Widescreen TFT with HD support...

DEMONFiST

DEMONFiST

DEMONFiST

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The time has come to upgrade my system. I would like to do away with my dual tfts and get a widescreen tft with HD support for under £300 is this possible? and whats the best I can get for my money. I dont mind pay a little bit extra if its really worth it. I also am a gamer, so low repsonse time is essential.
 
depends what you mean by HD support. Obviously all the screens have support for at 720p resolution (720 vertical lines) so that's not an issue. For 1080 support you'd need a 23/24" model as you need 1080 lines. Not many with HDCP support though but the Dell 2007WFP probably suits the bill here
 
Yes i did, but im trying to understand this whole HD on pc thing.

I have a 7800gtx which supports hd, connected to my tft via dvi cable, so am i correct in thinking that I can play 720 HD content on my tft ??

sorry if this sounds lame ass question
 
Again it depends what you mean by HD content. Your screen can display the lower HD resolution (1280*720, aka 720p), so in that respect it's as 'HD Ready' as the LCD TVs you can buy in the high street (many of which don't have HDMI or HDCP and most of which don't support 1080p). On the other hand though, it won't do the 'full' HD resolution of 1920*1080 (aka 1080p) which is used on most HD movies (it'll be downscaled to 1280*720) and also once films start using HDCP (in 2-3 years) you'll need a screen and video card that support HDCP.

If you want the best future proofing you should look for a screen with HDCP that does 1080p. The 24" Benq qualifies. If you're happy with 720p though and will probably change screens again before HDCP is introduced, then just about any screen will do.

What 'HD content' are we talking about here btw?
 
I think people get confused because there is the (incorrect) perception that a computer screen needs to directly support 1080p to display it. This is only true with TVs.

On a computer, the 1920×1080 image can be resampled to fit whatever monitor you have. On a 20-22" LCD it would be resampled down to 1680x1050, resulting in a loss of detail but no reduction in image quality. On a 24" LCD (1920x1200) it would be displayed at native resolution, or possibly resampled up (keeping all detail but slightly degrading image quality) depending on the aspect ratio of the image.

This is all exactly the same as with a standard DVD - it's scaled to fit the window or full screen size. The only difference is the higher resolution so usually, on most displays around in use at the moment, 1080p will be downsamped not upsampled.


The other cause for confusion is HDCP. HDCP is a copy protection system which prevents the signal being intercepted between the player output and the display input by encrypting the signal. For this to work on a PC the operating system, graphics card and monitor all need HDCP support.

HDCP is not widely used on HDDVD or BlueRay at the moment but is likely to become commonplace within a few years. HDCP is only relevant to HD movie playback from an HDDVD or BlueRay disc. It is not a factor for games or the desktop.



Bottom line:
If you plan to keep your display for 2 or more years and you want to watch HD films on it, you should probably buy one with HDCP support even if your graphics card doesn't currently have it.
So far as I know your graphics card DOES NOT support HDCP. If you want to be sure, try this tool: http://www.cyberlink.com/english/support/bdhd_support/diagnosis.jsp
 
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DEMONFiST said:
widescreen tft with HD support for under £300 is this possible?

I also am a gamer, so low repsonse time is essential.
Click to expand...
For £300, the 22" widescreen Samsung 225BW has HDCP and a fast response time.
 
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meglamaniac said:
On a 20-22" LCD it would be resampled down to 1680x1050, resulting in a loss of detail but no reduction in image quality.
Click to expand...
You would think so, but when I set my 360 to output 1080i or 1080p onto my 2007WFP through the offiial VGA cable I get a 'signal out of range' message from the monitor, so clearly not all TFTs can take 1080i/p and downscale it. Not a big deal of course because 720p upscaled by the monitor to 1680*1050 still looks great.

Of course if you are playing 1080i/p through windows, then the software player will do the downsampling from 1080i/p to 1680*1050 and you're sorted.
 
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fish99 said:
You would think so, but when I set my 360 to output 1080i or 1080p onto my 2007WFP through the offiial VGA cable I get a 'signal out of range' message from the monitor, so clearly not all TFTs can take 1080i/p and downscale it. Not a big deal of course because 720p upscaled by the monitor to 1680*1050 still looks great.

Of course if you are playing 1080i/p through windows, then the software player will do the downsampling from 1080i/p to 1680*1050 and you're sorted.
Click to expand...

Your second paragraph is what I was trying to get across actually - the monitors themselves don't (usually) downsample but PowerDVD or whatever you use in Windows will.
 
meglamaniac said:
Your second paragraph is what I was trying to get across actually - the monitors themselves don't (usually) downsample but PowerDVD or whatever you use in Windows will.
Click to expand...
simple... you can play a hddvd at 1080p on a screen with a res of 1680x1050, its just the program you use to play it determines the up and downsampling, depending on how you resize the window its playing in...
 
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