[mythtv-users] HDTV Success Stories?

[Aran Cox]

On Fri, 2005-01-07 at 11:49 -0500, Roy Murphy wrote:
> I've been reading this list for about two months and I'm about ready
> to buy some HW for a MythBox, but I'm having a hard time finding
> setups that work well in the archives.
> 
> I'm going to be driving a 1080i native HDTV CRT with a VGA-Composite
> adaptor (no DVI or HDMI inputs on this model). I hear that an nvidia
> adapter can drive HD with less processor, but interlace dosn't work.
> 
> Assuming I have a hefty processor (3.4 GHz P4) which graphics chipsets
> could drive HD through VGA? ATI? SIS? Intel Extreme? Unichrome?

I had a Ti4200 connected to an HDTV via a DVI-HDMI cable.  It worked at
720p but it was terribly overscanned and I was never very happy with the
picture quality.  I could never get 1080i to display correctly.  The
display was always messed up, like not in sync or something.  It was
kind of hard to describe and I never fixed it.  I always assumed that it
would look better in 1080i than 720p since 1080i is supposedly the
"native" resolution for my TV.  I also had the same problems with "540p"
resolutions.  

I recently switched from that system to an Xbox at 480p and am much
happier with the image quality.  I haven't tried the xbox in 720p or
1080i (which I understand is possible.) I don't actually have any real
HD content to play yet anyway, so it hasn't mattered and the xbox isn't
even remotely fast enough to decode HD content so I may not bother.

I'll probably be trying again soon... once I have the HD3000 card
recording shows the urge to be able to play them back will be pretty
strong.  In the meantime I was planning to transcode the HD content into
something my xbox's can handle.

Anyway, good luck... 

-- 
Aran Cox <spin667 at mchsi.com>