1920 x 1080 is it that simple? (1 Viewer)

[Harold Southard]

I have a quick question. I would like to try using the new T2 dvd (coming June 3 http://www.wmvhd.com/ ) that has the wmvhd disk on my RPTV. I would be using my laptop as the player. I would get a cable to go from the svga to the Y Pb Pr input on my set. That input is 1080i. My video card will do 1920 x 1080. Will that resoulution be correct? The reason I ask is I have seen others talking about using Powerstrip. Why would they use that if you can just get a vid card that does 1920 x 1080? If you are wondering my laptop is a Sager 8887. ATI Radeon 9000, 128 meg ddr vidio ram. 2.4 Ghz. 512 megs ram. It is a P4 (not mobile). So computer power should not be an issue. I also have a digital audio out, 5.1. I would Just like to give it a try to see how good it looks. Just need to know if I need to "resize" the screen with Powerstrip. If I get good results I plan on building a HTPC later. Hope I was clear. T.I.A.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

1920x1080 in desktop setup is 1080 PROGRESSIVE (depending on refresh/sync rate of course), your videocard needs to support interlaced resolutions and you need to know how to hack it to use them (which powerstrip makes easy, thus everyone uses it).

Plus, your TV will have considerable overscan (you probably won't, for example, be able to even see the toolbar at the bottom of a windows desktop)-- powerstrip lets you tweak with the front/back porch sync settings to get more screen out of your screen.

So, in short, no it's not that simple.

 

[Christian Behrens]

Did you actually test the sample clips on that site? They say that for 1080 progressive you need a 3 GHz CPU, which is also what I've read in various places, so unless you've tried it successfully, don't expect it to work smoothly.

-Christian

 

[Joe Hsu]

Yeah, regardless of what resolution you plan on running at, the processing on your laptop is pretty decent, but the Radeon 9000 is really going to be the weak link.

 

[Harold Southard]

Thanks for the info on why I need to use powerstripe. That explains alot. As for running the videos on that site, yes I ran them all. The only one I had issues with was the Scooby Doo 2. All the others ran great. I am going to dl the SD2 again I think it may be corrupt. But yes all the others ran fine with no dropped frames. I do plan on building a HTPC, but just want to give this a try just for sh!ts and giggles. The T2 1080, Dolphins 1080, Speed 1080, Coral Reef Adventure 1080, Dust to Glory 720, The Magic of Flight 720 all ran great and I was impressed by them. That is what has got me in the mood to try this. If all goes well and with the help of fine folks like you I will learn alot and do my HTPC right the first time. Thanks.

(I love my laptop, it rocks!)

 

[Harold Southard]

I found the T2 dvd. It played with out a single droped frame, the 1080p on disk 2! Now to find the cable and try it on the RPTV. I did get powerstripe. Not able to get into the resize menu, do I have to buy the full version? Is there any other software that will do it?

 

[RossH]

I tried hooking my Mac Mini up to my 42" Sony with a DVI-D cable yesterday. It looks great (runs at 1920x1080 at 60Hz) but like Vince said, I couldn't see my 'dock' menu, or the menu bar at the top of my screen. There's no way to adjust overscan in the Mac OS display settings (that I can see anyway) without a 3rd party program.

I've just found DisplayConfigX. I haven't used it yet (I'm hooked up to my 19" monitor again), but it has a button for "interlaced" and can adjust several different timings and refresh rates etc.