Q. I have a Gateway FPD2275W
Its a 22 inch and it says HD display in the top left corner of the screen. The guy at Best Buy said it would work, but I didnt ask how good... 1080p...1080i...720p...
Can you please tell me how good it would be?
Also which Blu-Ray player should I get? I want one of the $500 ones.
Its a 22 inch and it says HD display in the top left corner of the screen. The guy at Best Buy said it would work, but I didnt ask how good... 1080p...1080i...720p...
Can you please tell me how good it would be?
Also which Blu-Ray player should I get? I want one of the $500 ones.
A. The screen is 1680 by 1050.
HD comes in 1280 by 720, which will fit. Or 1920 by 1080, which will not.
I would hope that it would down-scale a 1080 signal, but the Gateway site is not very forthcoming with information.
The key thing is that you need HDCP support. Blu-Ray will either not play or produce standard definition images without HDCP encryption to protect against someone copying the signal on the cable.
Again the Gateway site is not much use. You can buy this for $380 as an accessory:
http://www.gateway.com/accessories/product/1540982R.php?seg=hm
and there is no mention of HDCP.
Or you can buy is for $350 as a product:
http://www.gateway.com/retail/fpd2275w.php
and it claims HDCP support.
Either way, I would be tempted to get a display that claims TCO'03 support. This includes a minimum range of colours that the display must be able to show. If I was watching a movie I would like my deep blues to be deep blue, rather than a baby blue, and my reds to be red, not pink. Most displays are not that bad, but TCO'03 actually has a requirement that the display should meet.
This Gateway has TCO'95 support, this does not include a colour requirement.
HD comes in 1280 by 720, which will fit. Or 1920 by 1080, which will not.
I would hope that it would down-scale a 1080 signal, but the Gateway site is not very forthcoming with information.
The key thing is that you need HDCP support. Blu-Ray will either not play or produce standard definition images without HDCP encryption to protect against someone copying the signal on the cable.
Again the Gateway site is not much use. You can buy this for $380 as an accessory:
http://www.gateway.com/accessories/product/1540982R.php?seg=hm
and there is no mention of HDCP.
Or you can buy is for $350 as a product:
http://www.gateway.com/retail/fpd2275w.php
and it claims HDCP support.
Either way, I would be tempted to get a display that claims TCO'03 support. This includes a minimum range of colours that the display must be able to show. If I was watching a movie I would like my deep blues to be deep blue, rather than a baby blue, and my reds to be red, not pink. Most displays are not that bad, but TCO'03 actually has a requirement that the display should meet.
This Gateway has TCO'95 support, this does not include a colour requirement.
How much is my PC worth?
Q. K, i build myself a high end gaming PC and am looking to get rid of my multimedia Desktop.
It has 2Gb of PC3200 RAM. Windows XP.250GB 7200RPM HD.6150LE Graphics Card. AMD Athlon 4000+ 2.4Ghz. TV Tuner/Card and remote. DVD RW Lightscribe. 19 inch monitor.
Do you think I can push this baby for $450+ on ebay?
It has 2Gb of PC3200 RAM. Windows XP.250GB 7200RPM HD.6150LE Graphics Card. AMD Athlon 4000+ 2.4Ghz. TV Tuner/Card and remote. DVD RW Lightscribe. 19 inch monitor.
Do you think I can push this baby for $450+ on ebay?
A. if you throw a monitor in there then yes but without a monitor i see it coming closer to 400
TV tuner/cards I NEED SOME GUIDENCE!!Which cards are the best for HD and what spec on a moniter will allow me?
Q. Which cards are the best for HD and what spec on a moniter will allow me to play in HD even if it is slightly not as good of a picture
TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW
TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW
A. I have ordered this, should be in today
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815327005&Tpk=hdhomerun
I researched pretty carefully. What I found is that none of the internal HDTV tuners provide a good picture. This baby provides a picture over Ethernet, and has 2 separate HD tuners so that you can watch and record or record two shows simultaneously. Reviews at NewEgg say that it produces pictures identical to HDTV broadcast. What it doesn't have: any analog support. I can't plug my VCR into this and play tapes on my computer.
