Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gay in korea]

So I am trying to set up an xmas gift for someone and am curious as to what the best way to do it would be.

Plan: new 32" LCD TV (720), connecting it to the computer, while the comp remains connected to the monitor.

Specs: Windows Vista OS, the tower has two serial ports, S-video out, 1 DVI-D (dual link), 2 DVI-I (dual link). It also has two USB ports at the front and something i can't identify, but think is an HDMI port(tower casing is slightly bent in, so it's tough to tell).

So with that info, what would you say/think is the best way to do this. Right now I have the comp hooked up to the TV using the serial/VGA port and it looks quite good. I don't have the monitor hooked up. I am thinking that I can just use the second serial port and it should be ok, but I don't want to go buy the cables etc, and then find that wont work.

The issue is also how to preserve image quality for MKV/HD files running from the comp to the TV. Does VGA handle that well enough, or should I be looking at a converter to HDMI?--- the TV has two HDMI ports and is 720, not 1080.

I figure someone on here must have set enough stuff up to do this far better than I can.

Help within the next 36 hours is greatly appreciated.

Merci.

[sheriffadam]

I'm not totally up on the DVI'ness, but to offer a few quick pointers before the blanks are filled in:

The other front connection is likely to be E-Sata (for an external HDD)
VGA is fine for 720 and 1080 and even higher
Serial connections are no good to you here, they carry data not video
But of your video card is 'dual head/dual output' then one to your monitor one to the TV is fine, you set which monitor you want main/secondary display in control panel, Vista makes this easy.

[eamo]

Use the DVI's when possible. They have the best video quality but don't support audio......

........but you can use a DVI-HDMI dongle which will carry both video and audio to the TV in one convenient HDMI cable, but only if your computer's graphics supports HDMI audio out..........need to know the model of your motherboard and graphics card to ascertain that.

[hallazgo]

most new graphics boards do HDMI output. If yours doesn't (sounds like you've only got the S-video and the DVI) then you can still do it. HDMI would not likely be coming out of the front so E-sata is more likely.

Run the s-video to your tv and the dvi to the monitor and let windows run your dual screen.
Unless you're a video engineer or a serious pixel/artifact searcher, you won't see any real problems. If you really have video files that are 720 HDD, then the S-video down conversion will probably either cut it off or look skewed.

Buy yourself a video card with hdmi and a $25 cable and you'll be as happy as a pig in poop