CAnth_L

PC to HDTV Quality

Before I purchase a transcoder to hook up my pc to my component hdtv does anyone who has done this have any opinions on the quality of the picture for gaming, and are you running 1080i or what? I understand the basics of what I need (powerstrip, etc.), but is gaming at whatever resolutions as nice as I am expecting.
I would appreciate any opinions anyone may have.

CAnth_L

bump

Max Leung

Text will be very fuzzy in virtually all resolutions except 480p and 540p. A lot also depends on the quality of the cables and the transcoder you use.

With that said, a Dreamcast using a VGA cable and a VGA-to-Component Video transcoder looks very nice on my Toshiba TW40X81 (40" widescreen RPTV). However, for some reason, it doesn't look as good using my HTPC. On the other hand, using an NEC LT240 DLP projector with the transcoder and my HTPC looks very nice (yes I know the LT240 has VGA, but I wanted to see how it would look with component video on a PC).

In all cases, text varied from very fuzzy to somewhat acceptable, unless I stick with 848 or less horizontal resolution, or if I don't match the resolution to the TV's native resolution.

YMMV.

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him...a super-callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Gameshow host: "Is taking Viagra kosher during Passover dinner?"
Whoopee Goldberg: "Not if it leads to pork."
Kermit the Frog: "Hey, that's my line!"

CAnth_L

Thanks for the reply.
Gaming on the other hand will probably look alright? I would love to see my favorite shooter in hi-def on my 50" tv.

Max Leung

It should look pretty decent. Although, you may need to adjust your TV set to keep the image centered, and the brightness will likely be way off -- typically it will be a tad too dark. You may need to enter the service menu for these types of adjustments, depending on your set.

Oh, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City looks excellent on my projector...the game supports oddball resolutions and widescreen...960x540 for example!

You may find that most games do not support widescreen modes though. I'll bet that 90% of them will look all stretched!

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him...a super-callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Gameshow host: "Is taking Viagra kosher during Passover dinner?"
Whoopee Goldberg: "Not if it leads to pork."
Kermit the Frog: "Hey, that's my line!"