HI-FI

Hello Lisa

Whatever display type you use TV, Plasma, LCD etc if the Display has
less pixels (resolution) than you have your PC Graphics card set at
then somewhere in your signal path the system has to throw away info
you would normally see on a PC monitor that has a resolution to match
the output of your graphics card.

With your current set-up the TV out on your graphics card is throwing
away the info the TV cant resolve.

With an 852x480 Plasma you can connect the graphics card via its VGA
out to the Plasma and as long as your PC resolution is one that is
supported by the Plasmas internal electronics the Plasma will now
throw away the info it cant resolve - this will look better than and
certainly no worse than your TV displaying a PC; and use the VGA out
not the TV out on the graphics card as this will look way too soft on
the Plasma.

If you plan to do a lot of PC viewing and require to see lots of
detail - line drawings, digital image manipulation etc Id look at a
1024x768 display from Pioneer or Panasonic as possibly being the best
compromise to deliver decent video along with sharp looking PC images.

If your PC viewing is mostly say web surfing you will find the down
scaling on the 852x480 displays is actually pretty acceptable - though
if you were using text and email a lot again Id go back to a 1024x768
(the soon to be superseded Pioneer PDP-433MXE is a good place to start
your search for the best compromise).

The 1024x1024 displays are a bit of a technical bodge job and though
pretty good I prefer the 1024x768 displays when it comes to video
playback.

Best regards

Joe

joe@tmfsolutions.co.uk