

This thing works pretty well. Through the standard display settings you
can specify which HDTV modes to use (480i/p, 720p, 1080i, and also a
16:9 for WS if you got it).
 
N

neopolaris

nobody said:
Actually, I've noticed that the DVI input of my HDTV doesn't really
work well with the DVI output of the video card. Generally the PC
doesn't know how to deal with the monitor to display things properly
at correct resolutions/etc....also many games refuse to deal with the
display altogether and just crash. Could just be my TV not being
equipped to deal with PCs.

However, ATI does sell a DVI (or VGA) to component adapter that plugs
into the video card.

http://www.ati.com/products/hdtvadapter/

I got this at newegg for $35 (including shipping).

This thing works pretty well. Through the standard display settings
you can specify which HDTV modes to use (480i/p, 720p, 1080i, and
also a 16:9 for WS if you got it).
Click to expand...

My set doesn't have DVI so I use a VGA-to-HD Transcoder. I use a Sony
monitor driver for the set and powerstrip to pick the resolution. It works
well.
 
W

Wblane

This is all beginning to sound too complicated. I remember the nightmare I went
thru a couple of years ago trying to get a 21" fixed frequency monitor to work
w/my 9500 Pro -- I don't want to go thru that again.

Just for the record are HDTV's fixed frequency devices? Do they support
standard PC resolutions? Do HDTV's support > 60Hz refresh rates?

I live in an efficiency aparment (translation: small) and I need a new TV so I
was thinking why not combine the TV w/a big monitor and get an HDTV of some
type.
-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)
 
W

Willie Winger

This is all beginning to sound too complicated. I remember the nightmare I went
thru a couple of years ago trying to get a 21" fixed frequency monitor to work
w/my 9500 Pro -- I don't want to go thru that again.

Just for the record are HDTV's fixed frequency devices? Do they support
standard PC resolutions? Do HDTV's support > 60Hz refresh rates?

I live in an efficiency aparment (translation: small) and I need a new TV so I
was thinking why not combine the TV w/a big monitor and get an HDTV of some
type.
-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)
Click to expand...

Why not get a nice large computer monitor and use one of these. I have
one.

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/tventertainment/tvvideoprocessors/vb50hrtv/
 
J

J. Clarke

Wblane said:
This is all beginning to sound too complicated. I remember the nightmare I
went thru a couple of years ago trying to get a 21" fixed frequency
monitor to work w/my 9500 Pro -- I don't want to go thru that again.

Just for the record are HDTV's fixed frequency devices? Do they support
standard PC resolutions? Do HDTV's support > 60Hz refresh rates?
Click to expand...

Depends. Some do, some don't. Don't count on it, assume that any set you
look at is limited to the resolutions defined in the HDTV standards unless
the manufacturer (and not the store) specifically states otherwise.
I live in an efficiency aparment (translation: small) and I need a new TV
so I was thinking why not combine the TV w/a big monitor and get an HDTV
of some type.
Click to expand...

You'd do better to get a big monitor and use the computer as the TV
receiver.
 
F

First of One

Keep in mind the resolution of HDTV may not be sufficient. From what I
remember reading about HDTVs, there are the 1080i (interlaced) and 720p
(progressive) standards, both with 16:9 aspect ratio, so a HDTV only has the
equivalent of 1280x720 max resolution. Projecting this onto a 36" display
could look ugly when you need to read text.
 
M

maggot

A big CRT and some type of tuner card is what I'm thinking now (since I can get
TV tuner card for dirt cheap right now and have my FIC VA503+ all ready to go).
Click to expand...

Yea, but with an internal TV tuner card you have to have your computer
on to watch TV. With the Viewsonic system it is all passthrough so you
don't need to have the computer on to watch TV.
 
J

J. Clarke

maggot said:
Yea, but with an internal TV tuner card you have to have your computer
on to watch TV. With the Viewsonic system it is all passthrough so you
don't need to have the computer on to watch TV.
Click to expand...

And you can't record and you're limited to one channel and you can't recieve
HDTV.

I have never understood why some people consider having their computer
turned on to be a hardship. Personally I seldom turn mine off.
 
J

J. Clarke

First said:
Keep in mind the resolution of HDTV may not be sufficient. From what I
remember reading about HDTVs, there are the 1080i (interlaced) and 720p
(progressive) standards, both with 16:9 aspect ratio, so a HDTV only has
the equivalent of 1280x720 max resolution.
Click to expand...

I beg to disagree. If the set supports 1080i then its resolution is
1920x1080.
Projecting this onto a 36"
display could look ugly when you need to read text.
Click to expand...

Actually 1280x720 works fine for text on my 8 foot screen.
 
T

Todd

Moreover, the HDTV spec also allows for 1080 p (progressive scan) to be implemented
whenever feasable. Now that will be a TV set!
 
J

JW

A few weeks back I tried my x800 platinum on my sony 51 rear
projection HDTV. The card comes with an HDTV adapter.It did work - but
not very well as the scaling was off. I am hoping the new Catalyst
drivers that came outlast week will fix this. I hope to try it out
again tommorrow

Joe
 
F

First of One

J. Clarke said:
I beg to disagree. If the set supports 1080i then its resolution is
1920x1080.
Click to expand...

Yes, but that's 1920x1080 interlaced. If you feed a progressive-scan signal
to it, will it "downsample" and output an interlaced picture?

Though in the case of LCD TVs, I guess refresh rate is a bit of a moot
point.
Actually 1280x720 works fine for text on my 8 foot screen.
Click to expand...

Any idea what the dot pitch is for your 8 foot screen (or is this a
projector)?
 
J

J. Clarke

First said:
Yes, but that's 1920x1080 interlaced. If you feed a progressive-scan
signal to it, will it "downsample" and output an interlaced picture?
Click to expand...

There's no "sampling" involved, it just takes two passes to display the
image.
Though in the case of LCD TVs, I guess refresh rate is a bit of a moot
point.


Any idea what the dot pitch is for your 8 foot screen (or is this a
projector)?
Click to expand...

What's 8 divided by the square root of the sum of the squares of 1280 and
720? About .005 inch or .13mm. But it doesn't have a "dot pitch" per se,
which applies only to CRTs, it's an LCD-based display so it has a 1:1
correspondence between physical and logical pixels unless I turn on
scaling.
 
M

maggot

And you can't record and you're limited to one channel and you can't recieve
HDTV.
Click to expand...

You watch more than one channel at a time? And why can't it recieve
HDTV? It does 16:9 ratio and 4:3.
I have never understood why some people consider having their computer
turned on to be a hardship. Personally I seldom turn mine off.
Click to expand...

Noise.
 

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