To answer all questions first:
Im using the vga or dvi that came with it, not sure what it's called, the smaller one thats blue.
Im using my dvd drive as a DVD player, so if you can set progressive scan on computer dvd drive, fill me in
I was using PowerDVD to watch my DVDs.
I was watching wmv HD on windows media player.
I forgot the name of my video card, Radeon 850 XT PE or XT or there was another 2 letter thing at the end lol!
I was expecting the DVD to look like a DVD. DVDs looked DVD quality on my 19 inch at 1024x768 or whatever it was. I know im only 3ft away from the monitor but dvds cant look that bad up close. Givin I watch DVDs on either a 35 inch from 8ft away or a 55" inch from 12ft away so obviously my distance to size ratio is better.
I've never had an HDTV before, I've only ever glanced at them at stores real quick and that wasnt enough to burn in. The best quality picture i've ever seen in my life has been DVDs on my 35 inch non HD and I've only been lookin at the monitor for a total of 2 hours since I got it so I dont think it's a product of staring at a really defined picture then downgrading and noticing terrible flaws.
I tried watching two HD files. One was that one about surfing on the wmv HD site which was 1080p and this Madagascar trailer which is 720p. They look good, but there's something missing. I dont know how to explain it. It's like the HD is there but it's not there, one aspect of it is there but it's lacking the other one, does that make any sense?
It's a bit harder to tell about the Madagascar picture, but even the HD movies I've watched seem like they got alittle bit of fuzz goin on, like watching a movie in the theater just not as intense on the fuzz. My DVDs look like they have a slight touch of "noise" in the picture.
Im not sure what the situation is with that as far as resolution which is kind of sad considering I do so much editing. Does watching 720x480 on 1920x1200 ruin the picture? If I watched 720x480 at a resolution of 720x480 will it start lookin normal? If im on 720x480 and I turn on a movie thats 1080x720, whats the result gonna be?
I've never understood clearly all the combinations of how resolution works. Like if your watching a video on the computer that's 640x480, does it sustain that number of scan lines and pixels no matter how big or small you make it? Are all pixels the same size? If so how do you get a better quality picture thats the same size? If it's 1080x720 but has a low bitrate like 500Kb/s is it still considered high definition?
Could the problem be widescreening material that isnt widescreen? Why is it that even with a widescreen there's still black bars, it's like now a days yah hardly ever use 20% of the screen. I hope I dont end up havnig to change resolutions everytime I want to do something, that doesnt seem like a very practical thing.
I do plan on buying a soundcard with an optical so I can hook my speakers and reciever up to it and my monitor does have component video on it's belly so I thought I might hook a DVD player up to it when the HT is set up.
I dont even remember what I just typed and I think I was about to repeat something so I'll stop rambling there.
I just trust that from where I'm sitting, on a 24 inch screen, DVD should look better then that. And then the HD files not looking right also supports my theory. I was under the impression the leap between DVD and HD was gigantic and that by all means I shouldnt be seeing what im seeing on 1080p, even if I am 3ft away from a 24 inch.
