Well im currently running the dvi connector from my graphics card to my pc input on my tv and using a regular red white cable to connect audio from pc to my av receiver. Would using a hdmi cable from pc to tv dramatically increase picture/sound quality ? My av receiver does not have hdmi, is my best option to continue using the red white cable to connect my audio to pc, or any recommendations ? If i had this would playing dvds from my pc be the same quality as playing dvds from my hdmi connected LG LDA511 dvd player ? I dont currently have any inputs for hdmi on my pc. What would be a cost effective way to have this feature ?
Does your computer have Optical? I think you can only use HDMI cable from PC for sound if the graphics card has onboard audio.
i dont have optical output on sound My pc has onboard audio (dfi karajan audio board) but it just looks like regular audio input
Sounds like your doing what i used to do. ie going from DVI on gfx card adapted to a VGA connection to the TV and analogue stereo sound. This means you are converting a digital signal to an analogue one, therfore either DVI to HDMI or HDMI to HDMI would be better picture but I suspect only in terms of High Definition Video. For DVD I beleive that you are getting just as good a picture as a DVD player considering the resolutions of DVD output. Also, if you wanted to deliver High Definition in the future from a Bluray drive, it would have to be a digital connection, otherwise the software player (such as Power DVD) will downscale the signal, and it will not be HD anymore. Your sound options are the best you can get without upgrading your motherboard or sound card. (maybe your Gfx card too.) I built a new PC and the Mobo had a Co-axial digital output (S/PDIF). I connect this to my surround amp and it delivers Dolby 5.1 and DTS. The trouble with sound card upgrades is that they generally expect you to be connecting a 5.1 speaker set-up to the analogue outputs, but in your set-up, you want to deliver the digital signal to your receiver and unless i'm out of date, the digital S/DIF or Optical outputs on a PC souncard can only deliver stereo, not 5.1. Some modern graphics cards have a DVI/HDMI ouput that can accept audio signal from a decent sound card / motherboard but this wont help you because your receiver does not have HDMI. Therfore you would only have stereo sound from your TV speakers with the HDMI connected to it. Hope that helps you decide.
