Info Needed on Using Wide Screen for PC Display

[kirkdj]

I realize this isn't exactly the correct place for this.....but I thought maybe fellow Voomers would know and have some experience with this.

I want to setup an older pc as a multimedia pc on my Sony 51" Wide Screen.
It's a ASUS A&A266 MB, 1 ghz AMD Athon cpu, 256mb ram. Now I have an older ATI 7200 All In Wonder Card AGP 4x....which only puts out a 800x648 res. @60 htz. It has a pretty bad picture on the TV. I tried an ATI 9000 which put out 1024x768 @60htz. which wasn't bad, but still not as good as I want...it's still a little hard to see 17' away....I did increase the font size. I had both cards hooked up s-video cable to front input jacks. Will DVI make much difference with this setup? I would like to be able to record tv shows.

Does anyone have a pc hooked up to their wide screens and what setup do they have....video card etc.? Or can someone point me to the best place to get the info?
I would like to only change the video card if possible.....If I can get the picture right, I may invest more in bigger hard drive, etc. Thanks....

 

[cpnkirk]

yeah, this is probably the wrong place for it but I'll say this quickly here, then privately contact you with more info. The only reason I'm posting here is because of all the work I had to do to get this to work, maybe someone else will see this & not have to go through so much.

DVI is so much better than svideo for computer display connections, there is absolutely no comparison.

It still takes a lot of tweaking to get it right, but when you do the effect is pretty incredible.

For more info, check out avsforums. This is where I learned how to do it.

cpnkirk

 

[barth2k]

Get a card with DVI. Don't need a new expensive one. My old time geforce3 Ti200 can put out a staggering 1920x1200@60hz, more than any current HDTV can handle, plus every resolution in between. The nvidia control app will let you select custom resolution and timings.

I don't know if ATI's control panel will let you do custom rez. If not, google powerstrip.

edit: I'm assuming your Sony is a digital display (lcd, plasma, dlp, etc.) If you have a CRT, it's a bit trickier. In any case, life is much simpler with DVI. With s-video, you're just looking at 480i.

 

[bman549]

I have a ATI 8500DV hooked up using the HDTV connector i bought from ATI for $20
Works great and i record and archive shows onto DVD.
I can record off the VOOM box but not in HD, still better SD picture than cable.
You might want to check for and updated driver for your card as the newer resolutions are updated with the drivers for my card.

 

[kirkdj]

That geforce3 Ti200 supplies 1920x1200 @60 htz. to the Tv display outputs?

 

[kirkdj]

Also will that powerstrip program somehow allow my current ATI 7200 to put out a higher resolution to the tv div putputs? It does have dvi out but I'd have to go buy another cable for it. This card does put out higher resolutions but they don;t seem to be available for tv output.....in the display properties where I enable the tv output it says 800x 648 @60htz Max Resolution. Is it possible to get more out of this card?

 

[Ilya]

I realize this isn't exactly the correct place for this...

Good! Then you won't be surprised to see this thread moved...
And since you wanted to talk to fellow Voomers, let's keep it in VOOM Chit Chat forum...

 

[Ilya]

... I'll say this quickly here, then privately contact you with more info. The only reason I'm posting here is because of all the work I had to do to get this to work, maybe someone else will see this & not have to go through so much...

Welcome to the forum, cpnkirk!
I am sure, many of us will be interested to know, so why not post it here for everyone!

 

[cpnkirk]

OK, I'll put some more info here.

DVI is the way to go, without a doubt. svideo or composite simply won't cut it for PC display

Each TV has a native resolution & you'll have best results matching that resolution from your PC. You'll probably have overscan (picture bigger than TV) regardless, due to the way TVs work as opposed to the way that dedicated monitors work. Powerstrip will help with this, as well as helping with different resolutions. The help you get from powerstrip will partly be dependent on what driver you have from ATI.

Even with powerstrip + the latest drivers + DVI, I still had enough overscan to cause a problem: I could barely see the taskbar & couldn't see any scroll bars on the right of the screen, so I had to go into the service menu on my TV to fix this. Maybe you won't have to do this (if you do, be careful - bad things can happen here if you make a mistake).

Once I got mine working right, I was hooked: I ended up spending $1500 (some of that was for items that never really got used beyond the first try - they just didn't do what I needed) on software & hardware to complete the experience. The best purchase was the top of the line sound card which gave me some awesome surround sound, due to the fine controls over individual speaker volume. Sound placement in the room was stunning - the best I've heard. Unfortuneately, I was never able to get a video PQ that I was happy with...then marriage & buying a house intervened, so I stopped working on it, got Voom, and now love the picture (although I do miss the surround sound coming from the computer - it has such better controls than my stereo!).

There are lots of free & cheap software like powerstrip, myhttp, zoomplayer, and beyondtv for turning your PC into a DVR. If you have a "typical" hacker mentality, you might just get sucked into a world of video & tweaking that will eat up all of your waking hours, like I did. Getting it all to work can be a pleasant experience, though

Unreal Tournament w/ a 42" widescreen from across the room w/ a wireless keyboard & mouse (not to mention surround sound) is something to be experienced!

 

[bman549]

I have my PC output set to 1152x648.
You may have to go into the adapter setting to select this.
Select display properties then select advance and the adapter tab. There should be a button the says "list all modes".
My display fits on my Sony HDTV now using the ATI HDTV adapter with the YPrPb connector.
Make sure you have the most updated drivers which will have more display modes.