Resolution Confusion??

[bilbo1161]

Before you all start laughing, please forgive my ignorance!!

I have just built my first HTPC and am running MediaPortal for TV and movies etc.

My HTPC is coupled to my Samsung 42" Plasma with a HDMI cable, which gives 1920 x 1080i, according to the TV info page.
This always shows the same regardless of what I set my PC desktop resolution to.

My questions are these :-

What should I have my PC resolution set at?
Does it actually make a difference?
Should it be set at different resolutions for SD and HD content?

If it shouldbe set at 1920 x 1080i to match my TV, then how in the world are you supposed to see anything on the desktop or on web pages. Everything is miniscule.

Just a little confused.

Please educate me.

[Ugg]

You should use the native resolution of the panel, what model TV is is actually, is it capable of accepting this resolution and is scaling it or is that how many pixels it has.

[bilbo1161]

I'm even more confused now.
My TV is a Samsung PS42Q7HDX/XEU there is no specs in the user manual, so will have to see if there is any other manual around.
Reviews on the net state either 1024x768 or I've seen 1366x768. But I'm under the impression that is when using VGA input. Or I'm I completely off the mark.
Main characteristics
Flat Panel Type: Plasma Television
Screen Size: 42 inch
Contrast Ratio: 10,000:1
Digital TV Standard: HDTV-Ready Television
Display Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels
Display Capabilities
Digital TV Standard: HDTV-Ready - Requires separate receiver to view HDTV signals.
Broadcast Format Displayed: 720p (HDTV) 480p (EDTV) 480i (SDTV)
Broadcast Format Supported: 1080i (HDTV) 720p (HDTV) 480p (EDTV) 480i (SDTV) 576p 576i
Built-in Tuner: NTSC PAL SECAM
Native Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Image Quality
Comb Filter: 3DYC / 3D Digital
Display Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels
Brightness: 1300 cd/m²
Viewing Angle: 175

What do you mean, you can use anything for your desktop??
If I set my desktop at say 1024x768and then play a bluray disc what will be the outputted signal to my TV?

[Ugg]

Your Plasma will always display 1024x768. If you set your video adapter to 1920x1080 the plasma will downscale it down to 1024x768. If you set your video adapter to 800x600 the plasma will upscale to 1024x768.

If you use a Blueray player (I have never seen one but assume it will output in 480P/720P/1080i/1080P). You will be able to set the output HDMI to one of the above, seeing as your panel is 768 lines the one to choose is 720P. In this case the Blueray player will do the scaling. Setting anything else will have the blueray scaling up or down and also the plasma scaling down and up to get back to the native 768 lines.

If the Blueray player is in the PC the output will be whatever the video adapter resolution is set to.

Typically the PC is a better scaler than the TV so I would set your PC video adapter to 1024x768 and also match the frequency which I believe will be 60hz.

Invest in a decent video card like an NVIDIA GTX260 (not a GTS250). Use the NVIDIA HD codecs and also Cyberlink PDVD8 or 9. This will offload the video work to the GPU on the graphics card and truely give you a better picture especially with an MKV file. It will also leave the PC processer free to do other things.

I have always been trying to match my Media Portal video quality to my SKY HD box. The above combination is as close as you get...99.5% as good.

Also that TV will be very blue so a proper RGB colour calibration will really help.

[safe-cracker]

If its a samsung it should have a sticker on it saying full hd or hd ready. which one is it?

[bilbo1161]

Its only HD Ready. I know its not a Full HD, but because it says it can except 1080i signals, I thought that was what it was displaying, not downscaling to 1024 x 768.

If I was to buy a Full HD tv like the one below, would I see a maaive difference when playing MKV files?

VIERA Flat Screen Televisions - NeoPDP TVs - TX-P50G10 - Specification - UK & Ireland

At the moment I'm using the onboard ATI RADEON HD3200 Graphics, with Cyberlink PDP7 Codec and it plays smoothly.

By The Way, I am using a HDMI connection, not a VGA. Does this make ay difference?

[MisterKnowItAll]

Originally Posted by bilbo1161

If I was to buy a Full HD tv like the one below, would I see a maaive difference when playing MKV files?

Depends on the resolution of the MKV files, but proper 1080 content played on a Full 1080 HD set will look considerably better than on an HD Ready set.

That said, some people can't tell the difference between SD and HD, so it's impossible to quantify how much of a difference it will make to you personally.

[Ugg]

Your panel is fine and 720P on a 42inch is also fine. VGA is analog and HDMI or DVI is digital (same thing as far as video goes). They will both be displaying on 1024x768 on your samsung. The VGA will be softer or more fuzzy than DVI. Digital is cleaner looking. But you are not using VGA

Your panel has 768 rows of pixels so can display 720p (p is for progressive i is for interlaced) Your panel will never display 1080p as it does not have enough rows so it will need scaled by the source or itself.

Yes a 2000x1000 panel will look better on 1080p than yours on 720p but the PC has to be upto the job. You also need a 1080p source so check what it is you are using.

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