LCD TVs, computers, & linux

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Fri, Jan 05, 2007 at 06:06:06PM -0500, Alex Maynard wrote:
> My wife and I have decided to finally splurge on a mid-sized flat screen
> TV. I was hoping at some point in the future to be able to use it as an extra
> large monitor now and then. I don't know that at all realistic. If it is,
> does it matter at all which brand we get (we got a sony LCD but have 30
> days to return)?  Also, are there special drivers or programs I would
> need?  Just thought I would see if any one has thoughts on this before our
> 30 day return period is up.

Well if it is HDTV (I would hope any new 30" is) and has DVI or HDMI
input, then you should be able to drive it from almost any video card
with a DVI connector, if you set the video card to the native resolution
of the TV.  So if the TV is 1920x1080, then you should be able to use
that (I know most Nvidia cards since at least the 6xxx series can do
that resolution on DVI), or if it is the lower res you could set it to
1280x720.  If it is one of the currently very typical @#$#$ up TVs that
use 1366x768 then I have no idea what to do.  Those can't show any HDTV
signal without scaling (which I consider a stupid design mistake).

If it is not HDTV, then you should be able to run using svideo,
composite or component (if your video card has that, my 6600gt does), at
usually 800x600 resolution.  DVI should work too I guess if the TV has
that, although I have never seen a non HDTV that had DVI.

--
Len Sorensen
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