The Zipityzap Internet Television Blog

I’ve been using my PC to HDTV VGA/SVGA cable a lot lately and am quite impressed with the video quality.  It’s a shame that everybody can’t get such a great connection - usually because not all HDTVs have “pc input” (the same as a standard VGA/SVGA monitor connection).  I used to be one of those folks - and had previously used s-video to s-video or s-video to RCA composite connections to a standard “tube” television.

The best display resolution you can get with a VGA/SVGA cable is the highest supported by BOTH your PC’s graphics controller and your HDTV.  For example, if your PC supports both 1024 x 768 and 1280 x 1024 but your HDTV only supports 1024 x 768, then your best resolution will be 1024 x 768.  So, as is the case with my wife’s Toshiba Satellite laptop, we have to change the resolution depending on whether it’s connected to the HDTV or not.  Using the laptop alone, we change to the higher 1280 x 1024 resolution; connected to the HDTV, we have to downgrade a notch to 1024 x 768.  Fortunately the Intel Extreme graphics controller software allows us to save “schemes,” which makes toggling back and forth a snap.

Since my HDTV also has composite inputs, I thought it would be interesting to compare the s-video/RCA composite quality to the VGA/SVGA quality.  S-video and RCA composite video are older standards and both support up to 728 x 576 resolution (standard definition).  Our HDTV does not have an s-video input, so I used an s-video to composite cable for this test.  The results would be identical for an s-video to s-video cable.

VGA/SVGA Cable
The image below is a photograph of my HDTV displaying an VGA/SVGA image.  The screen resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels.
 

S-Video/RCA Composite Cable
Below is the same image as displayed in standard definition with an s-video to RCA composite cable.  For comparison, take a look at the third line from the top.

Bottom line, the VGA/SVGA cable from PCTVCables.com is your best bet.  It’s affordable, it supports high-definition,  almost all PC’s have this standard video output, and it comes with a built-in audio cable.  If you’re shopping for a new HDTV, make sure it has “pc input!”

Since my laptop is now securely attached to my HDTV, I thought it about time to test out the many online movie rental services that I promote on PCTVCables.com. This is the beauty in connecting the Internet to your HDTV via your PC - you aren’t held hostage to one service provider. If you buy a Roku Netflix box, for example, you can only rent movies from Netflix. And that’s a raw deal. As an added benefit, you aren’t limited to just renting movies. You can do anything on your HDTV that you can do on your computer.

The first service we tested was Amazon’s Video On Demand. Baby Mama was the movie we chose with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Amazon lets you watch the first 2 minutes for free. Then you have to click the “purchase now” button to see the rest. So I did. “Internet Explore has encountered an error and needs to close” was the result. So I closed the browser, relaunched and returned to the Amazon site. Surprisingly, the movie started playing!

In the first few minutes the video seemed to be dragging. I was not impressed. But we continued to watch and after a while it seemed to improve. Then, at about 43 minutes into the movie, the video started jerking and then stopped. The audio continued to play. I tried desperately to rectify the condition. I knew my wife wouldn’t stick around long. Unfortunately there was no way to change the streaming rate or quality or make any adjustments whatsoever. After about 5 minutes of tinkering I threw in the towel. I sent Amazon an email and they refunded the $3.99. By the way - I did check my account and it had been charged during the “crash.”

Next stop: MovieLink. Surprisingly, they also had the same movie. So I figured we’d give it a whirl. MovieLink requires a download so I accepted the invitation and hoped it wouldn’t be too long. Well, no such luck. After about 10 minutes of waiting the installation crashed. Something about upgrading to .NET 3.0 failed or something like that. Granted, my laptop is about 4 years old and may not have met their minimum hardware requirements. That’s too bad. These things should be kept simple. If Hulu can stream movies, why can’t MovieLink? And shouldn’t they strive to make their service available to the millions of computers that aren’t the latest and greatest? I think so. Goodbye, MovieLink.

By now it’s starting to get late but I wanted to try one more: CinemaNow. They also had the same movie. I’m glad to see that movies are available across multiple platforms and through multiple vendors - this is great for competition. The nice thing about CinemaNow is that they have movie trailers. So we watched the trailer and it streamed beautifully. Wow, I was impressed. We ended up not renting the movie that night but I have plans to revisit the site soon and give it a full-blown test drive. For now I have high expectations.

Last, but not least, is Netflix. Unfortunately I am no longer a Netflix subscriber. But if you are, be sure to test out their streaming service and send in your report. Their library is limited to about 10% of their collection - about 12,000 titles. You can reach me at: geraldz@zipityzap.com . Thanks.

By the way: if you have a PC and a HDTV, be sure to check out PCTVCables.com.