At some point, I would like to find a good quality, but cheap, upscaling DVD player. With our 1080p screen, it sometimes seems a shame to not try and utilize the full resolution (upscaling players tend to give better results than relying on the TV’s scaler). Although the PC is already connected to one HDMI port (via a DVI<>HDMI lead), our TV luckily has two such sockets, so for now I won’t be needing an HDMI switch. Of course, if Hotbird ever carries a serious amount of HD channels, we may want to upgrade our satellite receiver, in which case it will be time to shop around.
(Yes I understand that upscaling may not be the same process as AA with graphics cards, but it was a shorter post title that way 🙂 )
Oct 15 2008
AA Enabled DVD Players
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Jul 03 2007
Got To Love That HDMI Quality
From the income generated from this blog and my other sites, I spent a little money on items from e-bay, e-buyer and a few other online stores. As most of them to not deliver to Kazakhstan (and as our postal service out here is still a little hit and miss), I had them delivered to AlexC’s house. One of the most eagerly awaited goodies was a 10 metre DVI>HDMI lead. We can now watch videos from the PC, on the TV, at the full 1920×1080 resolution, without any of the interference that using component caused.
Although the vast majority of my files are at much lower resolutions, viewing digital photos (I’ll hopefully be posting some of Alex’s a little later) is a lot better now, as we can really see the fine detail without having to zoom in.
Anyway, with that lead, and a proper null modem cable to connect to the satellite receiver (I had to bodge one together previously, which looked a little ugly, and was about 10cm to short to use since we bought the TV stand), the room is starting to look a little tidier 🙂 I can now also upload new firmwares to the satellite box when ever needed, so more channels are available day to day 🙂
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Apr 22 2007
DVI Confusion?
OK, I think I finally understand what is actually possible, and what is actually needed to connect my PC to my TV.
The PC has an Asus 7900GT graphics card, and the TV is the one I may possibly have mentioned in passing the last week or so ;> – Sony KDL 40W2000.
I am currently using a component connection between the two (the TV-out of the PC allows component/S-Video/composite, so obviously compononent is the best bet there).
I could use a VGA cable – 15 pin high density, standard analogue cable. But I don’t happen to have a 6 metre VGA cable lying around.
However, even if I did have one, what I want is an interference free, purely digital connection.
So, using one of the DVI-I connections on the back of the graphics card, I need a lead to connect to one of the HDMI sockets on the TV.
With me so far?
Now, after running in circles, metaphorically, I’ve finally understood what is actually needed, and what should be avoided.
Mainly thanks to the DataPro website, which explains everything quite well here, and then summarizes everything into a table for you here.
The table is very useful, as you can simply check the specifications of your output/source (PC in my case) and input/display (TV in this case), and then match up what you have, to find out what you need.
If you need any further graphical confirmation, I’d recommend the last section of this page from RAM Electronics.
I’d just like to point out, NONE of this post is commercial/for money, I’ve just had a hard time getting my head around what I actually needed to buy, and hope it helps others. Or me in the future, if I end up ordering the cable after a drink or two ;>