Upgraded to new Full-HD TV

[adrian_vg@yahoo.com]

Hi,

Just to let you know. Upgraded to new TV from Thomson 32" CRT Widescreen running at max 800x600 screen-res to a Philips 42" LCD Full-HD Widescreen (42PFL5603D).

After tweaking the gfx-settings a bit, I can now have GBPVR run at 1920x1080p, and the menu-view is stunning! No more corny 800x600, but a crisp and crystal clear HD-pic. As an added bonus, now my Geforce 6200 AGP-card, doesn't tear the picture anymore, even when running an avi-file from the wifi-network using a 802.11g-connection. I used the DVI-out on the gfx-card and connected it to one of the HDMI-slots on the TV. Windows XP now even recognises the monitor as a Philips TV!

Can you tell I'm satisfied?

Thx for a great piece of software!! Still running the 1.0.13-version though, the latest refuses to install, but that's a later problem.

[Pob]

I am envious - have been lusting after a full-HD TV for a while, but can't afford one! For info though, if your PC is using the native resolution of 1920*1080, is playback acceptable? (would imagine it must be harder to drive such a high-res). It has puzzled me that most of the full-HD LCD's only state in their specs that a PC resolution of upto 1280*1024 can be used (For example all the Sony TV's). I assume they mean using the VGA connector. Also if you have a Blue-ray drive would like to hear if it works, as I think HDCP can cause issues and stop playback on the TV....

[InVermont]

>>the latest refuses to install
A little more detail and we might be able to solve that one.
At what point is it failing? Is there an error message?

[sbiddle]

I am envious - have been lusting after a full-HD TV for a while, but can't afford one! For info though, if your PC is using the native resolution of 1920*1080, is playback acceptable? (would imagine it must be harder to drive such a high-res). It has puzzled me that most of the full-HD LCD's only state in their specs that a PC resolution of upto 1280*1024 can be used (For example all the Sony TV's). I assume they mean using the VGA connector. Also if you have a Blue-ray drive would like to hear if it works, as I think HDCP can cause issues and stop playback on the TV....

There aren't really any reasons to use VGA with a new flat panel. You're far better off using HDMI. Most TV's these days do 1:1 pixel mapping over DVI/HDMI which used to be quite rare and was typically only available via VGA.

[Pob]

There aren't really any reasons to use VGA with a new flat panel. You're far better off using HDMI. Most TV's these days do 1:1 pixel mapping over DVI/HDMI which used to be quite rare and was typically only available via VGA.

Totally agree - I use HDMI now but on a HD ready LCD (1360*768). If you check out a manual for, say, a Sony 40V4000 LCD - it does state that only 1280 *1024 is supported for PC connection via VGA or HDMI! I don't know why they say this...but have read threads on AVForum about full-HD sets 'loosing' PC connections at random times. Also on Sony's again it is mean to be impossible to get a PC blue-ray drive working through HDMI due to HDCP issues. Would certainly want to check all these things before buying a set, so interesting to hear from anyone who has already done so...

[gazoo]

Yeah, I have 720p sets but still use VGA because I got cheap and lazy and didn't want to buy HDMI to DVI conversion cables/adapters when I had perfectly good VGA cables lying around doing nothing. Works fine with VGA though. Not sure if 1080p is always available with VGA and some HDTV sets.

[K.S.]

i guess it all depends upon the "TV" set. my old CRT started to distort the image pincushion style, so i had to look for a replacement. i ended up with an fullHD 27" LG M2794D ... yeah thats an monitor (equipped with an DVB-T tuner, 2xHDMI, component, SCART, S-Video, remote) but it fit my needs. the greatest con: it's an TN panel (viewing angle restictions which we don't care about). otherwise: i fed it 1080 via VGA / HDMI & must say i could not spot any difference, both got me an superb picture quality (which came as a surprise regarding VGA, would have expected otherwise). guess what: i still stick to VGA, cause in VGA modus, with signal off it switches to energy save mode (and that way spares me to even use the monitors remote), but in HDMI mode it always flashes an annoying "no input signal" message... paired with an power consumption of 60W & an pricetag fo 450€

[BigMoose]

Also on Sony's again it is mean to be impossible to get a PC blue-ray drive working through HDMI due to HDCP issues. Would certainly want to check all these things before buying a set, so interesting to hear from anyone who has already done so...

I've got a full HD Phillips TV, connected to my PVR via HDMI and have a Bluray drive and it works perfectly. Firstly using PowerDVD, but now using Whurlston's Movie Library plug-in. You need AnyDVD-HD for it to work, but I've had no HDCP issues. I've had audio stream issues though, but that's nothing to do with HDCP! Didn't even occur to me when I bought the drive that I wouldn't be able to get it to play on the telly!!

[adrian_vg@yahoo.com]

For info though, if your PC is using the native resolution of 1920*1080, is playback acceptable?

I had a 800x600 32" widescreen CRT before, so IMO it's more than acceptable. OTOH, I hardly have any HD-movies or such like yet so I can't tell objectively yet. My old movie-collection displays fine, if not excellent, though. I've nothing to complain about really. No tearing, no nothing, like I had before. Reason for this is probably I now use the dvi-outlout on the gfx-card instead of that yellow rca-connector which seems to be woefully inadequate.

It has puzzled me that most of the full-HD LCD's only state in their specs that a PC resolution of upto 1280*1024 can be used (For example all the Sony TV's). I assume they mean using the VGA connector.

They do? Sounds kinda' stupid if you ask me. Why would they limit the resolution, some hardware-considerations?

Also if you have a Blue-ray drive would like to hear if it works, as I think HDCP can cause issues and stop playback on the TV...

None planned yet. They are so friggin' expensive still, but in a few years maybe. I've exhausted wifeys patience with new gadgets in the livingroom for a while. Besides I've a thing with Sony, in that I refuse as far as possible to buy anything labeled Sony ever since I got hit with their rootkit.

[adrian_vg@yahoo.com]

>>the latest refuses to install
A little more detail and we might be able to solve that one.
At what point is it failing? Is there an error message?

I haven't looked into this problem in detail yet. Will probably post more in the proper subforum about this at a later time. To put it shortly though, problem is that the installer goes through it's motions and near the end w/o any error messages, it rolls everything back and leaves me with the previous version. :confused:

I've been holding off a complete reinstall (I have a hunch it might be Windows itself acting up), as the tuner setup and finetuning took me a more than a month to get all channels right last time. Don't wanna' go through that again anytime soon...