run everything from computer to tv to receiver

Home Theatre
Home Theatre Posts: 469
edited February 2008 in Music & Movies
Instead of buying a blu-ray player, I was just thinking of running everything off the computer. How would the picture quality suffer from this?

Do they make video cards with hmdi now?
Everything I own burned in the fire!!!!!!!!!!
Post edited by Home Theatre on
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  • bobman1235
    bobman1235 Posts: 10,822
    edited February 2008
    You mean buy a Blu-Ray drive for your PC?

    They make a few video cards with HDMI, though I dont' know if/how they integrate sound.
    If you will it, dude, it is no dream.
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  • Home Theatre
    Home Theatre Posts: 469
    edited February 2008
    bobman1235 wrote: »
    You mean buy a Blu-Ray drive for your PC?

    They make a few video cards with HDMI, though I dont' know if/how they integrate sound.


    yes, I would invest in a nice sound card.
    Everything I own burned in the fire!!!!!!!!!!
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited February 2008
    I use my DLP as a computer monitor via a SVGA cable.

    The picture quality isn't as good as through a upconverting DVD player though.

    Audio is handled by a Creative XFi Xtreme-Music sound card. It feeds my preamp through a digital coax cable. The SQ is impressive.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited February 2008
    In the right case, arguably a PC can provide better quality as a souce than a standalone DVD player or blu-ray player.

    However, usually a high-end graphics card is required at a minimum and HDMI support is necessary to get the best quality from a PC.

    I use a HTPC in my setup and the picture quality rivals some of the more expensive sources.
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  • Refefer
    Refefer Posts: 1,280
    edited February 2008
    HDMI is not so neccesary as the inclusion of DVI. You can get a converter cable for HDMI from DVI. As for the audio, definitely invest one with optic/coax out and do it that way. Computer audio sounds nasty compared to high quality audio electronics ;)

    I've been doing this for quite some time and Hi-Def video looks fantastic! Something that's also interesting: software players on the PC natively upscale DVDs, so enjoy!
    Lovin that music year after year.

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  • Rivrrat
    Rivrrat Posts: 2,101
    edited February 2008
    I'm getting to be of this mindset, since I'm sure we'll be getting most of our vid content off the net in the not too distant future. But, like anything else I've discovered getting there is going to be pretty expensive to do it right.

    I may wait until we need an upgrade and build a big whamma jamma HTPC then. In the mean time, I'm thinking I'll get a dvi-hdmi cable to connect my vid card to my plasma, put in a better sound card, and see how it goes.

    Of course I still have to get past the WAF on all of this.:rolleyes:
    My equipment sig felt inadequate and deleted itself.
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  • ledhed
    ledhed Posts: 1,088
    edited February 2008
    Just go from DVI to HDMI

    As for audio, there are some great options out there:
    http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
    http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile192-main.html

    http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=505&subcategory=491&product=10447
    http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=505&subcategory=491&product=9872

    Personally, my next sound card will be the second e-mu (the 1212m) though I will use it for music production and editing but still, high quality is high quality. The 1212 does balanced TRS out along with Toslink spdif.

    This is a useful tool: http://www.recordingreview.com/soundcard/soundcard_wizard.php
    again, this is for the production side but all are great quality.
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