Connecting PC to LCDTV
I note in the diagram text (tips) for the ‘ideal home theater’ that it is suggested:
If your HDTV has a VGA interconnect, then you might want to connect your HTPC straight to the VGA port instead of the receiver. This will help solve any video scaling issues that may arise.
Of course, most (if not all) LCDTVs have a VGA input on them. In my new setup, I have the LCDTV hanging on the wall in the family room. On the other side of the room is my PC (nothing special, but I suppose it could be rebuilt some day to be a real HTPC). In any case, as a PC it has video out in the form of VGA. Of course I do not want a bit VGA cable running through the room, so my hope is to put some sort of jack on the wall by the PC and another on the wall behind the LCDTV. Connect from the respective devices to the respective jacks will be easy enough (i.e. by use of standard VGA cables). What confuses me is how to connect these jacks such that I have the best quality video from the PC to the LCDTV. I intend to run whatever cable is necessary between these jacks down the walls and under the floor which is exposed below. Could you help me to understand what might be the best strategy in terms of cabling and jacks to get to such a solution?
HTN Posts (RSS)
Does your LCD have a VGA input? HDTVs with VGA inputs usually have extra setup choices to match video resolutions. For example, my HDTV doesn’t have a VGA input so I have to use component. The component output from my HTPC is overscanned so I have to reduce the resolution from 1280 x 720 pixels to 1152 x 648 pixels. Other people have to come up with custom resolution settings to get around the overscan issue, which is why I recommend using VGA.
Also, how long do you think your cable length will be? Analog signals such as VGA or component degrade as the length increases. Digital signals can go further without degrading. Some video cards are coming out with HDMI outputs now or you could use DVI if your LCD has a DVI input. I would test any cables before you run it through the walls. Even if you use VGA or component, you might want to also run a HDMI cable for future use.
Hope I answered your questions.
Many thanks for the quick (and detailed!) response. In fact, I have yet to purchase my new LCDTV. It sure sounds like the *right* way to go for my new setup is to first purchase the HDTV such that it has 2 HDMI inputs. This accomplishes 2 important things: 1) Gives me the ability to have input from an HD feed (i.e. digital cable box) as well as a PC (with necessary video card), and 2) Ensure ‘long video runs’ (in my case, approximately 20 feet) are in digital format. Does that make sense? Sounds like in my scenario (PC, digital cable, surround sound stereo system, etc), I only need these two cables (2 HDMI cables) going between the 2 jacks. There shouldn’t even be a need for other audio cables, right? HDMI cables include not only digital video, but also audio, right?
HDMI does include audio and video. Check the video card and make sure it does audio too. It wouldn’t hurt to run a digital coaxial or optical cable just in case.