Is this a good HDTV? Also, VGA vs. DVI ?

[Fowley]

Well hello again!

In the not-so-easy eandeavour of getting a HDTV to use as both tv and monitor for pc, I've now gone to a store twice to check it out first hand.
The second time (which was today) I brought my own pc to check out how gaming would be, among other stuff.

So the model I'm looking at is the Samsung LE-27T51B, which is just in my price range, somewhere up to 1000$ (only, in swedish kronor, about 7000kr). I haven't found any reviews or anything on the net, so I'm wondering if you know anything about how good it is.
It seems like a real nice tv, the gaming and watching movies is just plain great! Using it as a monitor seems fine as well, but I've only tried using a VGA connection from pc to tv...

So the question: Is there a (big? any?) difference using a DVI connection instead of VGA?


Oh, btw... Sound isn't really an issue, I'll just use my pc speakers, which are quite decent. And since sound isn't really an issue, I don't really have to care about HDMI, since that's basically DVI only with sound as well.. ? Right?

I'd appreciate any help!

 

[fredgiblet]

The difference in image quality between VGA and DVI is largely subjective, in fact a high quality VGA connection can be indistingiushable, though there is no reason to use VGA if DVI is available.

HDMI is (or will be) required for full HD material (i.e. 1080i or 1080p) as part of a copyright scheme. If you do not use HDMI from the player to the TV then (supposedly) the output will be downsampled to 720p (or lower but I'm not to sure about that).

 

[gbed]

When I purchased my 27" lcd tv (Syntax) I initially used a VGA connection. The desktop was blurry. When I replaced with a DVI cable everything sharpened up considerably. I think the TV could be driven at it's native resolution with DVI, but not VGA.

With LCD TV's as monitors, it's important to get as close to their native resolution as possible for the best possible picture. Check your manual to see if there's a difference between using the DVI and VGA inputs.

As was stated before, there's really no reason to use VGA if you have DVI, and with all things electronic, your mileage may vary.

 

[schwinn]

It would be easier if you had mentioned what kind of TV it is... but searching tells me it's an LCD.

When using VGA output, the vid-card will convert the digital data to analog, and then the LCD (which is a digital device) will convert it back to digital for display. CRTs don't have this issue, as they are analog devices, so there is no conversion back to digital in the TV.

The extra D-A and A-D conversion will always introduce "noise" and other artifacts, which are variable with the quality of the converters.

That being said, if the DVI is truely a digital feed to the TV, then there is no additional conversion, and this is a good thing as it introduces fewer artifacts to the signal.

As gbed noticed, sometimes these conversions can be awfully messy!