Connect PC to TV ?

derby7

I've just bought an LCD 32' Samsung TV. It has 2 HDMI connections. Can I connect my PC to the TV via a DVI to HDMI cable, ie. DVI out of my ATI X1300Pro graphics card into the HDMI (1 or 2) on the TV ??
I got the cable on komplett @ http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=316699

big_moe

yes. you'll need to do sound separately though cos dvi doesnt do sound

adam

derby7

Cheers for that.......yeah I had checked the whole DVI and HDMI thing, ie. DVI only does picture and HDMI does picture & sound.

Q. Do you know if its the HDMI 1 or 2 connection on the TV. I've seen various websites (Samsung PDF manuals) on other TV's indicating only one of them can be used for DVI input.......!

big_moe

not too sure on samsungs... just check the manual. i have a panasonic and either socket is fine.

mathias

For a computer to the TV any HDMI socket on the TV will work , the only difference between HDMI sockets on the TV is likely to be internal to the TV and usually consists of an internal connection to the CEC line , which is for AV control.

On my panasonic the socket is labelled HDMI AV and all this means is that particular socket can control other equipment using "Viera link".

No big deal really as CEC had to be implemented on anything thats connected to that particular socket for Viera link to work and very few pieces of gear actually have that at the moment.
Its the same sort of thing as Scart whereby when you turn on your ( insert equipment of choice here ) the TV automatically switches to that source.

Samsungs version of the same thing is Anynet , see a quote here from the Wiki ,

Consumer Electronics Control channel
The Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) channel is optional to implement, but wiring is mandatory. The channel:

Uses the industry standard AV Link protocol.
Is used for remote control functions.
Is a one-wire bidirectional serial bus.
Is defined in HDMI Specification 1.0, updated in HDMI 1.2a, and again in 1.3a (added timer and audio commands).
This feature is used in two ways:

To allow the user to command and control multiple CEC-enabled boxes with one remote control, and
To allow individual CEC-enabled boxes to command and control each other, without user intervention.
An example of the latter is to allow the DVD player, when the drawer closes with a disk, to command the TV and the intervening A/V Receiver (all with CEC) to power-up, select the appropriate HDMI ports, and auto-negotiate the proper video mode and audio mode. No remote control command is needed. Similarly, this type of equipment can be programmed to return to sleep mode when the movie ends, perhaps by checking the real-time clock. For example, if it is later than 11:00 p.m., and the user does not specifically command the systems with the remote control, then the systems all turn off at the command from the DVD player.

Alternative names for CEC are Anynet (Samsung), Aquos Link (Sharp), BRAVIA Theatre Sync (Sony), Regza Link (Toshiba), RIHD (Onkyo), Simplink (LG), Viera Link/EZ-Sync (Panasonic/JVC), Easylink (Philips) and NetCommand for HDMI (Mitsubishi).

Of course if you actually have some CEC enabled equipment , then maybe you want to save that particular HDMI socket for it , otherwise just attach the computer to any socket you like.

derby7

Thanks for that 'mathias', but reading thru the manual (always a good idea I suppose) and it states that I should use HDMI 2 when connecting with a DVI/HDMI cable. So I think I'll stick to that.
Anyways it works grand once you set the resolution to 1366*768.
I'm just wondering If I play my DVD's thru the PC rather than the DVD, will I see a better picture ??? mmmm......I'll try it tonite......any ideas anyone?