PC to Big Screen TV

[edlennon]

I'm looking to connect my computer (Win2000 Pro os) to a big screen tv. My primary use for this computer/TV combo is to access the internet and use my computer in the living room. My big screen tv is a few years old and does not have any digital inputs. What type of video card should I use to ensure good quality. I've seen "tv out" video cards in the past that look blurry at best when viewing a computer screen. I'm hoping the technology has advanced in recent years.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[phsstpok]

TV-Out hasn't changed. They still mostly use 480i resolution but without true interlacing. Instead, they double scan one field and you only get about 220 lines of effective resolution. I don't recall how much (how little) horizontal resolution. In short TV-Out still stinks and you can't use a TV for text not via TV-Out, too blurry.

Does your TV have RGB inputs?

Since the time of Radeon 8500 ATI has been selling a VGA to RGB adapter. The adapter is included with All In Wonder 9700 PRO and probably some other AIW models.

The ATI adapter supports much higher resolution than TV-Out but you would be limited by your TV's capability.

Do you have any links or specs on your TV?

<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>

 

[dictatorfagan]

I have a Radeon 9700 non pro, but would one of these adapters still allow me to get a better picture on my TV? I have a thread here (http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=87020#87020) where I was talking about the bad picture quality of using TV-out to watch DVDs, so can you think of any solution that would allow me to get as good quality video as my PS2 does on my tv with my computer? Any advice is welcome

 

[phsstpok]

I thought you were talking about video quality in general as in using your TV as a monitor.

The adapter would improve picture quality in that case but you still need to have RGB input on your television. The reason it should work better is.

If TV-out still use that horrible interlacing hack (dropping one field) that would explain the problem. You get only half the scan lines. However, I would think a game console would do the same thing. The results should be about the same.

640x480 resolution usually give the best results for TV-out. 720x480 is the native resolution of DVD. Try setting your DVD playback/desktop to one of these resolutions. (You might need Omega's drivers, www.omegacorner.com instead of ATI standard drivers for the 720x480 resolution). See if either of these improved DVD playback.

Wish I could test this for you but I do things the other way. That is, I use my monitor as my TV with help of the Viewsonic VB50HRTV TV Tuner which is basically a settop box for monitors. I also don't have a DVDROM just a standalone DVD player.


<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>