50inch+ plasma TV and your PC

[foxmobouser]

To start off, at some point in the distant future I'd like to get a 50 inch + plasma TV and have my PC hooked up to it. I don't know hardly anything about plasmas not to mention anything about hooking up a PC to TV other than through S-Video witch I did once to my 22 inch regular TV and didn't like it too much. The thing is every time I try to find how a image looks on such a big plasma from a PC i run into videos of MR NEMO or some other pixar film shown on the plasma TV. Do any of you guys have your PC's hooked up to a big screen and what does it look like (links). Can I have the big plasma as monitor in a dual monitor setup with my 19 inch one and how will it look, what card do I need at least etc.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[srpeters18]

I had my 42" plasma hooked up, now I've got my 32" LCD hooked up. Both of them work just fine, all I did is pick up a DVI-HDMI cable. It was only about $40 for the cable, and it was worth it. Text is hard to read on the Plasma, its just too small and it is a little fuzzy. Any kind of graphics looks awesome though, I've played CoD4 in 1080i, and it looks great. The LCD works better for text for some reason.

I do have it as a secondary monitor. When I want to game on it, I just switch the priority between the two monitors so that the TV is primary, that way the games load on the TV instead of the little 17" crap LCD.

[Miker]

First, you use HDMI to power a TV like that.

2nd, you will want SLI 9800GX2s if you want the most out of it.

[srpeters18]

Actually, 1080p is not all that taxing, resolution wise. Its 1920x1080. Mine runs fine with a single 8800GT. Though 2x 9800GTX's would be cool, its not required. And a DVI to HDMI cable works awesome, its a whole lot harder to find a card with HDMI onboard. Until the 9XXX series it was anyhow. But like I said, the cable works just fine, you just don't get sound through the HDMI, but I've got a typical RCA-stereo set of plugs to a miniplug for the soundcard.

[foxmobouser]

Any of you have a youtube video or something to look at on the performance. I know alot of people even sales guys at the stores say ooh its great works fine etc but I want to see it in action. Anyone got a good link for a vid?

[srpeters18]

I don't have a video at all, or pictures. The problem is every time I try to take a picture, the flash just glares off the screeen, and home video, especially on youtube, is too grainy to give you an accurate idea of how it looks. If you've seen PS3 via HDMI on a plasma, it looks identical when you're watching videos, better when you're playing most games (most PS3 games are 720p). The only issue I have with it is the text is a little fuzzy, just because its quite small on that screen. Videos and games, like I said, are awesome. Especially when your sound is hooked up to the home theater system.

[coxmaster]

I dont think anyone covered this yet.. and it is semi-on topic. For a connection i saw that you recommend HDMI.. why not just use a DVI connection? Most LCDs or Plasmas today have DVI inputs as well as HDMI.. wouldnt that just be easier?

[srpeters18]

I dont think anyone covered this yet.. and it is semi-on topic. For a connection i saw that you recommend HDMI.. why not just use a DVI connection? Most LCDs or Plasmas today have DVI inputs as well as HDMI.. wouldnt that just be easier?

Because while some do, most don't. Neither of mine do. And I've got a JVC Plasma and a Toshiba LCD. I've done a lot of shopping around and DVI is actually harder to find then they used to be. Both of mine have VGA inputs, but no DVI.

[coxmaster]

Seriously? Ive got a 42" Samsung with DVI inputs and ive used my computer on my friends 61" Toshiba (i think) and both had DVI.. So on the off chance they do have DVI.. should i just use that?

[srpeters18]

Seriously? Ive got a 42" Samsung with DVI inputs and ive used my computer on my friends 61" Toshiba (i think) and both had DVI.. So on the off chance they do have DVI.. should i just use that?

I would. you're not going to notice a lot of difference between DVI and HDMI. They are both fully digital, you just won't get audio through DVI. As long as you're not converting to analog and then back to digital, you're good.

[Ranzear]

I have a 15' DVI to HDMI cable ($23, beat that, Auburn WA cable builder) that just plugs right in. It will only do Interlaced but who cares.

My 24" is higher res than your TV, at least in aspect ratio. 1920x1200 at 60hz (read: 'progressive scan' before they bull****ted it up).