PC In High Quality HD! Part 1

HDMI Cable

Where I live in, even though practically (very close to) in Silicon Valley, finding a good display for my PC, is unavailable, with lousy "so called" HD PC Monitors sitting in the stores close to where I live. Also to make things worst, is that the sales people, and so called Technicians in many of these stores, tend to give false, and/or misleading information.

I have found a solution where I live though! I know this probably applies in many other Towns or Cities, and if where you live, there is a lack of available good High Quality Monitors for your PC. You might be better off using what I use, an HDTV. Even though normal HDTVs are available, the best for your PCs graphics, would be a High Quality HDTV, that uses HDMI cables, for uncompressed Digital High Definition Video, that connects to one or more HDMI ports in the back of your HDTV.

Since where I live, a "real" good quality XHD PC Monitor is scarce, the only thing left to do is purchase a High Quality HDTV. I wasn't going to special order an XHD PC Monitor. So I started to look for an HDTV that would be good for my PC. I would look for one with two HDMI ports. Because I also own a PlayStation 3.

I talked to my Dad about this. I let him know about this (what I just previously stated)! I planed on budgeting for a nice High Quality HDTV, but my Dad surprised me and went to a local video store called "Video Only", and got me a 22 inch, 1080p, LG M2262D, HDTV Monitor, with two HDMI ports, one DVI-D (D for Digital) with one PC audio in, one VGA DB-15, and one component, both with composite (RCA) audio ports in the back. The HDTV did have more features, but that is not important for purpose of this post.

DVI-D to HDMI Cable.

I connected my PlayStation 3 using an HDMI cable, but my PC was connected using a normal DVI-D cable only, to see how it will come out. I noticed that my PC did look HD, but not close enough to XHD quality. It was better than Component and VGA DB-15 video. I tried two and a half weeks later a DVI to HDMI cable for my PC. Once I connected my PC to an HDMI port in back of my HDTV Monitor, it looked really good! The two resolution settings that the HDTV Monitor was programmed to show the best were 1280x720 (720p), and 1920x1080 (1080p), at 60Hz or more. To display other resolutions correctly such as 1680x1050 or 1600x1200 you need to use the NVIDA Control Panel (NCP), click on "Adjust Desktop Size and Position," make sure you have the tab called "Scaling" chosen, if not click on the "Scaling" tab, then click on the small drop down menu labeled "Perform Scaling On:," then chose "GPU." Using the NVIDIA Control Panel, I also check the box next to "Override the scaling mode set by games and programs." With my PC connected to my HDTV monitor, my PC's graphics showed clearer and sharper than my PlayStation 3, with more vibrant color to also! I now have my PC as well as my PlayStation 3 in High Quality HD, connected to the same HDTV monitor, and my PC it looks amazing!


Information not from personal experience that I obtained was from:

Mike Meyers, All In One,A+ Certification, Exam Guide Fourth Edition, Mc Graw Hill, 2002.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html

http://www.webopedia.com/

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon.htm

http://www.answers.com/

http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/kb.aspx?c=6

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-HDMI-Adapter-Cable-Meters/dp/B001TH7T2U

Photos are from me.

Add note: I have to be grateful because I was ghetto broke , now my life is better. I still have to play it smart with my money, but I am doing better now, than before.