Converting VGA to component (1 Viewer)

[Samuel_Fred]

In another thread I explain how I get great resolution on my LCD from my PC (displayed at 1280 x 768) but the color sucks. Color with component or DVI (at 480p, 720p or 1080i) looks great, but resolution is unsatisfactory.

How can I combine these two? Smart Homes sells a VGA to component converter that will take my 1280x1024 VGA signal and convert it to 720p. Will I get the same resolution from this as I do when directly hooked up to my TV? Will the colors be component quality?

 

[Dave Schofield]

Samuel, with all due respect, this is why threads have a "reply" function, so that you can keep "conversations" in one place.

Just my $0.02

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I found your original thread here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=183248

OK, so I will answer some questions you raised both here and there if I can:

First, what TV is it, and what is it's native resolution?
Using a computer is definitely preferred over a regular DVD player, as you can scale and process the video for 1:1 pixel mapping, thereby bypassing ALL scaling that is done in the set, and your computer can usually do it better.

Second: it sounds like you need to calibrate software settings in your computer if you are not getting adequate color, OR you have a poorly calibrated/oversaturated DVD player output.

I would definitely recommend you use powerstrip to scale your computer's resolution to the LCD's native resolution to bypass any inferior processing going on in the set, which you can do better with a good computer. VGA is RGB, which is superior to component. Yet another reason to use this instead of your DVD player.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

A computer should be equal or superior in all respects, including color. If you have the ability to run RGB or DVI to a projector from a computer, there is no reason to jump through hoops to downgrade to component, which would not fix your color problem anyway. Something in your computer settings is bonkers most likely. Calibrate with a test disc.

 

[Samuel_Fred]

Sorry about starting a new thread... It seemed to me like a digfferent issue from the one I started that thread with.

>I would definitely recommend you use powerstrip to scale >your computer's resolution to the LCD's native resolution >to bypass any inferior processing going on in the set, >which you can do better with a good computer.

Sorry for my tech-ignorance: what's "powerstrip" and how do I use it?

Also, what's a good test disc with which to calibrate my computer's settings? And how do I know I've calibrated them right and not that my monitor is screwed up? I'm assuming I should calibrate my LCD first, then calibrate the computer's colors, right? I would use something like AVIA to do the former, would I use the same to do the computer? Also: how exactly do I calibrate the computer? I'm running windows 98.

Thanks so much everyone!

 

[ChrisWiggles]

http://www.entechtaiwan.net/ps.htm

Also see the HTPC forum at AVS, for computer stuff in general, and WAAAAYYYYY in detail and over my head :p.

If you run RGB, then mainly the only thing you need to set on the projector is white level and black level, and relative gains of the colors just to set grayscale. Color saturation, and color balance are done in the computer, along with more tweaking of the other settings.

You can use test patterns in your projector (not familiar with whether digitals have these?), monitor calibration software, and also Avia/DVE.

Hopefully that gets you pointed in the right directions.

 

[Samuel_Fred]

Thanks a lot. This helps.
I played around with it tonight using two copies of different DVDs and switching back and forth between the DVD player (DVI - 1080i) and the PC. The DVD player could achieve a color I just couldn't duplicate on the PC, but then again, maybe it was the wrong color. Without a good test pattern I set to work on black & white images only. Problem is once my TV is set to receieve the PC signal it locks out sharpness, and the DVD program I'm using also doesn't have sharpness. My images really need that.

I'm just using WinDVD 4. I downloaded a trial of WinDVD 5, but it doesn't appear to have sharpness either. WinDVD 5 also seemed to have difficulty playing the films without occasional pauses (too big a program, too little space on harddrive ??). Can anyone suggest a better DVD player for PC that includes a sharpness adjuster.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

IMO don't use sharpness for DVD. Sharpness is an artificial enhancement to trick you into thinking you are seeing a sharper picture by adding halos. On a big screen this looks like crap. There are very fine customizable sharpness filters that can do very selective frequency enhancement to the same effect, using ffdshow filtering on an HTPC, but you need some processing juice to pull this off. You may want to use something like this instead.

 

[Samuel_Fred]

There are very fine customizable sharpness filters that can do very selective frequency enhancement to the same effect, using ffdshow filtering on an HTPC, but you need some processing juice to pull this off. You may want to use something like this instead.

____________

Can you tell me more about this, please. Some details, maybe. I'm not very tech savvy, so be gentle. Artificial or not, sharpness makes an image (especially a b&w image) look much better on my relatively small screen (30"). Please explain the alternative, because I'm about to consider getting a different DVD program that has it.

Btw, my video card is about 3-4 years old. Do you think a new one would help with image quality? Also, the DVD programs I've read about online say they output 720 x 480 (NTSC) or 576 (PAL). Are these pixels? Should I be setting my computer to output these or higher (I've set mine to output 1280 x 720)?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Sorry, forgot you had a small LCD panel, I keep thinking lcd projector.

I'm not really experienced enough to detail all the ins and outs in an HTPC, but the goal is to have the output identical in resolution to the native resolution of your LCD (which you've not mentioned yet). You use powerstrip to get EXACTLY that resolution output from your computer. This bypasses all scaling in the projector, all it does is display what it's sent, since it is exactly the resolution it wants, and doesn't need to scale anything to fit it's native resolution.

As for filtering and other on-the fly processing, this is processor intensive, you need a pretty new computer and video card to pull this off. I recommend you brew a few pots of coffee and read through some of the stuff on the HTPC forums at avs. With some searching, you should be able to pull up tons of stuff.