PC on widescreen LCD telly
Discussion
I'm pretty close to convincing myself to get an LCD tv.
At the moment I have a 19" flat CRT which is fine though the screen is quite scratched.
I also have an old 24" crt which is fine but takes up lots of space in my small room, and can't be positioned centrally thus making my surround setup a bit pointless.
So I'm looking at a Samsung 32" LCD HD-ready tv to replace both. Is this sensible? I've seen a pc on an HD lcd before and windows looked perfectly useable.
Games look good on my current monitor and I have a good graphics card, but I am thinking they will look even better on a big lcd panel, is that true? What is the resolution I will expect, and this is comparable to a normal computer monitor's resolution?
Also, will games (for example GTL) play in widescreen modes, or will I have to have blocks at the edge of the screen or stretch the image?
cheers
Russell
At the moment I have a 19" flat CRT which is fine though the screen is quite scratched.
I also have an old 24" crt which is fine but takes up lots of space in my small room, and can't be positioned centrally thus making my surround setup a bit pointless.
So I'm looking at a Samsung 32" LCD HD-ready tv to replace both. Is this sensible? I've seen a pc on an HD lcd before and windows looked perfectly useable.
Games look good on my current monitor and I have a good graphics card, but I am thinking they will look even better on a big lcd panel, is that true? What is the resolution I will expect, and this is comparable to a normal computer monitor's resolution?
Also, will games (for example GTL) play in widescreen modes, or will I have to have blocks at the edge of the screen or stretch the image?
cheers
Russell
pentoman said:
I'm pretty close to convincing myself to get an LCD tv.
At the moment I have a 19" flat CRT which is fine though the screen is quite scratched.
I also have an old 24" crt which is fine but takes up lots of space in my small room, and can't be positioned centrally thus making my surround setup a bit pointless.
So I'm looking at a Samsung 32" LCD HD-ready tv to replace both. Is this sensible? I've seen a pc on an HD lcd before and windows looked perfectly useable.
Games look good on my current monitor and I have a good graphics card, but I am thinking they will look even better on a big lcd panel, is that true? What is the resolution I will expect, and this is comparable to a normal computer monitor's resolution?
Also, will games (for example GTL) play in widescreen modes, or will I have to have blocks at the edge of the screen or stretch the image?
cheers
Russell
Can I recommend you give SImon (ala Derestrictor) a call - he is callin gme back regarding the very same subject and he has lots of very sensible suggestions.
Plus he does some very nice PH deals I hear
Mr Beckerman said:
Can I recommend you give SImon (ala Derestrictor) a call - he is callin gme back regarding the very same subject and he has lots of very sensible suggestions.
Plus he does some very nice PH deals I hear
Indeed, a splendid chap.
Go for the JVC, I have.
That chap had been in the back of my mind all along
I was looking at Samsung, seemed good on the quality/price front at
£520 for HD 26"
£699 for HD 32"
If you are going to use a PC with an LCD TV you need to make sure it can do 1:1 pixel mapping. The majority of which have a VGA input can do 1:1 pixel mapping of the VGA input. However many cannot do it over the HDMI digital connection 
Many of the LCD TVs only accept High Def Video resolutions (such as 720p 1280x720) through HDMI even if the actual panel is 1366x768.
1:1 pixel mapping means that each of the pixels output by the computer is displayed on the screen, if this is not an option then the image will be scalled which will create artifacts that may not be noticed watching TV or DVDs but will be present when using a PC.
Many of the LCD TVs only accept High Def Video resolutions (such as 720p 1280x720) through HDMI even if the actual panel is 1366x768.
1:1 pixel mapping means that each of the pixels output by the computer is displayed on the screen, if this is not an option then the image will be scalled which will create artifacts that may not be noticed watching TV or DVDs but will be present when using a PC.
mr_yogi said:
If you are going to use a PC with an LCD TV you need to make sure it can do 1:1 pixel mapping. The majority of which have a VGA input can do 1:1 pixel mapping of the VGA input. However many cannot do it over the HDMI digital connection
Many of the LCD TVs only accept High Def Video resolutions (such as 720p 1280x720) through HDMI even if the actual panel is 1366x768.
1:1 pixel mapping means that each of the pixels output by the computer is displayed on the screen, if this is not an option then the image will be scalled which will create artifacts that may not be noticed watching TV or DVDs but will be present when using a PC.
If its 'HD Ready' it will accept a Hidef feed over both HDMI and Component (YPbPr)
If it's HD ready or not is irrelevant, 1:1 pixel mapping means that you can run the panel at it's native res.
However as Stig says the Sammy does support 1:1 pixel mapping over VGA, but I don't think it does over HDMI (DVI to HDMI). So as long as you connect it via VGA you'll be fine.
However as Stig says the Sammy does support 1:1 pixel mapping over VGA, but I don't think it does over HDMI (DVI to HDMI). So as long as you connect it via VGA you'll be fine.
mr_yogi said:
If it's HD ready or not is irrelevant, 1:1 pixel mapping means that you can run the panel at it's native res.
