I plan on buying a widescreen HDTV to act as my computer monitor at
the same time as my personal TV. So I was basically wondering what do
I need to look for in the TV and what hardware do I need to connect
them.

My computer has a IntelŪ PentiumŪ 4 Processor 3.0GHz and a NVIDIA
GeForce™ FX 5900 Ultra, so it should be able to handle most anything.

Hello, teleute-ga;

If you researched the subject before posting your question, I can
see why you asked for some help.  There are quite a few pieces to
the puzzle and, as usual, there is a handful of incompatible
standards to contend with.  I am going to try to break the problem
down into the major pieces and go from there.  Since your question
was specifically about hardware, that's what I will deal with in
the most depth.  However, I'll try to point you to the software
you will need as well.

There are four pieces of hardware that you may need:
1. HDTV
2. Video Card
3. Cables/adaptors/etc.  (I'll lump all these together for our
   purposes)
4. HDTV Card

I'm going to talk about #4 first because an HDTV card may not be
necessary, depending on exactly what you want to accomplish.  An
HDTV Card is a PCI card for your computer that acts as an HDTV
receiver.  It has a VGA port for video output just like a video
card does.  If you want to build a true home theater PC (HTPC),
you will want one of these cards because you can record HDTV
broadcasts onto your computer, etc.  If all you want is for your
HDTV to replace your computer monitor, you do not need an HDTV
card.  The following discussion about hooking your HDTV to your
computer applies regardless of whether you use one of the HDTV
cards--it is just a matter of whether you hook the TV to a video
card or HDTV card.  See

"Cliff Notes - Connecting your PC HDTV Card to your Digital TV"
http://www.digitalconnection.com/Support/cliffnotes_14.htm

for more information, and some diagrams of what the connections
look like.

Much of the information that follows was adapted from Mark
Rejhon's posting to the AV Science Forum:

"DEFINITIVE GUIDE: Displaying Custom Resolutions on HDTV!"
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33207


* The HD Television.

Your choice of a television determines the other hardware you
need.  Supposedly, any HDTV can be connected to your computer, but
the ease with which that is accomplished is determined by the type
of input your TV accepts.  According to Mark Rejhon, you should
always use VGA output to connect the computer and TV instead of
composite video in order to acheive the best video quality.  (Note
that you may also hear of S-Video and composite video connections.
These are very low-quality connections, and we won't discuss
them.)  The types of connections we will deal with are listed
below in order of simplicity:

1. RGB input jacks: If your TV has these, you are all set.  Your
   TV can accept VGA input via a standard VGA monitor cable.

2. RGBHV input jacks: These are like VGA but provide better
   quality than standard VGA.  You will need an adaptor cable to
   convert from your video/HDTV card's VGA port to RGBHV.

3. YPrPb component video jacks: This is the most complicated
   option.  You'll need what Mark Rejhon calls a "converter box",
   also known as a transcoder, to convert the VGA signal coming
   from your computer into a composite signal that your TV can
   comprehend.  This introduces an extra set of cables, too: now
   you need a cable to run from your TV to the transcoder, and a
   cable to run from the transcoder to the computer.

Based on the above information, I would suggest purchasing a TV
with either RGB input or RGBHV input jacks.  In addition, some
televisions are merely HD-Ready, which means that you need a
settop box to receive and decode the HDTV broadcast over the
airwaves.  Read more about the pros and cons of HD-Ready vs. HD in
Digital Connection's HDTV FAQ:

http://www.digitalconnection.com/FAQ/HDTV_6.htm

Another thing you might want to consider when purchasing your TV
is what scanrates it can support.  See section

"WHAT RESOLUTIONS ARE SUPPORTED BY A HDTV SET"

in Mark Rejhon's Definitive Guide for more information.


* The Video Card.

It looks like you are in luck with the video card you have.  The
nVidia GeForce cards are highly recommended by Mark Rejhon.
Although there are a number of cards which support a resolution of
640x480 @ 60Hz on the HDTV, the GeForce is one which can be set to
custom resolutions.


* Cables, Adaptors, Transcoders, etc.

As mentioned above, what you need in this area depends on which TV
you purchase.  Mark suggests purchasing your cables from
BetterCables.com ( http://www.bettercables.com/ ).  Here are some
links to their products:

If you purchased a TV with VGA input:
http://www.bettercables.com/1met328feetv.html

If your TV has RGBHV jacks:
http://www.bettercables.com/1met328feetv1.html

If your TV has component video input jacks:
+ You'll need the VGA cable above in order to connect the transcoder
  to the computer.
+ You'll need component video cables to connect the transcoder to
  the HDTV:
  http://www.bettercables.com/silsercomvid.html
+ You'll need a transcoder.  The two most popular ones seem to be
  made by Audio Authority and Key Digital.
  
  Key Digital KD-VTCA2:
  http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/kdvtca2.asp

  Audio Authority 9A60:
  http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/9a60.asp


If you are happy with a resolution of 640x480 pixels and a 60Hz
refresh rate, then you shouldn't need special software.  (But you
might!  Some TVs suffer from overscan, a condition which messes up
the edges of your picture.  You might have to set a custom
resolution in order to fix this problem.)

To adjust your video timings, you need a software package called
PowerStrip from EnTech Taiwan:

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/ps.htm

Of course, you also need to know how to use the software!  Here is
a guide to using PowerStrip:

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Support/cliffnotes_17.htm

Here is a direct link to the part of the guide which talks about
nVidia GeForce cards...but you might want to start at the top:

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Support/cliffnotes_17.htm#NVIDIA%20GeForce

Mark Rejhon's Definitive Guide also talks about using the
PowerStrip software to set custom timings.


Additional Links:

The Digital Connection also sells equipment (some of which I
linked to above):
http://www.digitalconnection.com/

Cinefx sells HDTV cards, cables, transcoders, and more:
http://www.cinefx.com/

Ram Electronics sells the cables you need.  Here is a page
describing the different types of connections with links to their
cables:
http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/howto-av.html

"Home Theater and Digital Entertainment FAQ"
http://www.digitalconnection.com/FAQ.htm

The AV Science forum is a place you can go to ask questions
related to audio and video.  Registration is required, but free.
http://www.avsforum.com/

Home Theater Magazine
http://www.hometheatermag.com/


Search Strategy:

Google Search:
"how to" OR howto use HDTV computer monitor
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22how+to%22+OR+howto+use+HDTV+computer+monitor

Google Search:
advantages RGBHV
://www.google.com/search?q=advantages+RGBHV


Hopefully, I have helped straighten the mess out for you.  If you
have any questions about my answer, please feel free to ask for
clarification.

Best Regards,
bikerman

Thanks, this will REALLY help. I did some research but I didn't turn
up this much. ^_^ I realize now that what I had in mind would have
been lower quality AND my have damaged my TV.

Thanks! ^_^

Hi,

   I also want to hook up my computer to an HDTV.  If I were to
purchase the transcoder, then I would just need the component and VGA
cables?  If so, then can't I just use some cheap ones.  I probably
have like 50 of each laying around the house.  I know the quality wont
be as great, but I find it un- necessary to spend 100 dollars on one
cable. Thank you very much.

-ddrfreak238