New Lcd's - 1:1 Pixel Mapping For Web Browsing.

[BruceG]

Greetings all

I plan to buy a new LCD, to watch movies, view camera piccies/movies, live-to-air TV and for the internet. I was looking at the Samsung 40" F series, but now looking at the recently released Samsung 40" 650 series.


I understand from that to get 'good/proper' internet display, a LCD needs to have 1:1 pixel mapping. The quote below (found by a search on "1:1 PIXEL MAPPING" seems to confirm this.) .


"You don’t have to navigate via the OSD menu, just simply press the pict. size button on your Samsung remote ( or Harmony remote ) to re-enable 'Just Scan' aka 1:1 pixel mapping, does the same job with a lot less effort."


My question is:

To get good/proper' internet display on an LCD, what do I need to look for in the LCD specs; ie;
* Does the the LCD needs to be 100 MHZ
* the salesperson's advice/knowledge;
* the remote control buttons;
* the manufacturers website;
* the connections on the side/rear of the LCD;
* the user manual.

Perhaps a series of dot points stating the basic/minimum criteria needed for proper web browsing for a LCD to have might be useful us all.

Although I am talking Samsung, perhaps all replies could be, if possible, on LCD's generally. Thanks.

BruceG.

[TheRob]

What outputs does your PC have for connecting to this proposed LCD - HDMI, DVI, VGA, S-video, composite video? The outputs available to you and which one you choose to use will have an impact on what inputs you will need on the LCD and how successfully you can achieve 1:1 pixel mapping.

[BruceG]

G'day Rob

I haven't got a HTPC yet, but working on it.

The LCD (unless someone persuades me to go Plasma) will probably be bought before the HTPC. I gues a 'chicken and egg' thing!

I am probably working backwards, but the end result should be a damn good LCD to which I can then design the HTPC. Does that make sence ?

Over to you.

Thanks

BG

[TheRob]

OK. Simplest way to get what you want is to buy a native 1080 resolution panel (ie. it MUST have be a 1920x1080 pixel panel) that has a HDMI input that supports 1080p preferably @ 50Hz, and then match that with HDMI output from your HTPC and a graphics chipset that drives it to full 1080p resolution.

What you want to avoid is an LCD with a resolution like 1366x768. This is not a standard TV resolution and can be difficult to drive 1:1, unless it has a direct VGA or DVI input for use as a computer monitor.

The Samsung LA40F81BDX would be perfect. Don't know about the new series.

[BruceG]

TheRob

Aha - I was following some other threads here on this particular Samsing LCD that you mentioned, when in the last week or so along came a new lot of Samsungs, and the 40" LA40A650A1F hit the scene. Seems it is the logical replacement for the LCD you mentioned, but you can never tell if a new model has the bells and whstles of the previous model.

The Samsung.com.au site does not show the new series 5, 6 & 7 yet, although there is some references in the 'Suport/Downloads" site at Samsung.

In terms of the 1:1 pixel issue, woud LCD manuals actually state that a particular LCD is "1:1 pixel friendly", or would I simply conclude that from the criteria that you have just listed ??.

BruceG

[TheRob]

Originally Posted by BruceG

In terms of the 1:1 pixel issue, woud LCD manuals actually state that a particular LCD is "1:1 pixel friendly", or would I simply conclude that from the criteria that you have just listed ??.

No. Keep in mind these are TVs - not computer monitors. The 1:1 pixel mapping is only really important when you are talking about displaying the Windows desktop.

In TV playback situations the source material is often not at the broadcast resolution anyway, so scaling is applied. The only time you get the benefits of 1:1 pixel mapping for TV is when the source material, broadcast resolution, PC graphics card resolution and TV native resoluion are all the same. This may become more common as everthing moves to a 1080p standard, but ATM it's relatively rare.

Anyway, bottom line is the Windows desktop will always look a bit blurry when displayed at a resolution other than the native resolution of the LCD. With TV it's no really noticeable.

The reason this has been such a hot topic in the past is that a lot of LCD TVs had panel sizes of something like 1360 x 768 pixels, or thereabouts. This isn't a standard digital TV resolution. Therefore boxes designed to drive TVs (HDMI as an example is a TV connection format, not a computer one) couldn't output this resolution at all, so the Windows desktop looked cr@p.

Full HD sets, however, will have 1920x1080 pixel panels. This IS a standard TV resolution so TV connection formats like HDMI WILL support it. On these sets you should have no problems getting 1:1 pixel mapping so the Windows desktop WILL look sharp. How good live TV will look will, however, depend on the source material, the broadcast resolution and the quality of the scaler.

EDIT: To your question, as long as it's a full HD 1080 resolution LCD panel you almost certain will be able to get 1:1 pixel mapping easily by choosing an appropriate graphics card or motherboard graphics for you HTPC. You don't have to worry about any other parameters.

BTW the LA40A650A1F is a full HD 1080 panel, so it will be fine.