Hi Subhuman:
___So where did you pick up Mark J. Foster?s thread anyway
___Did you ever think a fellow Anandtech?er would be involved up to his eyebrows in HTPC?s ?
___Most HD RPTV can only resolve a 240i, 240p, 480i, 480p (960i), and 540p (1080i). Some models will do a 720p display as well. It is the data grade HD FP?s like a DILA or 9? gunned CRT that will really kick @$$ at 1360X1024 or deeper. You should hear about the Sony G90?s As for a using your HDTV as a monitor, I really do not recommend it. For all those that use the low bandwidth 480i signal in from an S-Video connection, they are not really close to the clarity and resolution needed for a great display. You may think you are feeding your display an 800X600 signal using your Brooktree 869, Chrontel whatever, or the latest Philips 7108 S-video out chips but all you are really doing is downconverting to a lousy 480i at best. Now, even if you did get your custom T&R installed (I use a 1584X540p @ 60 Hz with FP and BP settings to synch in both the Horizontal and Vertical domains) on your ELSA GeForce using its custom T&R capable drivers, or another Nvidia chipset GeForce with Power Strip 3.0 beta, you will still have overscan issues plus the darned HDTV has such huge dot pitch. The text is never going to get as clear as a PC monitor. Your HTPC can display better than the S-Video out signal but it is not anything close to a PC monitor, which can handle the HD signal far beyond what is being test broadcast in your locale today. Using an 856X480p output, you can reduce the overscan and some games will allow custom R?s, but it is best to play in a window and resize using Jim Ferguson?s YXY for example. The real kick ass thing about an HTPC is that it can scale a 480i normal DVD to a progressive 480p and than upconvert (Scale) in the digital domain without artifacts to whatever the HD RP/FP/DV display you are using can synch to. Again, if you go beyond the displays sweet spot, you run into a softness of the image because of pixel overlap.
___Anything else you want to know
___Have a great night and Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___
xcel@midwest.idsonline.com