Connecting an LCD TV to a HTPC

nikebee

nikebee

nikebee

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'lo all
newbie questions here i'm afraid, its the first time i've done any of this before :o
currently building a HTPC and will be pairing it up with a Hyundai A321 32" tv.

i'm upgrading my current system to go conroe - so my current bits will be used in the HTPC (but it will be damn high-spec HTPC from what i can tell :o)
i'm going to install windows media centre on it, so i plan on watching dvd's, using it for music, occasional gaming and watching/recording tv of course.

just wondering what the easiest way's of connecting the tv to the PC.
would it be best to use a DVI to HDMI cable from the graphics card to the tele?
i also plan on getting a tv-card to record programs (etc)... does this need to be connected to the tv or anything :confused:

finally sound... in the future i'll be getting a separate amp and speakers, but as a short term fix i'll be using the tv's speakers to output sound... whats the best way to link up the sound card to the TV? and what sort of cables etc... will i need.

again, sorry for the newbie type questions.
any help is greatly appreciated

edit:
if its any help just spotted this
these are (a snippet of) the connectors the tv has :)

1 x audio line-in ( mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm )
1 x HDMI-HDCP
1 x digital audio output (coaxial)
1 x composite video/audio output ( RCA phono x 3 )
 
Last edited:
would it be best to use a DVI to HDMI cable from the graphics card to the tele?
Click to expand...
I'd have thought so, yes.
Does it have a VGA or PC connection?

also plan on getting a tv-card to record programs (etc)... does this need to be connected to the tv or anything
Click to expand...
No, although it will need to be connected to a TV aerial.
(I installed a seperate High Gain Aerial for this purpose)

whats the best way to link up the sound card to the TV? and what sort of cables etc... will i need.
Click to expand...
Will depend on the outputs from your sound card/mobo.
I used spdif on my last build, connected to amp.
Although as a temporary measure you may have to settle for the line-in.

Good Luck.

:)
 
thanks for the help.
the graphics card is a 7800GT so has Dual DVI outputs.
the A321 tv... i believe it has VGA and HDMI connectors, with older models using VGA and DVI connectors.

not sure on what soundcard i will be using yet.
my current machine uses an XFI, but i doubt i'll be upgrading that.
would something like an Audigy 2 surfice, or are Creative models not that great at this sort of stuff?
 
AFAIK and from personal experience doing exactly what you intend doing, the DVI/HDMI route will make it difficult to configure a watchable screen resolution.

Simply connecting VGA on your graphics card to the vga on your TV is reliable. You may have to do some tweaking with Powerstrip but thats easy (it must be if I did it! )
 
True, connecting via VGA would be both reliable and easier to work, all you would need to do is match the native resolution of your tv, although some tv's will stretch the picture to fit if you lower the resolution.

We did this with a friends Samsung, he hated the Sammy's native res so i
lowered it to 1024x768 and used the "auto" feature on the tv.

Worked great.

:)
 
hm... okay cheers guys.
but what problems arrise using DVI (or HDMI)?

i connected one up to a 32" Mirai in work last week via DVI and the only problem seemed to be getting it to run at the lcd's native res, and so we settled for 1280 x 720 instead.
 
Raider said:
You need to know a couple of things:

1) What's the native resolution of the panel
2) Does either input (HDMI or VGA) have 1:1 pixel mapping?

After a brief search I found this post, which should help get you 1360x768 resolution for the screen using Powerstrip:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3183393&postcount=1828
Click to expand...
cheers for the link
native res is 1366 x 768
and as far as i know it does support 1:1
 
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