Page 1 of Graphics Card For attaching to LCD TV...

Looking to attach my PC to my new LCD TV. The TV has both D-Sub and DVI connections-I assume it would be better going to the SVI socket, so with this in mind, any good recommendations on graphics cards that will suppport both output to my TV and PC monitor..

I`m not a gamer on the PC at all, so don`t need to go crazy there-my current card is a 64mb Radeon 7200 which is perfectly adequate for my PC work. As I have both DVB-T and DVB-S tuner cards in the PC, it will be used more as a part og my home entertainment set up and i`m wondering wher whacking up to a higher performance graphics card would give me any better results, especially as I can recieve HD signals via my DVB-S card and my DVB-T tuner card is HDTV compatible (as and when it gets here).

As ever your thoughts would be much appreciated

Most LCD TVs will not handle a DVI connection as the software will upscale the picture (thinking that the incoming signal is a 720p signal). As the TV is likely to have 768 vertical pixels it is likely to upscale a DVI signal and you will receive a messy picture from a PC`s DVI connection. D Sub will be your best bet and has enough bandwidth to carry an HD signal.

Speaking of HD, if your graphics card does not have HDCP then I`m afraid you won`t be able to display a HD picture from your DVB-S card onto your TV. For HD TV to work, all components in the chain must support HDCP. There are some graphics cards available now that do support HDCP but you may still need HDCP decoding in the operating system too (although I`m not totally sure about this).

By the way, are you sure your TV cards support HD. Some say that they are HD compatible but it does not mean they support HD TV. By HD compatible it means that they support a resolution high enough for HD pictures but won`t support HD TV signals.

There is definately a DVI connection on the TV and the manual recommends the PC be connected though it!! I would probably be better going the DSub route though to leave the DVI input free for another device. It makes sense really, but as so many graphics cards now have DVI connectors, there must be a way of getting a good display via DVI.

As for the HDCP issue, I already view HD via my DVB-S card onto my LCD monitor and that displays without any problems. My DVB-T card is also HD compatible- there are people in Australia already using it for HD-DVB-T. No HD tests off my transitter to test it off yet though.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 27th September 2006, 22:46

I know there is a DVI connection but you specified LCD TV whereas I now suspect this is a monitor with TV tuner. Is that right? If that is the case then you most certainly can connect DVI and that will give you higher picture quality.

Can you please tell me how you are viewing HD on your DVB-S card and what model of DVB-S card it is? Almost certainly, you will not be able to receive HDCP encoded content - your graphics card doesn`t support it for a start and I very much doubt your DVB-S card supports it too. If you are receiving Sky HD content through your DVB-S card then the reason it is working now is that the signal is not currently HDCP encrypted. The same applies to your DVB-T card too but HD Freeview may not be HDCP encoded anyway.

This item was edited on Thursday, 28th September 2006, 17:40

it`s a 37" LCD TV I`m looking to connect the PC to, as well as a 17" LCD monitor.

I`m using ALT-DVB in conjunction with my Skystar2 pci card to view Hi Def on my PC-it`s not Sky`s services - they are all encrypted- I`m watching as they are all encrypted but there is a fair bit of FA Hi Def on other satellites.

What I need to find is an AGP graphics card with outputs for both monitor and TV

This item was edited on Thursday, 28th September 2006, 20:29

Ah, it`s unencrypted HD content you are receiving.

I am very impressed that your 37 inch LCD TV (assuming it is a HD Ready one) allows PC connection without upscaling as most HD Ready TVs I have seen do not display a PC`s picture properly, with the exception of certain LG models or the more advanced models that have a 1:1 pixel mapping mode.

You will certainly achieve much better picture by using DVI and if you are connecting both then a graphics card like XFX 6800XT at £80 supports dual DVI. There are also AGP options from Matrox with dual DVI but 3D performance will be poor (although for 2D, you need to ensure the Matrox ones support DX9 and preferably VMR as most media playing software will need DX9 at least).

Oh for sure it`s unencrypted HD signals I`m tuning into..

Not quite sure I`m following you on the LCD TV not upscaling though..if I`ve mentioned that, it`s purely by accident as I`m not really sure what that is!!!

Just to take this back to the beginning...all I really want to do is take the picture from my PC and onto the LCD TV- the LCD has both 15 pin Dsub and DVI inputs and, at the moment both are free so I could use either. What I need to find is an adequate card that I can connect both my LCD TV and LCD monitor to. I don`t need anything spectacular as I mentioned earlier because I simply don`t have a single computer game in the house! I can see plenty that have dsub and DVI output, but not yet find one that has two dsub outputs, which, if I`m not connecting using DVI is what I`m going to need as my LCD monitor only had the standard dsub input

Basically an LCD TV with 768 vertical pixels have to display a 720p HD picture at full screen (720p means 720 vertical pixels). In order to do this it has to upscale the picture to fit it full screen. This feature is activated upon a connection to the HDCP DVI or HDCP HDMI socket. Therefore a PC connection to this socket will cause upscaling too resulting in a broken up picture from the PC because the LCD TV thinks it`s an HD signal. I have seen LG monitors accept a PC input and display the picture correctly (although I must admit I don`t know how) and some high end monitors have an option for 1:1 scaling which means it will display the signal it receives without upscaling.

You can buy graphics card with dual d-sub outputs but if both your displays accept DVI then believe me, you will get a much more enhanced picture using a graphics card with dual DVI like the one I mentioned for about £80 (and it is AGP), although I have seen PCI e DVI ones for around £40 (if you are willing to change your motherboard for a small price). If one of your displays supports DVI but the other is D-sub only then there are plenty of cards around that has one DVI and one D-sub output.

Since at least one of your displays accept DVI then there really is no point in getting dual D-sub graphics cards (since their costs are similar to those with dual DVI or those with 1 DVI and 1 D-sub). But if you really must go for dual D-sub it is likely you will need to buy second hand as manufacturers do not make dual VGA cards these days - OR - you could buy 2 cheap VGA cards (one AGP and one PCI) but using an extra PCI slot will take up PCI bandwidth on your PC if you have other PCI cards though.

Just out of curiosity, which HD channels do you receive from your satellite dish and do you need to point your dish in any particular direction?

This item was edited on Thursday, 28th September 2006, 22:50

OK, I think I`m following you here..if I get a graphics card with both a d-sub and a DVI output, I can send the signal from the dsub to my PC monitor and the DVI out to my LCD TV, right?

I`m just slightly confused by your first paragraph though, where you say that connecting a PC to an LCD TV via DVI will cause a broken up picture- doesn`t that kind of defy the point of having these dual output cards? would setting the output on the DVI socket to 1024 x 768 just mean that the LCD TV will just display at that resolution (In other words, just treat the output to the LCD TV as as another monitor)?

Heres a link to the HD channels- encrypted and FTA that are currently active
http://www.lyngsat.com/hd/index.html
Yes, you need to be able to move your dish across the skies to pick these up, or have a fixed dish on any particular satellite.

OK, as I explained a lot of LCD TVs will upscale an incoming signal to the DVI. So if you sent a 1024 x 768 picture then it will probably display on a resolution of something like 1180 x 800 for example because it is enlarging the picture (thinking it is a 720p input). This means the edges of your Windows desktop goes off screen. This phenomenen known as upscaling can cause lines across text. As you mentioned that the manual for your TV recommends connection to a PC, it looks like the TV has some intelligent way of detecting a PC input, like with LG ones as mentioned earlier. As this seems to be the case then a graphics card with one DVI and one D Sub output will be the best suited for your requirements.

Thanks for the links to the channels. I will probably try them out myself!