This
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815315002
is supposed to be almost as good, does *not* run over ethernet (which means that only 1 PC can access HDTV), and has only 1 tuner (only 1 program taped or watched at a time). On the other hand, it does support analag input (VCR).
HDTV has a top spec of 1080p (1920 x 1080 resolution), a "medium" spec of 720p (1280 x 720). Both of these tuners, if I understand correctly, provide a raw HDTV resolution, which means 1080i or 720p. What you need to watch these is a monitor capable of the appropriate horizontal resolution. You can look at newegg for a monitor that fits the bill. Note that this is different when you are buying a flatscreen TV. You can run a square-pixel HDTV in a window on your computer monitor, resolving any problems. An HDTV *dedicated* TV screen needs to have a 16 x 9 ratio or the picture will be / can be stretched. Personally, I will be using my 21" CRT monitor, as it is capable of 1920 x 1600 resolution. I will simply use a window that is 1920 x 1080 to get the proper ratio. 1920 widescreen LCD monitors are pretty expensive for a decent one (WUXGA). This is one of the cheapest 5-star newegg WUXGA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824155054
Note that these devices require an HDTV signal. I will be using antenna (over the air HDTV broadcast). If your cable signal does not deliver actual HDTV signals, and you plan on using cable, these devices *may* not work as you desire. I believe that both of these decode standard cable signals, but you will want to verify that these devices correctly decode your cable signal, or that your cable signal is true HDTV, if you expect to get HDTV from your cable. Indeed, most cable does not broadcast actual (true) HDTV (though some satellite and digital cable services do).
Jim
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815327005&Tpk=hdhomerun
I researched pretty carefully. What I found is that none of the internal HDTV tuners provide a good picture. This baby provides a picture over Ethernet, and has 2 separate HD tuners so that you can watch and record or record two shows simultaneously. Reviews at NewEgg say that it produces pictures identical to HDTV broadcast. What it doesn't have: any analog support. I can't plug my VCR into this and play tapes on my computer.
This
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815315002
is supposed to be almost as good, does *not* run over ethernet (which means that only 1 PC can access HDTV), and has only 1 tuner (only 1 program taped or watched at a time). On the other hand, it does support analag input (VCR).
HDTV has a top spec of 1080p (1920 x 1080 resolution), a "medium" spec of 720p (1280 x 720). Both of these tuners, if I understand correctly, provide a raw HDTV resolution, which means 1080i or 720p. What you need to watch these is a monitor capable of the appropriate horizontal resolution. You can look at newegg for a monitor that fits the bill. Note that this is different when you are buying a flatscreen TV. You can run a square-pixel HDTV in a window on your computer monitor, resolving any problems. An HDTV *dedicated* TV screen needs to have a 16 x 9 ratio or the picture will be / can be stretched. Personally, I will be using my 21" CRT monitor, as it is capable of 1920 x 1600 resolution. I will simply use a window that is 1920 x 1080 to get the proper ratio. 1920 widescreen LCD monitors are pretty expensive for a decent one (WUXGA). This is one of the cheapest 5-star newegg WUXGA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824155054
Note that these devices require an HDTV signal. I will be using antenna (over the air HDTV broadcast). If your cable signal does not deliver actual HDTV signals, and you plan on using cable, these devices *may* not work as you desire. I believe that both of these decode standard cable signals, but you will want to verify that these devices correctly decode your cable signal, or that your cable signal is true HDTV, if you expect to get HDTV from your cable. Indeed, most cable does not broadcast actual (true) HDTV (though some satellite and digital cable services do).
Jim
What are some good computer specs?
Q. So I own a mac and I really hate it so I'm gonna buy a PC. First of all, I don't wanna buy a PC pre-made, I wanna choose the parts. I need to know which specs (Processor, graphics card, motherboard, etc...) I am willing to spend $2000-$3000.
