PC output to widescreen TV

[Rubber Bullets]

Hi,

I have long been considering building a PC for my sitting room, to use as a DVD player and also media center type thingy. Eventually to be networked with my upstairs PC to play divx etc over the net.

Although I haven't really got the money to do this now, one question has finally got the better of me.

What sort of widescreen output does a PC give? Is it true widescreen (anamorphic) or is it letterbox? This may make a difference to what I do.

Now I've started a thread I may as well ask what you, Shuttle fanboys , think of my intended spec.

Basically, due to price and heat considerations, I am thinking of an Intel based system with a Celeron 2.2GHz chip. I can't afford a quick P4 and an Athlon system would presumably require more noisy cooling.

At first I wouldn't require any TV recording facility, tho I presume an AGP all in one type graphics card would be able to give me this as an upgrade.

I do not want the machine to be able to play Doom III but it would be nice if it could play a few 'consoly' type games (Tony Hawkes etc) at TV resolutions.

My TV is a Panasonic 28" 100Hz, which had better resolution on text than the 50Hz model so I hope this bodes well for use with a PC which will not have any other monitor.

Oh and one last thing, any opinions on Windows compatible remote controls to work it all with?

Thanks

s

 

[smurkin]

I dont really know about any of the other stuff....but you can do some of this using a wireless sender for 80 to 100 quid.

I have a Philips sender.....I had a really cheap micromark one...but the quality was shit so got the philips one from argos.

Now these senders will send video ( scart ) upstairs to the bedroom...but will also send/relay infrared downstairs so I can change the channel on my DVD/satty box using the remote control upstairs...with a suitable scart adapter...say to svideo and add sound from your soundcard...you should be able to send your puters audio-video output....

If you add an infrared wireless keyboard with built in ball mouse or similar to your pc....you should now have remote controlled computer...the only thing I am not sure about if there is any delay from the IR sending as this could bugger up games...

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

If you're looking to play just video music and low end games you've specced far too high. My divx/dvd/whatever box is a 1.2 Duron with 512 mem and a cheap Radeon card and has been virtually flawless so far.

I run a specialised linux distro designed as a home media centre and it's controlled with a creative remote. I'll dig up the links for the linux stuff as it really is a million times easier to use than the equivalent windows system.