[mythtv-users] Is Wider better?

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Mon Apr 30 16:35:26 UTC 2007


On 04/30/2007 11:18 AM, Brian Wood wrote:
> Peter A. Daly wrote:
>   
>> In the next few months I'll be in the market for a new LCD screen for a
>> small/medium sized room.  It will be replacing a 19" CRT TV.
>>
>> I think I've decided to go the LCD computer monitor route rather than
>> the LCD TV route.  We watch exclusively (right now) SD recorded from TV
>> content.
> One thing that most LCD TVs have that most computer-type monitors do not
> is HDCP.
>
> This might or might not be a factor for you, just something to be aware of.

Another thing LCD TV's have (that you likely don't want) is overscan.  
With a monitor, you can get 1:1 pixel mapping, no overscan, and full 
resolution.  With a TV that has overscan, you can get any two of the three.

So, 6 on one hand, half dozen on the other...

Besides, now that Windows Vista is out and since it will downscale to 
480p then upscale to monitor resolution*** high-definition content 
played on a system without "end-to-end" DRM, nearly all new monitors 
have DVI with HDCP support or HDMI support.  The HDCP (which is required 
in HDMI) allows Vista to ensure you're playing back the content on a 
monitor and not on a cable connected to another box (i.e. a Linux box) 
that's grabbing the DVI data for circumventing copyright protection 
mechanisms.

I wish more people knew that HDCP and HDMI are actually bad things--not 
good things--but it's hard to argue that fact when people are unable to 
do things they want to do with technology because broken OS's/Media 
Players/Video Drivers/Hardware refuse to do their jobs if a device with 
which they are communicating doesn't support enD-user Rights reMoval (DRM).

Mike


***Actually, Vista allows any other implementation that "fuzzes" the 
image (degrading the quality of the original to prevent pixel-perfect 
capture of high-definition digital video), but Microsoft actually 
recommended the downscale-then-upscale approach as a convenient way of 
achieving this effect.


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