Thanks for all your help!
Okay, I guessed I over estimated my limits :P. I think a $1000-$1300 computer would be enough
Thanks for all your help!
Okay, I guessed I over estimated my limits :P. I think a $1000-$1300 computer would be enough
A. For that amount of money, you can get a sick PC.
First of all, take your time in selecting what you have to buy, you dont want to end up with parts that wont fit together.
Processor:
These days, the Core i7 is at the top of the hill. it comes in a few flavours, including the Core i7 920 (running at 2.66GHz, for about 300 buckz) the core i7 running at 2.93GHz (which ups the price to around 500..) the core i7 965 and 975 extreme which run at 3.06 and 3.33 GHz respectively (youll lay down about 1000 bucks for one of those). The core i7 processors overclock easily, so get a Core i7 920 and overclock it to 3.0 GHz, and you save yourself 600 bucks ;) ) This processor sticks on to a socket 1366 motherboard. The core i9 processor is on our doorstep though ,rumored to launch Q1 2010. It features a six core processor (12 core with mullti-threading) as opposed to the quad core (8 core with multitherading). they might be very pricy though..
Processor cooler:
No doubt about it, get a Prolimatech Mega Shadow or Prolimatech Megahalems (they do not differ from design, the mega shadow looks better ;) ). This is the best cooler you can get today, the higher you overclock the btter it works. It does not come with a fan, so get 2 Noctua 120mm fans, great company (noctua). The cooler is very large, so watch out if the motherboard is large enough (if its not the RAM might be in the way and trust me, that sucks :| )
Motherboard:
Loads of choice here, im not going to choose for you. But, look for one that at least has socket 1366, and two PCI-Express slots (multiple graphics cards). Depending on your peripherals, check the USB entrances, eSata, firewire, ethernet ports if they fit your need, this takes some time! Make sure it supports DDR3 RAM.
Graphics card:
The Radeon HD5870 is the best graphics card you can have. Even though the nVidia GTX295 out performs it sometimes, the GTX295 does not have DirectX 11 support, so you will want to get one of those HD cards.
Now heres the thing, youll be wanting two of those babies in crossfire! Almost double perfomance in games and HD playback, each can handle 3 monitors (or 6? cant remember) at a resltuion of 2560 x 1600. These things are beasts.
Hard drive/SSD:
The SSD (solid state drive) market is very expensive, but they offer extreme perfomance for extreme computing. This is also a prefernce based thing, you might want a lot of space, or just a bit. But SSD's are blazingly fast. If you just want some space to store a few hundred pics or movies, just get a 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 drive, they are great. SSD's should be used for the operation system and some games and apps that you want to run fast.
Case:
The case is a big deal in computing. If you want very high arolow, the Cooler Master HAF 932 is the way to go, it features three 230mm fans and room to replace those fans with nine 120mm fans, and space for radiators if going water cooling. But, taste is different, i persoanlly find the case very rugged and military, which appeals to me, but other might now. The corsair 800d (or b.. dont know), is a very sleek black polished steel case which is just extremely functional. They are expesnive (around 250 bucks).
RAM:
You want at least 6 gigabytes of DDR3 RAM, running at at least 1333MHz. Your motherboard must support DDR3 though! (Some AMD based motherboard dont support it, however almost all Socket 1366 motherboard do).
A real treat is 12 gigs of DDR3 RAM. why 6 and 12 and not 8? Because its DDR3 it is triple channel RAM. For the best performance, you want to work with multiples of 3. 12 gigs is great for photoshop and large apps that include photo or movie editing.
EDIT: Power supply!
You want at least 900W of power availabilty, get a Corsair TX950 watt powersupply (modular) or a TX1000W power supply (modular) Your system will almost never use that amount of power, but its very good to have the power available if for example you move to very power consuming grtaphics cards or overclock your RAM, Processort and GPU very highly.
