HDTV capture and Benq 22in LCD.

[Tockley002]

Hello world.

Like most people, I'm hopelessly confused by HDTV, so I thought I'd ask a few questions.
I have a Divco Fusion Plus HDTV capture card on my PC* running thru my 4 yr old Hitachi 19in CRT...my first question is, what am I actually seeing on screen?....It's not 1920x1080 is it?

*my PC specs are AMD 3000, X800GT PCIe....and I'm using the VGA cable to connect to my moniter.

[Lead Head]

Originally Posted by Tockley002

Hello world.

Like most people, I'm hopelessly confused by HDTV, so I thought I'd ask a few questions.
I have a Divco Fusion Plus HDTV capture card on my PC* running thru my 4 yr old Hitachi 19in CRT...my first question is, what am I actually seeing on screen?....It's not 1920x1080 is it?

*my PC specs are AMD 3000, X800GT PCIe....and I'm using the VGA cable to connect to my moniter.

If your monitor resolution is not 1920x1080 or higher, then you are not seeing a 1080 picture. But not all HD is 1020x1080, there is 720p/i too...

[Tockley002]

Originally Posted by Lead Head

If your monitor resolution is not 1920x1080 or higher, then you are not seeing a 1080 picture. But not all HD is 1020x1080, there is 720p/i too...

Yep, I get 1080i on 2 channels, 720p on another, and 576p on the other two.......I'm not sure if I'm just imagining it, but 1080i looks the best to me, followed by 720p, and then 576p.

How do I find out my CRT's maximum resolution?



I took that photo with my snapshot feature....and it says the image is 223k and is 1920x1080....
it's obviously been scaled down.

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Well, it's Photobucket, so it dumbs it down for you.

Ideally, depending on what you're recording, you still viewing HD content. Even if it is 1080, it'll still downscale or whatever to work on the screen. I don't know how to explain it..

[Tockley002]

Originally Posted by wtcnbrwndo4u

Well, it's Photobucket, so it dumbs it down for you.

Ideally, depending on what you're recording, you still viewing HD content. Even if it is 1080, it'll still downscale or whatever to work on the screen. I don't know how to explain it..

Er, ok....but the question I'm building up to is...would a Benq 22inch LCD with native res of 1600x1050{or whatever it is}, provide a superior picture because of it's resolution?

I'm obviously receiving a 1080i signal, but when I manually activate 1900x1080 resolution, it fills the screen and beyond...ie, I have to slide the picture across to see parts of it.......so the image that I watch can't be 1900x1080, it must be a ratio of that....and I'm curious to know how that all works.

I assume it's got something to do with the CRT's maximum resolution....I know I can play games at 1600x1200,.....so if 1600x1200 is my maximum resolution{similar to the Benq's}, would I see a bigger and better picture on the LCD?

[gvblake22]

Great question Tockley. What is the actual model of the monitor you have? most 22" widescreen LCD monitors have a 1680x1050 resolution, but it sounds like you might have a CRT?

If you are trying to display a 1080 on a 22" widescreen with a resolution of 1680x1050, it obviously won't fit, so the image is compressed by software to 1680 wide but in order to keep the 16:9 aspect ratio of the HD signal, it will have black bars on the top and bottom of the screen and not fill up the whole thing; which I think wold make it a 1680x944 picture. Like the image you posted above that has a resolution of 1024x576, which is the 16:9 aspect ratio of the HD signal instead of the 16:10 aspect ratio of the computer monitor.

That's probably why the 1080i signal looks better than the 720p because the image is being compressed a little instead of enlarged from the 720p to fit the space on the monitor. As Lead Head touched on, if you want a true uncompressed 1080i image, then you will need to get a bigger monitor that is capable of displaying an image 1920 pixels wide (which is usually only possible on a 24" LCD or above).

[Tockley002]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

Great question Tockley. What is the actual model of the monitor you have? most 22" widescreen LCD monitors have a 1680x1050 resolution, but it sounds like you might have a CRT?
(which is usually only possible on a 24" LCD or above).

I have a 19in Hitachi CM715 CRT{4.5 yrs old and still kicking}....I've played Far Cry at 1600x 1200 on it, and I also cranked up Condemned Criminal Origins to 1900x1200, but it went across the whole screen, ie, 1600x1200 fits perfectly for games.

One of the things I'm trying to get my head around, is that when I take snapshots of 1080i programs, the image file weighs in at approx 225k, and when you scroll your mouse over it, it says it's size and resolution of 1900x1080....but my HDTV playback on my moniter appears to be at a resolution of approx 1024x500{which has black bars on top and bottom}.....so if the 22in will give me a 1680x944 display, then I'd be miles ahead as far as image size on my screen wouldn't I..?, ie, the LCD vs the CRT.

[gvblake22]

Well, the native resolution of that monitor is 1600x1200 which means it is a standard aspect ratio of 4:3 and not widescreen (16:10 for computer monitors and 16:9 for HDTV's). So you have to keep all that in mind when you are playing these different HDTV formatted video sources. This also explains why anything wider than 1600 pixels goes off the edge of the screen...

When you say you are taking a "snapshot", is this an operation that is done through the software which you are watching the video through or just by simply pressing the "PrtScn" (print screen) button on the keyboard and pasting and saving the resulting image?

[Tockley002]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

When you say you are taking a "snapshot", is this an operation that is done through the software which you are watching the video through or just by simply pressing the "PrtScn" (print screen) button on the keyboard and pasting and saving the resulting image?

The snapshot feature comes with the Divco HD capture card.....I can take pics of live HDTV, I can also take pics of recorded HDTV, and I can pause the recorded content and then snap at the exact moment.....nifty feature if you ask me.

So do you think I'd get a significant image boost by going up to 22in LCD for HDTV?

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Tockley002

The snapshot feature comes with the Divco HD capture card.....I can take pics of live HDTV, I can also take pics of recorded HDTV, and I can pause the recorded content and then snap at the exact moment.....nifty feature if you ask me.

aahhh, ok, that makes sense. It must be capturing the image from the full 1080i video signal with the snapshot even though it has to compress it to fit it on your 1600x1200 monitor. The software has to compress that 1080i image down to 1600x900 to fit on your monitor and keep the 16:9 widescreen HD aspect ratio, so that is the source of your image degradation.

Originally Posted by Tockley002

So do you think I'd get a significant image boost by going up to 22in LCD for HDTV?

If you are looking for the best image quality for your HDTV video, you would obviously be best off getting an actual LCD HDTV that has the correct number of pixels for the aspect ratio required for HDTV resolutions. But HDTV's take a little extra work to make a good substitute for a computer monitor. Check out this article for some info on overscan and setting up an HDTV for computer use. And then use Google for more information if you like as I have never set up an HDTV for a computer monitor so can't offer you a whole lot more help on the specifics there. Also keep in mind that all games are designed for standard 4:3 aspect ratios, most support widescreen 16:10 aspect ratios of computer monitors, and there may be a chance that games won't be playable on HDTV resolutions with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Not sure if you are a gamer, but just wanted to toss that out there.

Your other option for full 1080 video support with a computer monitor is to get a 24" widescreen LCD that supports 1:1 pixel mapping. Such a monitor would be able to display your 1080 video at full 1920x1080 resolution with thin black bars on the top and bottom of the image to compensate for the different aspect ratio. In this case, there would be no compression or stretching (given that the monitor is capable of 1:1 pixel mapping, which seems to be a hit and miss issue with some 24" LCD monitors).

What is your primary use with this computer and monitor? How about secondary uses?