Newbie question about TV Card & LCD TV

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marmel

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#29981 25-Jan-2009 13:01

I have purchased an old desktop to use as a HTPC. I only really want to run the TV card, I'm not too worried about using it for music etc.

I have purchased a Pixelview PlayTV 2 Pro as it had the BT chip in it that I wanted.

I have a Toshiba 37" LCD with a PC input.

The question I have is would it be worth buying a cheap graphics card that can output the highest resolution which is listed as follows in the TV manual:

• VGA: VESA 640 5 480 @ 60/75 Hz
• SVGA: VESA 800 5 600 @ 60/75 Hz
• XGA: VESA 1024 5 768 @ 60/70/75 Hz
• S-XGA: VESA 1280 5 1024 @ 60 Hz

I haven't received the desktop yet so I'm not 100% sure what the on board graphics chip is capable of but it does have a PCI-e slot if required.

sbiddle

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#191956 25-Jan-2009 13:09

First off if you want to use Freeview|HD then you will need a video card that does H.264 hardware acceleration and TV software that supports this. What software had you planned to use?

Secondly none of those VGA resolutions are widescreen they are all 4:3 - you won't get ideal results using that TV for a HTPC. HDMI may be a better option but being an older TV you may not get 1:1 pixel mapping via HDMI (that'a ssusming the TV does have HDMI).

marmel

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#191961 25-Jan-2009 13:37

TV does have an HDMI input and I have had excellent results using a 1:1 ratio via HDMI and my PS3 and Linux.

I do not want to use a DBT/S card (at this stage). I have a specific program I will be using which will only output via the standard monitor output and can only be used with a UHF signal.

The instruction manual states that regardless of what resolution the TV is fed it will change it to S-XGA. So I guess if I send an S-XGA signal to the TV anyway this will prevent any more procesing than is necessary.

Regs

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#192187 26-Jan-2009 22:31

if you're only wanting to use it for the UHF signal then i wouldnt get too stressed about the picture quality... especially as the 'program' you're referring to doesnt exactly enhance the original picture...

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richms

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#192340 27-Jan-2009 18:07

And the source for that program is 4:3 anyway so the lack out widescreen output modes hardly matters.

Richard rich.ms