What display setting do I use when using a PC on a 50" Plasma TV?

[TommyHolly]

Hey guys,
Sorry for all the questions lately but I've been helping a ton of my friends buy new toys...lots of new Dual and Quad core PCs (That I've been installing F@H on all of them of course for our team...heh heh)

Anyway, my buddy wants to use his Plasma TV as his main screen for his PC. I asked here on the OCForums what video card I needed and got all the answers. Before he went and bought it, I decided to buy the exact same video card that he is getting and try things out on my PC first.

I have a Dell Inspiron 530 Quad core (same as his), with an Nvidia XFX 8800 GTS 512MB (overclocked to 678MHz). The display settings are as follows (high to low):
1280 x 1024
1280 x 960
1280 x 800
1280 x 768
1280 x 720
1152 x 864
1024 x 768
800 x 600

Is there a certain setting I should be using on a Panasonic 50" Plasma screen? Is there some sort of formula or do you just go by what the pixel count on the TV is or something like that? I'm thinking with this rocking video card, he should be able to play some of the latest games on that TV and its should look good.

 

[nightelph]

The tv will support two resolutions; 1280x720 and 1920x1080. The resolutions you list above are what the 19" lcd you're using support. The video card will support up to 2560 x 1600. If he runs a game at 1920x1080 and its too choppy, run it at 720p, and it'll be upscaled to fit the whole screen at the cost of imgae quality. I'm sure this will raise more questions than it answers.

 

[TommyHolly]

So the video card knows what size screen you are using and lists the sizes you should try? So when I plug in the new video card at his place, I will see different sizes listed because he has a 50" screen...

I understand that if I use too detailed a setting it would be choppy trying to place the image on such a large screen. So if I chose a smaller resolution, the graphics are not as detailed but it simply stretches the picture onto the larger screen with less stress on the video card. That part makes sense to me.

By the way, there is three outputs from the 8800 GTS. Two of them are DVI and one is S-video. Could I potentially hook up three monitors to my video card if I wanted? I'm sure it would slow down things but would that work?)

 

[smokie mcpott]

no, you can only use 2 at a time... you can hook up all three but only 2 of them will be available

you should be able to use 1920x1080 or 1280x720 very easily on a 50"

 

[TommyHolly]

no, you can only use 2 at a time... you can hook up all three but only 2 of them will be available

you should be able to use 1920x1080 or 1280x720 very easily on a 50"

Again, since I currently do not see 1920x1080 available at the moment, it should pop up as an option once I hook it up to the plasma right? I am assuming that the card can sense the larger monitor and then give me more options?

 

[smokie mcpott]

yes