BenSC

DVI HTPC vs Component DVD

Hey guys,

I've got two systems that I use for my HT, and have a quality question:

1) Panasonic non-Progressive scan DVD player with S-Video out
2) HTPC w/ "Powered by ATI" Radeon 8500 with Composite out.

So, I've just moved up to a projector (PT-L300U), and am going to be upgrading cabling to Component for the DVD, or DVI for the PC.

As it stands, using the DVD players composite looks 1000 times better than the computers composite playing the same movie. Colors look very washed out from the computer. However, it looks good on the monitor. I'm debating on how the DVI will look. If it would look good, I'd like to get a DVI cable and use the computer for Divx, VCD, DVD, etc. If not, I'll get component and use the DVD player and deal with composite for DivX for now.

Does anyone think I will have the same quality issues from the vid card using the DVI output?

- Ben

Scott L

What's up Ben,

DVI output should look better since no D/A converters are involved and it's a straight digital connection. Not to mention your HTPC can scale the DVD video to your projector's native resolution. The standalone would just send the 720x480 *interlaced* image to the projector, and it's internal line doubler + scaler wouldn't match what a well-setup HTPC can do.

You need to look into getting Dscaler to control your DVI output. The guys on AVSforum.com have this stuff down to a science if you run into any problems.

Max Leung

Keep in mind, however, that the Panasonic L300U does not allow you to use the projector's native resolution of approx. 960x540. See the many threads on the avsforum.com's under $5000 display device thread about this problem. Basically, even with DVI, you will not be able to get a pixel-perfect 1:1 match with the L300U at its native resolution (some people have been able to get 1:1, but only if they use a larger resolution than the pj can handle, and are forced to use the zoom mode).

Still, you should be able to get a better picture over DVI with an HTPC than with component video on a DVD player. I get a far superior picture on my Sanyo PLV-Z1 over VGA on my HTPC than with my Panasonic RP91 player's progressive output.

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Gabriel_Lam

I've found DVI to be a definite quality increase, even at the 480p level.

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