However as Stig says the Sammy does support 1:1 pixel mapping over VGA, but I don't think it does over HDMI (DVI to HDMI). So as long as you connect it via VGA you'll be fine.
Not its not irrelavent.
If a TV doenst upscale and is HD ready it will accept a HD feed over component or HDMI (as is mandated by the specification) not only over HDMI, VGA or DVI.
Plotloss said:
If it's HD ready or not is irrelevant, 1:1 pixel mapping means that you can run the panel at it's native res.
However as Stig says the Sammy does support 1:1 pixel mapping over VGA, but I don't think it does over HDMI (DVI to HDMI). So as long as you connect it via VGA you'll be fine.
Not its not irrelavent.
If a TV doenst upscale and is HD ready it will accept a HD feed over component or HDMI (as is mandated by the specification) not only over HDMI, VGA or DVI.
Surely if it doesen't scale the image then the picture will be displayed but it will fit the panel incorrectly as the input resolution does not match the panel resolution?
>> Edited by mindgam3 on Friday 21st April 14:46
Apparently this is a good tool for older graphics cards on LCD panels.
www.boostware.com/hardware/video/powerstrip.html
not used it myself as I'm a Mac'ite. It gets good comments at avforums.com though.
www.boostware.com/hardware/video/powerstrip.html
not used it myself as I'm a Mac'ite. It gets good comments at avforums.com though.
This is a very confussing subject 
I should be getting a 26" Sammy in the near future and I hope to be able to use it with my PC. However the simple act of plugging in the DVI output of my PC into the HDMI input of the LCD would appear to be far from simple
After reading AVForums it seems many LCD TVs (including all the suposidly excellent current Toshiba's
) don't even allow 1:1 mapping on VGA. Only accepting 1280x1024 as their maximum resolution - which isn't even widescren (16:9) 
Most HD Ready LCD Panels are 1366x768 (or something very close).
Many UK/ Europe HD Ready LCD TV only accept the HD resolutions (720p or 1080i) over HDMI.
Thus the internal scaller will scale the image to fit the panels native 1366x768 resolution. So if you pass the TV a 720p (1280x720) image it will scale it to 1366x768
Some LCDs may let you display lets say a 720p image (1280x720) unscaled on the 1366x768 panel with black boarders around the image but I doubt all will.
Crap in'it!
I should be getting a 26" Sammy in the near future and I hope to be able to use it with my PC. However the simple act of plugging in the DVI output of my PC into the HDMI input of the LCD would appear to be far from simple
After reading AVForums it seems many LCD TVs (including all the suposidly excellent current Toshiba's
) don't even allow 1:1 mapping on VGA. Only accepting 1280x1024 as their maximum resolution - which isn't even widescren (16:9) Most HD Ready LCD Panels are 1366x768 (or something very close).
Many UK/ Europe HD Ready LCD TV only accept the HD resolutions (720p or 1080i) over HDMI.
Thus the internal scaller will scale the image to fit the panels native 1366x768 resolution. So if you pass the TV a 720p (1280x720) image it will scale it to 1366x768
Some LCDs may let you display lets say a 720p image (1280x720) unscaled on the 1366x768 panel with black boarders around the image but I doubt all will.
Crap in'it!
I've just built a new PC to hook up to my Optoma 50" LCD Projection TV. Athlon XP 64 Bit 4000+, 1Gb of DDR 400, SATA Western Digital HDD 250 Mb, etc. etc... I'm going to utilise an ATI Crossfire dual Graphics card set up (when EBuyer can actually get around to sending me the correct master card ). It's also hooked in to the AV amp so the stereo output from the soundcard is being upmixed through to a seven speaker set up.
At the moment it is running through a single ATI X850XT Platinum PCI-e card with 256MB on board. It is hooked up to the TV via the DVI-D interface (also the feed for HDTV). The max resolution the panel will display at is 1280x720, which when displayed on screen loses a small area all around the edge of the actual display.
To be honest, it's more than adequate for playing PC games and the second graphics card may indeed be overkill, as I'm already running full screen anti-aliasing with no noticeable display slow down. GTL looks stunning on the screen
Windows applications look fine so long as ClearType is set up for fonts, otherwise the normal jaggedy edges are really noticeable.
If i can find my camera, I'll take a few shots to illustrate the quality........
). It's also hooked in to the AV amp so the stereo output from the soundcard is being upmixed through to a seven speaker set up. At the moment it is running through a single ATI X850XT Platinum PCI-e card with 256MB on board. It is hooked up to the TV via the DVI-D interface (also the feed for HDTV). The max resolution the panel will display at is 1280x720, which when displayed on screen loses a small area all around the edge of the actual display.
To be honest, it's more than adequate for playing PC games and the second graphics card may indeed be overkill, as I'm already running full screen anti-aliasing with no noticeable display slow down. GTL looks stunning on the screen
Windows applications look fine so long as ClearType is set up for fonts, otherwise the normal jaggedy edges are really noticeable.
If i can find my camera, I'll take a few shots to illustrate the quality........
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