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Computer Video card to HDMI and Audio question.

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
Oh sweet Jesus no, don't do that.

Do this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&cs_id=1023102&p_id=2218&seq=1&format=2

Trust me, there is no quality difference.

With the sound card... you're inputting to the TV? Not to a receiver? You'll have to figure out what inputs your TV has for sound. Probably a 1/4" headphone jack to red/white stereo pair converter. Get one from Monoprice.
Thats what I thought but I wasn't sure. Monoprice rocks, I got my TV wall mount there I should have thought of it for these. Thanks for the link!

Plus when ordering from Monopoint the stuff gets shipped from Rancho Cucamonga the coolest town name ever. My friend used to live out there and one night we went to a club in RC and the DJ over the mic goes "Are you having fun RANCHO CUCAMONGA" and I found it hilarious... what a f'ing town name.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,110
1,166
NC
BTW, that's a very high quality sound card (I have an M-Audio card with an optical output), you'll get best results if you can run a digital coaxial connection from the card to a receiver.
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
BTW, that's a very high quality sound card (I have an M-Audio card with an optical output), you'll get best results if you can run a digital coaxial connection from the card to a receiver.
I have a 10yr old Harmon Kardon I F'ing love with only Analog inputs. I'm not an audiophile in anyway. Plus the less controlers I need to manage the volume etc. the happier my wife is.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,110
1,166
NC
Ahh, yeah, I've got a Logitech universal remote. Very convenient, you press one button and it turns on all the appropriate devices and the buttons are assigned to the right things (e.g. volume affects the receiver, but channel +/- affects the TV).

It has, as they say, a high WAF - Wife Acceptance Factor.
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
Ahh, yeah, I've got a Logitech universal remote. Very convenient, you press one button and it turns on all the appropriate devices and the buttons are assigned to the right things (e.g. volume affects the receiver, but channel +/- affects the TV).

It has, as they say, a high WAF - Wife Acceptance Factor.
I was thinking about buying that as our family gift from Santa this year. I think more important that the WAF is the FILAF - Father Inlaw Acceptance Factor since he's far more tech dumb than my wife and he always has to put "the game" on no matter what the season.

know anybody selling one cheap?
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
www.bensbargains.net has deals on the Harmony remotes sometimes.

I got mine on a price error from Dell, MSRP was like $200 and I think I ended up paying $25 for it. The Harmony 880. Sweet remote, but it goes for $120 on a good day. Dell has it for $120 now.
While I have your attention.

I have a quick DVD drive question. What should I buy? I want to play HD DVD's can I play regular HD dvd's on a Blu Ray DVD player?
GOD Blu Ray dvd players are expensive!
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,110
1,166
NC
There are two formats, and they are not compatible with each other. HD DVD is one format. Blu Ray is the other. You can't play one on a drive designed for the other.

There are a couple dual-format drives kicking around but if I recall correctly, they were upwards of a thousand bucks (may be wrong on this one, they started at that price but I haven't checked prices in a while).

I've given up. I'd be happy to buy one format or the other and rent HD movies, but I'm not really willing to invest while a format war is going on, and I'm also not really willing to give up half the movie market by choosing one or the other. :plthumbsdown:

I've turned to downloading movies off bittorrent and playing them off my HTPC's hard drive. Netflix now offers movies for download, does that included high def movies? If so, that may be the best way to go right now.
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
The dual format players have come down in price a but but are still expensive. They also do neither well as they block some of the extended features of each format. (mostly interactive stuff).
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
Excellent answers!

What OS do you use for your HTPC? I just ordered windows XP Media Center. It's actually cheaper than straight XP and I'm using media center now on my main computer so all the TV shows I've saved will work.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,110
1,166
NC
I use XP Pro because I get free licenses through my school. If I had the option, I would have gone with Media Center Edition but I'm trying to be better about using legit licenses for software :p
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,110
1,166
NC
Yeah, instead of DVI. Picture quality is pretty good these days because the analog to digital converters are good, but DVI is still the better way to go - no signal conversions.
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,238
393
NY
Yeah, instead of DVI. Picture quality is pretty good these days because the analog to digital converters are good, but DVI is still the better way to go - no signal conversions.
Cool, I got my cables last night. The HDMI cable has a braided cable. I love monopoint!

BTW I ordered a 750gig HD and Windows XP Media Center for $264 newegg, minus $50 cash back from Paypal so I only paid $214 for both!!!!

Gotta love CYBER monday!