The rest of the parts your going to have to decide yourself! PC building for this budget requres very neat and good planning, check everything before you go on to the checkout ;)
Hope I helpd good luck! If you need any further help you can email at jochemnielsen@yahoo.com
First of all, take your time in selecting what you have to buy, you dont want to end up with parts that wont fit together.
Processor:
These days, the Core i7 is at the top of the hill. it comes in a few flavours, including the Core i7 920 (running at 2.66GHz, for about 300 buckz) the core i7 running at 2.93GHz (which ups the price to around 500..) the core i7 965 and 975 extreme which run at 3.06 and 3.33 GHz respectively (youll lay down about 1000 bucks for one of those). The core i7 processors overclock easily, so get a Core i7 920 and overclock it to 3.0 GHz, and you save yourself 600 bucks ;) ) This processor sticks on to a socket 1366 motherboard. The core i9 processor is on our doorstep though ,rumored to launch Q1 2010. It features a six core processor (12 core with mullti-threading) as opposed to the quad core (8 core with multitherading). they might be very pricy though..
Processor cooler:
No doubt about it, get a Prolimatech Mega Shadow or Prolimatech Megahalems (they do not differ from design, the mega shadow looks better ;) ). This is the best cooler you can get today, the higher you overclock the btter it works. It does not come with a fan, so get 2 Noctua 120mm fans, great company (noctua). The cooler is very large, so watch out if the motherboard is large enough (if its not the RAM might be in the way and trust me, that sucks :| )
Motherboard:
Loads of choice here, im not going to choose for you. But, look for one that at least has socket 1366, and two PCI-Express slots (multiple graphics cards). Depending on your peripherals, check the USB entrances, eSata, firewire, ethernet ports if they fit your need, this takes some time! Make sure it supports DDR3 RAM.
Graphics card:
The Radeon HD5870 is the best graphics card you can have. Even though the nVidia GTX295 out performs it sometimes, the GTX295 does not have DirectX 11 support, so you will want to get one of those HD cards.
Now heres the thing, youll be wanting two of those babies in crossfire! Almost double perfomance in games and HD playback, each can handle 3 monitors (or 6? cant remember) at a resltuion of 2560 x 1600. These things are beasts.
Hard drive/SSD:
The SSD (solid state drive) market is very expensive, but they offer extreme perfomance for extreme computing. This is also a prefernce based thing, you might want a lot of space, or just a bit. But SSD's are blazingly fast. If you just want some space to store a few hundred pics or movies, just get a 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 drive, they are great. SSD's should be used for the operation system and some games and apps that you want to run fast.
Case:
The case is a big deal in computing. If you want very high arolow, the Cooler Master HAF 932 is the way to go, it features three 230mm fans and room to replace those fans with nine 120mm fans, and space for radiators if going water cooling. But, taste is different, i persoanlly find the case very rugged and military, which appeals to me, but other might now. The corsair 800d (or b.. dont know), is a very sleek black polished steel case which is just extremely functional. They are expesnive (around 250 bucks).
RAM:
You want at least 6 gigabytes of DDR3 RAM, running at at least 1333MHz. Your motherboard must support DDR3 though! (Some AMD based motherboard dont support it, however almost all Socket 1366 motherboard do).
A real treat is 12 gigs of DDR3 RAM. why 6 and 12 and not 8? Because its DDR3 it is triple channel RAM. For the best performance, you want to work with multiples of 3. 12 gigs is great for photoshop and large apps that include photo or movie editing.
EDIT: Power supply!
You want at least 900W of power availabilty, get a Corsair TX950 watt powersupply (modular) or a TX1000W power supply (modular) Your system will almost never use that amount of power, but its very good to have the power available if for example you move to very power consuming grtaphics cards or overclock your RAM, Processort and GPU very highly.
The rest of the parts your going to have to decide yourself! PC building for this budget requres very neat and good planning, check everything before you go on to the checkout ;)
Hope I helpd good luck! If you need any further help you can email at jochemnielsen@yahoo.com
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