How to connect PC to HDTV?

[rafal]

Does anyone figured out how to connect PC to HDTV set with composite inputs?
I am guessing that resolution should be set to 1280 x 720 60Hz.
Anybody has any experience/suggestions?

 

[Guest]

Isn't all you need a video card with the right output?


- Every private citizen has a public responsibility

 

[RavenPrime]

Composite or component--one or three cables?
I have yet to see a video card out there with component outputs. Most use S-video or composite outputs for TV. Since I don't have a HDTV yet, S-video works great for me.
Check the back of your HDTV, some have a VGA input. If not you may be able to get one for it. Also, you may be able to find a converter from S-video to component though I would think a HDTV would have one or more S-video inputs and I do not know if there is a significant difference in quality between S-video and component. S-video and component are both definitely better than composite.

James

 

[Guest]

Are you guys bluffing or what? For example, NTSC and PAL has different resolutions. So far I know that geforce2,readeon,3dfx, matrox, etc. only supports PAL and NTSC resolutions (~700X500). First of all, according to nVidia, Geforce2 can decode 16 different HDTV modes, but I doubt that it has the capability to ENCODE to these different modes. Connecting an S-Video to an HDTV screen will not make the display to HDTV format but NTSC or PAL format for backward compatibility but of course, it will always be crispier than a conventional TV but it will not go up to resolution like 1280X720, 59.95 fps resolution! I don't know any video cards that can output HDTV format.

 

[McDunn]

I'm not sure if this will meet all your needs but Pinnacle Systems makes a tuner card called PC HDTV that I'm looking at for a system I'm building. It looks like it's got some great capabilities at a decent price (~$300). Info can be found at:
<http://www.pinnaclesys.com/productpage.asp?Product_ID=104>

Hope this helps.... SteveO

 

[Guest]

I've seen Hauppauge HDTV cards, but they're like $200 or more.