Apologies in advance for both noobish questions and those that should have appeared in the HTPC forum; I need advice from CRT folks since that's ultimately where the signals will end up. After reading up, I've put together the following plan, and I'd appreciate some help in checking my reasoning.

My main problem is that due to physical limitations, my NEC XG viewable area is bigger than my screen, so I'm planning on driving the projector with an HTPC and using Powerstrip to reduce the size of the viewable area. DVDs will be played back through the HTPC, and game systems will come into the HTPC via video capture. Descaler will be used to make 480i signals look better.

For higher end signals, I'm thinking of getting the Hauppauge HD PVR model 1212, which will take component in and go up to 1080i. As far as I can tell, I can't go through the HTPC with an HDMI source (e.g. from a PS3) due to HDCP, but sending 1080i out through the component jack of the PS3 and going into the Hauppauge HD PVR should be fine.

What resolution should I run my HTPC at?

A signaling question: why would anyone want to use HDMI instead of component? It looks like they support all the same signal types, right?

Thanks...

My main problem is that due to physical limitations, my NEC XG viewable area is bigger than my screen, so I'm planning on driving the projector with an HTPC and using Powerstrip to reduce the size of the viewable area. DVDs will be played back through the HTPC, and game systems will come into the HTPC via video capture. Descaler will be used to make 480i signals look better.


Welcome to the forum! I don't really understand your statement, if this is true you should then move the projector closer to the screen to maximize tube life & resolution. Do not reduce the active area on tube face! You did not say in your post if you had an interest in Blu-ray or what game console you are using. Many newer game consoles can be connected directly to a CRT projector. Using a capture card and dscaler will limit the resolution to upscaled 480i and frankly will not look very good. In fact the PS3 is not only a great game console but a great Blu-ray player and SD-DVD scaler when combined with an HDFury or Moome box. The one drawback with using a PS3 as a scaler is if you want to run 1080p on your XG, then an HTPC with Powerstrip or an external scaler will most likely be needed because of sync timing requirements by the XG, this is the reason I use an HTPC.

I would suggest reading this document.

http://www.curtpalme.com/CRTPrimer.shtm


Mike

Unfortunately, I can't move the projector any closer to the screen: it has to be on the opposite wall. I understand that reducing the viewable area on the projector itself is bad, but it seems less bad to just do it on the HTPC. This is why I want to send all of the signals through the HTPC: I want to perfectly fit the image on the screen, and I can't do that in some cases. I don't yet have a PS3, but it seems to be impossible with the Wii. Hauppauge's new PVR capture device claims that it will capture at 1080i, so I figure I'll hook the PS3 up to that via component cables.

Any idea what resolution/sync rate I should set my video card to on the HTPC? It's an NEC XG135LC, btw...

Thanks for the feedback.

Well it should be a crime to reduce the active area on the tube face because it will reduce the tube life but do as you please. :)

For SD-DVD's scaling to 1280x720p@72Hz seem popular resolutions and refresh from a few years ago and will show a very nice picture.

If you are building a new HTPC consider a Blu-ray drive. The improvement in image quality is quite dramatic the difference in cost between a DVD reader and Blu-ray /DVD writer drive is now down to about $100 IMO it's well worth the upgrade.

Is your projector a 1351 or 1352, if it is a 1352 it should accept the wii's 480p signal directly. If it is a 1351 like I own, you will need a trancoder.

Well it should be a crime to reduce the active area on the tube face because it will reduce the tube life but do as you please.

Get or build a bigger screen. A XG will fry a set of tubes with the active image set to small in no time.

Chip

Or move the screen closer