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What is the best way to connect a PC to HDTV? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: London
Posts: 313
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What is the best way to connect a PC to HDTV?
Not sure if this belongs to this forum or computing forum...
I've got a PC with a VGA output (no "TV out" or similar ports), and a sony Bravis with a 15 pins PC port. Is buying a VGA M to M cable the best way to connect the two together? I have also thought about getting a DVI-HDMI cable and then get a VGA-DVI adaptor on the back of my PC. Would picture quality any better if connected this way? I have also seen some kind of PC to TV switch box in the market, are they worth considering? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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A VGA cable will give pretty good results. A VGA to HDMI device is only moving the job of making the signal digital from an expensive TV to a cheap bit of Chinese electronics, no gain at all there. I chose my lappy for it's HDMI out put, if yours doesn't have it, VGA is best. You know you have to enable dual monitors in the display properties? You can also set independent resolutions for the lappy screen and the TV, so you may well be able to sent the TV it's native resolution, which will help the picture no end. You'll be moderately amazed at the clarity in any case.
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: London
Posts: 313
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Quote:
A VGA cable will give pretty good results. A VGA to HDMI device is only moving the job of making the signal digital from an expensive TV to a cheap bit of Chinese electronics, no gain at all there. I chose my lappy for it's HDMI out put, if yours doesn't have it, VGA is best. You know you have to enable dual monitors in the display properties? You can also set independent resolutions for the lappy screen and the TV, so you may well be able to sent the TV it's native resolution, which will help the picture no end. You'll be moderately amazed at the clarity in any case.
) The thing is I only have one VGA output in my PC, so I will have to pull the plug out anyway from my monitor and connect it to the TV. Is that the only way I can do?
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#4 |
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 6,762
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I connect my laptop to a 40" Sony Bravia LCD via VGA and the picture is excellent. Quote:
The thing is I only have one VGA output in my PC, so I will have to pull the plug out anyway from my monitor and connect it to the TV. Is that the only way I can do?
Only way round it would be to buy a new GFX gard with dual output or invest in an external box of tricks such as a Matrox VGA splitter ... http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Product...ource=googleps ... but you could pick up a dual output GFX card for less than that. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 28,589
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Ah, right, I assumed it would be a laptop, ignore that bit then! Just plug it in and something will appear. Then you can set the resolution/refresh to whatever looks best. You might be able to use 1366/768 if it's a V series, or 1920/1080 if it's a W series, not 100% sure if these work on Bravias.
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#6 |
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 6,462
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Kevilad, most serious PC gamers know their graphics card better than they know their girlfriend, and since you haven't mentioned your card by name I'm going to take a guess that you're not a die hard gamer, right?
Sancheeezes suggestion of a new dual output graphics card is the right way to go. If you just want to play the occasional game or watch downloads then there are plenty of options from £30 up which also have digital outputs - usually DVI. Push the budget up a little and you can start to get in to cards with HDMI outputs. That option starts to become very interesting if you add a Bluray drive to the PC. One big advantage of a decent dual output card compared to a simple VGA splitter is the ability to run different resolutions and refresh rates for the two displays. |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: location location
Posts: 28,248
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I've got an nVIDIA 6600 card with DVI and VGA outputs - the DVI drives my PC monitor and the VGA connection goes to a Samsung TV at 1680x1050 resolution - picture is rock-solid and looks gorgeous.
You don't need a state of the art graphics card or DVI. |
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) The thing is I only have one VGA output in my PC, so I will have to pull the plug out anyway from my monitor and connect it to the TV. Is that the only way I can do?