Computer to Plasma

[Spec_R]

Connecting Plasma to your computer. Has anybody done that here in this forum? How's the quality of it? Let say that I am buying a 42" 1024x768 plasma TV and I want to hook it up to my computer...but it doesn't support DVI or VGA but it have HDMI, could I use a HDMI to DVI link to connect it to my computer? and maybe if the quality is bad...what happen if I buy a better graphic card, will it be better? thanks a lot!

 

[hooRAH]

I have my HTPC connected to my plasma, but my plasma has a VGA input. I can't tell you about the DVI to HDMA cables quality. No, you will not get better quality with a better video card, nor is the native resolution of a plasma TV 1024x768.

If you're considering purchasing a plasma with the intent of hooking up a PC at 1024x768, you need to do a little more research on plasmas before throwing down the cash. Mine has a native resolution of 1280x768, for example. If the one you're interested only does 1024x768, its probably not HD, in which case you don't want it.

 

[lakedude]

I'm not 100% sure but I thing that hdmi is just dvi with sound. A dvi to hdmi cable should provide the same quality as a plain dvi cable if in fact this is true.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing so I've been reading up on it.

 

[linux_0]

Had a 52" plasma that I got to play with for several months. The native resolution was 1280x768 and it was terrible as a computer display.

It got a really bad case of burn-in and the colors were bleeding like CRAZY!

I was very disappointed in plasmas and I would not recommend them either for use as a computer display or as a TV. Certainly NOT worth 5-10K.

A nice LCD display should work a lot better. If you need something huge use a projector instead.

 

[lakedude]

I have my HTPC connected to my plasma, but my plasma has a VGA input. I can't tell you about the DVI to HDMA cables quality. No, you will not get better quality with a better video card, nor is the native resolution of a plasma TV 1024x768.

If you're considering purchasing a plasma with the intent of hooking up a PC at 1024x768, you need to do a little more research on plasmas before throwing down the cash. Mine has a native resolution of 1280x768, for example. If the one you're interested only does 1024x768, its probably not HD, in which case you don't want it.

42 inch plasma TVs are typically 852 by 480 native, which they call "enhanced" def and 1024 by 768 which they call "high" def or HDTV.


HDTV has several standards including 720p and 1080p where the number stands for the horizontal resolution. A 852 by 480 display only has 480 horizontal lines of res and is NOT HDTV so they call it "enhanced". A 1024 by 768 display does meets the 720 hd spec (at least in the horizontal) so they can call it HD (the full 720p spec is 1280×720). A 1024 by 768 dispaly does not meet the 1080 standard and neither does your 1280 by 768. To meet the 1080 spec you must have at least 1080 horizontal lines of resolution.

That said many TVs that can not display true 1080 signals can still take a 1080 input. If you feed a 1080 signal into a 720 TV it will convert the singnal down to a 720.

I've never seen a 42 inch TV that has 1280 by 768. I've seen 852x480, 1024x768, and 1024x1024 but never 1280 by 768. 1024x768 is the current defacto standard for 42 inch displays. 50 inch displays are usually 1366 by 768. Note that even a 1366 by 768 display does not meet true 1080 standards.