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I have a Sony KDL 32V5500 LCD television with HDMI, Component, USB and Scart (RGB) inputs (it's 1080p). I want to use this either as a monitor, or a TV showing internet TV (BBC iPlayer etc), driven from a PC with USB, DVI and HDMI outputs.
What ports and cables should I use to get the best picture quality?
Thanks.
MalcomTucker
Posted 2011-05-23T21:04:09.273
Reputation: 141
5
HDMI
DVI (usually) carries the same signal as HDMI just without sound and using a different plug. So you should get sound from your computer through you TV using HDMI. I would also suggest buying an HDMI cable online because in-stores are outrageously expensive. Also don't waste extra money on the fancy marked up 'gold plated' cables and what-not, generic works just fine. A cable cannot bear the HDMI logo without first passing a standards test, so all of the fancy cables are more or less overkill.
CenterOrbit
Posted 2011-05-23T21:04:09.273
Reputation: 1 759
1so it shouldn't matter whether i use HDMi or DVI? – MalcomTucker – 2011-05-23T21:30:19.900
1Only really matters if you want to carry sound on the same cable. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2011-05-23T23:13:24.700
Note: to carry sound over HDMI your graphics card must support doing that. You can check the specs for your graphics card or look for additional Sound controllers in device manager. Make sure you have the latest drivers also. (My AMD Radeon 5850 card installed "AMD High Definition Audio Device" in Device Manager) – Spectre – 2011-05-24T07:35:09.620
yes, @Spectre is right, your graphics card must support it, also if you built the computer usually the graphics card comes with a connector that plugs into an audio header on your motherboard. These often get overlooked because they are so small. – CenterOrbit – 2011-05-24T19:45:08.203
Also, yes it shouldn't matter. But I have looked into this a bit in the past and from what i have gathered DVI can be full digital (HDMI) or analog (VGA) as for backwards compatibility and you will see DVI->VGA adapter will use analog signal, DVI->HDMI adapter will use digital signal. – CenterOrbit – 2011-05-24T19:47:39.463
Audio headers for graphics cards are a kludge really, most GPUs should do it with purely drivers/software now. – Spectre – 2011-05-24T19:52:06.160
1No need for a downvote surely – MalcomTucker – 2011-05-23T21:30:36.780
the question is on topic as it is related to a display device interfacing with a computer. I'm not sure why it was downvoted. – bwDraco – 2011-05-23T22:29:36.673