[bobbagum]

All this business about interlacing/deinterlacing upscaling and what ever is mightily confusing. Upgrading to HDTV will be of very little benefits to me since the shows that I watch that are likely to be on HD (US Drama) are only a couple of hours per week compared to the other stuff I watch now that's not even widescreen (UKTV)
Until HD DVD or PS3 arrives, I think I'll refrain from upgrading.

An interim solutions would be to get a 23" or 30" LCD for the computer, the benefits is a lot more tangible,, I can use the DVI connection to connect sky box or whatever in the meantime; by the time HDCP is mandatory I should then be able to afford HD TV,

Does anybody knows how PC software DVD players compares to normal DVD players in getting picture to the screen?
I suspect that it'd atleast plays things progressively in diminutive 640x480 on the huge display that I'd just bought right?
but what happens when I resize /maximise the window and plays in full-screen on the computer? how does it compare to the hardware upscaler like the faroudja chip?
Would I get better result plugging in the DVD player HDMI output to the DVI in on the monitor itself?

Oh and by the way are there anyway to convert progressive component output into DVI/HDMi for the Computer monitor?

Thanks in advance for any advice

[camaj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbagum

An interim solutions would be to get a 23" or 30" LCD for the computer

You're going to get a LCD now and a HDTV in the spring? You may as well get the TV now, waiting won't bring any benefits

Quote:

Upgrading to HDTV will be of very little benefits to me since the shows that I watch that are likely to be on HD (US Drama) are only a couple of hours per week

There's more than a couple of hours a week. Don't you watch films or sport?

[bobbagum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by camaj

You're going to get a LCD now and a HDTV in the spring? You may as well get the TV now, waiting won't bring any benefits

There's more than a couple of hours a week. Don't you watch films or sport?

I meant getting a computer LCD for now, it'll receives HD when it comes out in spring anyway, the HDTV will be for when my LCD can no longer receives HD content when HDCP kicks in a couple of years from now.

I don't watch any sport, although I have Sky movies, I rarely watch it compared to my DVD rentals, so the most that I'll watch is probably Stargate/Battlestar Galactica on SkyOne and the West Wing, apart from that there's news and Eastenders

My point is that instead of getting an HD sets, i'm better off getting a big computer LCD that I can use to work on, i can get HD on that (the computer monitor) for sometime until the networks decides that I must have HDCP-compatible sets, which would mean quite sometime in the future when take up of digital/HD is more widespread,

it is more likely that the price will fall into a more acceptable range to me much sooner than the non-content protected HD switches off/HD-DVD arrives.

Sorry about the confusing-long winded post.

My points is that the only advantage of HD sets over computer screen is future compatibility with HDMI connection that will be required to play HD-DVD and likely to be required in the future for HD broadcast

So for me, getting a computer screen is more useful, although I can probably plug in the computer to the HD sets as well, the resolution is a bit lower on the HD TV sets.

The only fly in the oinment is that the computer LCD lacks any processing ability to upscale lower resolution content to display it full-screen

Hence my question of is it feasible to use the computer screen as a HD display

(what happens when you plug DVD player with dvi or hdmi connection to a computer LCD anyway? I haven't tried? does it display a 480p picture in the middle of the screen surrounded by vast blackness?)

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Last edited by bobbagum : 12-12-2005 at 03:45.

[camaj]

I'm assuming you're talking about watching SkyHD on that monitor? You'll need one that has component inputs or hope that the Sky box has a VGA output. Even then the monitor will have to support 50hz signals.

The reason I ask about films is the Sky Movies will be in HD so I'm sure you'd prefer to watch a film in HD on Sky Movies HD than on DVD. Don't forget that Blu-ray will be out in the spring also so there's going to be a lot of HD content around. Since you say you'll refrain from upgrading until PS3 (in the spring) comes out I wondered why you'd buy a monitor and then a HD ready tv in a few months

[bobbagum]

Thanks for that,

I didn't know that blu-ray will be here so soon, in any case the uncertainties over blu-ray vs HD DVD will just put me off buying a new dvd player for a generation

Also made the mistake of presuming that sky HD will be hdmi/dvi if it's component only then I have no chance of hooking that up to a computer screen (cheaply)

In that case my plans to use a monitor instead of a HD tv is out the window

BTW, the plan is that I was meant to buy the monitor now instead of a HD-tv, and postpone the HDtv buying until a couple of years down the line when it's actually needed, the ps3 will be hooked up to the monitor just fine, it seems like sky's going to be a problem now, as with HD-DVD/blu ray so it seems like i might have to shell out for a HD set after all, there's no cheapskating these days...

Anyone else care to enlighten me on the performance of computer-based dvd player (software) versus an actual one?

[Jarrak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbagum

BTW, the plan is that I was meant to buy the monitor now instead of a HD-tv, and postpone the HDtv buying until a couple of years down the line when it's actually needed, the ps3 will be hooked up to the monitor just fine, it seems like sky's going to be a problem now, as with HD-DVD/blu ray so it seems like i might have to shell out for a HD set after all, there's no cheapskating these days...

Anyone else care to enlighten me on the performance of computer-based dvd player (software) versus an actual one?

Worth considering that to accomodate HD-DVD and Blu-ray devices in PC's the next gen of PC monitors and graphic cards will require HDMI.
The PS3 will require HDMI to allow you to watch Blu-ray movies, I do not know if component will be an option for HD games.

Modern Graphic cards have mpeg2 hardware acceleration which a software player can take advantage of and of course you can use your PC as a decent scaler to improve the image on your PC or being sent to a display via s-video, component, VGA or even DVI.

[camaj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbagum

Also made the mistake of presuming that sky HD will be hdmi/dvi if it's component only then I have no chance of hooking that up to a computer screen (cheaply)

If you assumed that though you'd need a monitor with HDMI! The Sky HD STB will output HDMI/DVI and Component but it'll only use HDCP compatible DVI, most monitors use ordinary DVI.

BTW, you do realise that the PS3 will have a built in Blu-ray player?

[bobbagum]

That's another fly in the oinment, if SKY does require HDCP,
A box that strips HDCP signals is around £300, plus a processor to upscale the picture for the monitor for that price I might as well get a HDtv, oh well, there's no cheapskating.

Thanks anyway

[silvernet]

Is " Blu-Ray " related to Bluetooth.

Bring back Betamax...