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Originally Posted by Kesteral  Presumably VGA to VGA wont give me the proper hd resolution? It'd have to be vga to hdmi? Or hdmi to hdmi? I have a hdmi and vga slot on this laptop. |
VGA to VGA will work but wont give you a digital HD resolution. On analog you tend to have to "play" with your settings more. HDMI to HDMI or DVI to HDMI will work nearly flawlessly with the exception that DVI usually doesn't carry sound. HDMI and DVI are both able to produce a 1080p resolution of the same quality. Also digital connections do not have to be recalibrated once it's set. A 1's a 1 and a 0's a 0... digital's nice.
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Originally Posted by Doobie Many tv's can upscale to that resolution. So if he for instance wants to play a game/watch tv at 1080p he can (not much difference in picture quality, some can tell others can't), but princess is right most providers only put out 720p content. Over the air some companies do both.
Hell get a projector, that's what I did. I got a optoma hd65 off ebay for $650 and it has a native resolution of 1280x720 but it can upscale to 1080p over hdmi. My god it was freakin awesome. I was getting a 120" picture for $650 that had good color reproduction. Btw I could have put it up to 200" if I wanted, sadly the space of my room was not big enough.  |
It's physically impossible to upscale any picture from 720p to 1080p. You can however upscale to 1080i. The original way to see whether your TV was 1080p was to check its max resolution. If the max resolution was 1920x1080 then it's a 1080p tv. If it's 1280x720 then it's 720p. Additionally, nearly all 480p TVs can produce a 1080i picture but not a 720p.
Also most people probably don't know this but the 2 main LCD panel makers are Samsung and LG. Sony, Samsung, and "nearly" all of the other 40"/46" LCD panel tvs are using Samsung LCD panels. LG, Phillips, and "nearly" all of the other 42"/47" LCD panel tvs are using LG LCD panels. The reason they don't look all alike is because of what those manufacturers put inside their TVs. Each have their own little differences in what they consider quality. Note: I say "nearly" all because there are some smaller companies that produce LCD panels but ALL name brands in stores use either Samsung or LG panels.
Everything you didn't want to know about HD TVs:
I'll put this into a more gaming aspect most of you should understand. This is how "HD" TVs work.
1080i (720p):
First off, both NTSC and PAL have two different standards. The average 720p resolution tv produces 60 fps in NTSC and 50 fps for PAL. Here's the issue. When you upscale to 1080i that fps is cut in half leaving you with 25-30fps. Additionally, a computer cannot convert properly to these tvs and have to use the 3:2 pull down function to work. If the tv does not have that function then the conversion wont be converted too nicely (Improperly sized screen "black spaces" and/or random lines/streaks running through the image). This 3:2 function also allows your computer to run above your tv's rated max fps.
1080p:
Independant of region like 1080i, nearly all 1080p resolutions are 24fps (Very few 30fps 1080p TVs out). Ever see that a 1080p shown as 1080p/24 or 1080p24? Those last 2 numbers are that tv's FPS. The great thing about 1080p tvs is that even though they're only rated for 24 fps that 24fps is for playback in movies. Connecting it to your computer can yield up to 60fps displayed on screen. Just like the 1080i TVs, the 3:2 pull down function is required to properly convert computer videos. If the tv has this function then you "shouldn't" notice any problems hooking your computer up.
1080p (120Hz):
All 120Hz 1080p TVs that I know of are currently set at 24fps. What's neat about these newer tvs is that you no longer have to use that annoying 3:2 pull down function. It can even handle your computer's fps rate up to 120 fps for games.
Complaints:
Making pictures look "too good" can sometimes make them seem worse. Feeding a low resolution signal through a higher resolution tv shows a "not as good" type resolution. If you're running HD watching a 1080i feed then both 720p and 1080p will look nice but running a 480p/720p feed through a 1080p resolution creates a more "grittier" look and tends to look worse than if you just left it in its original format.
Future (those of you that bought a new tv probably didn't want to hear about this):
So what's coming out next? The next tvs coming out will be a 1080p format with 120Hz and able to produce 50-60fps. Shortly afterwards a new resolution will be released. Announced about 4-5 years ago, the new resolution will become 2560x1440. This will also officialize 1080p as the new standard (just as 720p was for the past 5 years).
Conclusion:
I probably forgot to add something to the aforementioned info. I was trying to keep it as simple as possible while not confusing myself at the same time. =p As for current tvs Sony and Samsung are the best. LG is definitely 3rd. If you plan on buying a high end TV then Sony is better than Samsung. If you plan on buying an older model (not this year's model) then here's the general rule: Samsung tends to be more "fluid" (better motion in games/movies) and Sony tends to have a better picture. Note: Anything below that usual 4-5k dollar mark is not this year's model. Don't kid yourself saying it is just because you bought it this year. =p