I have been searching in the forums for about 2 hours, and cannot quite seem to find the answer I am looking for to my question. I am planning to buy a HiPix card according to my research in this forum and other websites, and I am planning to build a HTPC. In building this, however, I do not want to spend any unecessary money (who does?). I have downloaded the manual for the HiPix to learn about its connections, etc. In some of the forums, users mentioned not being able to see the desktop when connecting their TV directly to the HiPix. Obviously, this would not allow the user to play DVD's from the respective drive on the computer since there is no way to see the desktop. If I were to connect the monitor to my video card and the TV to the HiPix, would I be able to use the desktop (via the monitor) to setup dvd movies and have them appear on the TV (via HiPix)? If not, would I have to use the loopback connector and a transcoder (and loose the monitor) so I could also use my computer to play DVD's? The other issue here is ease of use. If the first method works (and PLEASE correct me if my theory is wrong), I would not need Powerstrip as the HiPix would be controlling the TV's timings, resolution, etc. Otherwise, with method two, I would have to use Powerstrip. Or maybe, HiPix would still control all of this if I select RGB in the settings and use a transcoder. To boil all of this down (after this lengthy post), what is the easiest and least expensive way to connect my HTPC to my TV using HiPix and still use my PC to play DVD's? Thank you very much (even if it was just reading for this long!).
-P.S.: this assumes my TV only has Component inputs and no form of RGBHV
-P.S.: this assumes my TV only has Component inputs and no form of RGBHV