thefonz on 20/11/2009 at 19:00
I'm trying to hook up my desktop pc to my 32'' samsung hdtv.
My tv has a hdmi connector socket which is currently hooked up to my xbox via a hdmi cable.
What I want to do is hook both my pc and xbox up to the tv via the single hdmi socket.
So a couple of questions:
1) What is a good, cheap graphics card with an hd-out which I can plant in my desktop pc and connect to the tv to enjoy sweet sweet hd quality?
2) If I connect both xbox and pc to my tv via an hdmi splitter will this affect the quality (both will not be on at the same time obviously!)
I should point out i dont intend on playing many games on the tv from my pc (like, say MW2...)
All of this in the uk...cheers!
Calum.
bikerdude on 20/11/2009 at 21:49
Quote Posted by thefonz
1) What is a good, cheap graphics card with an hd-out which I can plant in my desktop pc and connect to the tv to enjoy sweet sweet hd quality?
2) If I connect both xbox and pc to my tv via an hdmi splitter will this affect the quality (both will not be on at the same time obviously!)
* Most gfx card have dvi out with DVI-to-HDMI adapters.
* Not if you get a reasonable one, but dosent your TV have more than 1 HDMI input..?
Fafhrd on 21/11/2009 at 08:33
If it's got an HDMI input, it's got a VGA input. Why not just use that? PC games through HDMI don't tend to look as nice as through VGA on the same screen.
ETA: And a 32" LCD is unlikely to have a native resolution of 1920x1080. It may support 1080p through HDMI, but it's downscaling the image to 1360x768, so you're going to have worse aliasing than you'd get just running a game at 1360x768 through VGA.
thefonz on 21/11/2009 at 09:37
At the moment I have my dvi connector from my graphics card hooked into the tv via a dvi/vga converter. The only resolution I can use on the tv is 1024 which obviously isnt that great.
To be fair, i can use the setup as I want it for the moment; but it would be nice to actually use the hdtv to its potential instead of suffering less.
Also I have no intention of playing games on the samsung tv via the pc - like I said, I have my 360 hooked into it with an hdmi cable for that.
I've been reading about connectors and switches and it seems if I grab a dvi-hd cable then that will work; plug both into a hdmi switching box and all one cable into the tv hd port and away I go - would that work?
Zerker on 21/11/2009 at 13:31
Quote Posted by thefonz
I've been reading about connectors and switches and it seems if I grab a dvi-hd cable then that will work; plug both into a hdmi switching box and all one cable into the tv hd port and away I go - would that work?
It should, although Audio is a trick sometimes (since HDMI contains the audio signal). If your TV lets you provide separate audio, you can do that. I believe there are also some DVI/HDMI adaptors that you can also connect an optical audio signal if your computer supports it. Alternatives are to put your computer audio directly to a nearby stereo receiver, another set of speakers.
Fafhrd on 22/11/2009 at 01:05
Quote Posted by thefonz
The only resolution I can use on the tv is 1024 which obviously isnt that great.
That's odd. You should at least be able to use the native resolution of the screen through VGA.
Is your PC actually reporting it as a Samsung display, or is it using 'Generic VGA Display?'
Depending on the model you might be able to just update the TV's firmware to open up the other resolutions.
