hardware question DVI -> HDMI

[LilY0da]

Heya.
I'm going to move to France early next year (job relocated), and I'm trying to setup a system I'll be able to use overseas.

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to nowadays TV interfaces like HDMI, component or DVI. I noticed that my Video card has a DVI output, and that there's DVI to HDMI cables for sale in every Best Buy and Circuit City in the US, so my first question would be: if I plug such a TV to my current video card (ATI 9600Pro), will it be seen like a basic PC monitor? Will it work basically the same way?

If the answer to the above is yes, does that mean that I could in theory play any kind of video, be it from a PAL, NTSC or SECAM origin on this TV, as long as it's played by my PVR software (like I'm doing today on my regular LCD PCD monitor)
Am I correct?

Second question, is there a quality loss in using a DVI to HDMI cable? Is there any advantage in buying a TV with a DVI input instead of HDMI?

I'm sure your answers will make me think of more questions, so I'll stop here

[LilY0da]

So noone ever tried the above ???

[Kyrra]

Has anyone else tried this yet? Or has the original poster tried it? I was thinking of trying the DVI out on my computer, use a converter and plug it into the HDMI on my TV. Anyone?

[LilY0da]

I haven't tried it, since I haven't bought my HDTV yet...

[freebird]

Heya.
I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to nowadays TV interfaces like HDMI, component or DVI. I noticed that my Video card has a DVI output, and that there's DVI to HDMI cables for sale in every Best Buy and Circuit City in the US, so my first question would be: if I plug such a TV to my current video card (ATI 9600Pro), will it be seen like a basic PC monitor? Will it work basically the same way?

If the answer to the above is yes, does that mean that I could in theory play any kind of video, be it from a PAL, NTSC or SECAM origin on this TV, as long as it's played by my PVR software (like I'm doing today on my regular LCD PCD monitor)
Am I correct?

I can't speak for ATI cards, but most newer cards that support TV out will automatically detect the TV if it is connected to the card. You can then use the wizard or config utility to setup the correct resolution (NVidia based cards, 6200 and newer, do this fairly well). Utilities (Powerstrip in particular) can be used to create custom timings to best fit your cards / TVs capabilities. There is a good tutorial on this at http://htpcnews.com in the How-To section.

Second question, is there a quality loss in using a DVI to HDMI cable? Is there any advantage in buying a TV with a DVI input instead of HDMI?

I'm sure your answers will make me think of more questions, so I'll stop here

The signal quality will be as good (or better) as component and markedly better than SVideo. Don't be fooled by products that claim superior performance that come at a high price either. The differences are negligible.

Hope this helps

[Torque]

Well, i have tried using DVI on my HDTV. Obviously, the text isn't as crisp as on a PC monitor because the dot/pixel pitch is much bigger on a TV (PC monitor usually 22-27, TV is usually 30-50 dotpitch). I tried 720x480 on my 36" Sony FD Trinitron, text was very sharp and easily readable at like 10ft. Next I tried 1024x768 and it was still acceptable, but I wouldn't want to surf the web and read msg boards for more than a few minutes. 1024x768 using S-video is nearly unreadable for me at any distance.

I'd imagine that LCD projection or LCD/Plasma TV would be pretty sharp if you used whatever their native resolution is.

I think I read that the main difference between DVI and HDMI is HDMI can transport audio but the picture quality is mostly the same.

I don't know about the PAL and NTSC thing, I would assume the same thing you did.

I haven't read about any signal loss using a DVI-HDMI cable because the information is digital. I think when you use HDMI, the cable length can be much longer than an s-video, component, etc.

[maxxgraphix]

HDMI is the same DVI except HDMI carries the audio too. Bestbuy wants over $100 for a DVI2HDMI cable. RIPOFF. You can order it from Amazon for $11.95
DVI is MUCH better than component or S-video. It displays exactly what's on your computer on the TV. It's looks great on a LCD TV. I use a 37" @1360x768 or higher. Fonts are clear and sharp. I can use MSWORD from across the room at 12point font. Your graphic card driver can resize the video to fit.

Now for the bad, If you want to watch your DVD's / HD capture @1080i wich is 1900x1080 @ 32bit color output from DVI, you better have one FAST CPU / GPU video card. I have a 128 GeForce 5200 FX overclocked to 375mhz and it can't do fast video at 1080i.

So would anyone like to share what video cards work well @ 1080i with DVI out that don't cost $200 and up? Maybe GeForce 6800 256mb?

Hey Tourqe, that sounds like my setup! But I got a few other goodies.

[Torque]

I was building my Mom a new computer and had bought a Geforce 5200 for it. Figured I'd try it in my PVR to see if it would get rid of the ghosting video I have with the integrated video on my motherboard. The 5200 offered almost no difference in speed, but the DVI looked alot nicer I put my 6800GT from my office computer in the PVR a week later and the video speed was great for what my PVR150MCE could muster. But I'm back to the embedded video for now, I had just got Call of Duty 2...

Now I'm trying to get my Dvico Fusion5 USB tuner up and running and it's smooth as silk under Dvico's software on my office computer, but I've yet to see how bad it will be with my embedded video let alone, the 6800GT paired with the 2100+...