What type of TV to buy for watching DivX with TV out

[The Belgain]

On my computer I currently have a 15" LCD Monitor which i really like for general desktop stuff and for gaming, but which isn't very nice for watching movies (dark scenes especially look poor, and there are also some trails behind moving objects).

I'm thinking about buying a widescreen (16:9) TV to use with the TV-out on my Geforce 2 MX since I almost only watch 16:9 stuff.

I was wondering whether the TV would display widescreen content correctly or if it would think it was getting something 4:3 from the TV-out and display a picture with both horizontal and vertical black bars on the side?

Also, should I get a 100 Hz TV? They are much more expensive, are they really worth it?

What brands do people recommend in the 250-350 pound range?

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by The Belgain

I was wondering whether the TV would display widescreen content correctly or if it would think it was getting something 4:3 from the TV-out and display a picture with both horizontal and vertical black bars on the side?


thats the standard but you can of course switch the tv so it will fill the complete screen. just play the file as on the monitor and the tv will stretch x + y to fill the screen. or play as 16/9 with your player and the tv only need to stretch horizontally.

and i really hate the picture quality of a 100Hz TV (but thats a very very personal opinion ;) )

[The Belgain]

Will all 16:9 TVs be able to stretch the picture correctly so that the aspect ratio is preserved and as much of the screen as possible is filled?

How about films that are in 2.35:1 ratio? Will i be able to see them with correct aspect ratio (i.e. with small horizontal black borders on a 16:9 TV)?

The model I'm looking at is a Toshiba 28W23, does anyone have this model, or know anything about it?

[avih]

if you're gonna use tv-out, then AR should be no problem, since most players (zoom player, bsplayer, powerdivx and the latest ffdshow for any media player) support resizing and aspect ratio changes, so just do that in software, and no more problems with 'tv AR compatibility'.

cheers
avi

[ookzDVD]

@The Belgain,

Progressive scans! (100hz) that's the keyword. ;)
..but regular TV is just fine, I'm using 14" RCA,
with TV Tool 6 and the result is superb.

[The Belgain]

Cheers for all the feedback. Another question: I was considering buying a 28 inch 16:9 TV, is this too big and will the macroblocks show up too much? I know TV blurrs the image and thus macroblocks show up less than on a computer monitor, but 28" is really qutie big.

Another thing is that i have tried using the TV out with my dad's TV at home by using an S-Video to SCART adaptor (the TV doesn't have an S-Video connection) and the picture is in black and white. I've made sure the card is outputing in PAL (the same thing happens in NTSC anyway), but it's still only in black and white. The only reason I can think of for this is that there is a problem with the S-Video to SCART adaptor. Is this a common problem?

[theReal]

About 100Hz TV: I almost always watch TV on 100Hz screens, because I only use my 21" monitor for viewing everything and a friend of mine, where I often hang out to watch movies, has a really nice 100Hz tv set.

Now that I'm used to 100Hz, I suddenly notice the unpleasant flickering of normal tv sets...

Oh, the SCART adaptor and S-VHS... I think not all devices with SCART connectors support S-VHS - and if they don't, the pins transmitting the color information are not connected internally.
I once tried to connect a VHS video recorder to a DV camera with SCART->S-VHS-cable->DV-camcorder and it only showed a b/w picture on the camcorder screen.

[The Belgain]

Thanks. One more thing, the card i'm going to be outputing from is a Geforce 2 MX, and I have read that Geforce 3 and 4 cards are not great for TV-out. Is anyone with a Geforce 2 MX using TV-out and are they happy with it?

Also, I have a 5.1 sound card in my PC at the moment (onboard C-Media, but nice) with stereo speakers (Altec Lansing ATP3 - 2 sattelites and a sub). I'm trying not to spend too much money on the TV, so i'll get one with with just stereo speakers. I was initially thinking of using just my Lansing speakers for sound, but if i have a 5.1 source like a DVD, could i use the 2 TV speakers as the two front ones, and the Lansings as the rear speakers (in a 4.1 surround system effectively). I don't have digital out, just analog.

[Zhnujm]

i have had a geforce2mx and the picture quality was not SO bad. in fact everything is better than watching a movie on a 17" monitor ;). so buy it as big as you can afford.