[LAU] HDMI ?

Florin Andrei florin at andrei.myip.org
Mon Nov 24 14:47:37 EST 2008


Dave Phillips wrote:
> 
> I looked up some information regarding HDMI. The new notebook has an 
> HDMI port, I wondered if anyone here has any experience using such a port.

I'm using it for a MythTV frontend, connected to a 58" plasma TV. It 
just works, I didn't have to do anything special. First I had a 
motherboard with an embedded GeForce 8200 and native HDMI output 
(electrically, it's identical to DVI, just in a different connector), 
then I put in a GeForce 9600 GT card with a DVI-to-HDMI converter 
because the embedded 8200 was too slow for recent 3D games on Windows.

The system, being just a frontend, is dual boot - Mythbuntu and Windows 
XP (for games). HDMI Simply Works (TM) on both graphics chipsets that I 
tried and on both OSs. I use NVidia's official drivers on both OSs; 
however, HDMI starts working from the moment the box is powered up - I 
see the BIOS POST, the GRUB menu and all that.

The default resolution for the Linux desktop and for Windows is 
1920x1080 at 60 (a.k.a. 1080p - the native resolution of the TV). Some 
Windows games will generate other resolutions, and they usually work 
just fine, although the clarity is slightly degraded (keep in mind I am 
*very* picky when it comes to image quality - most people would say the 
image is just fine).

It looks like the chip will probe the monitor and choose the available 
resolutions when it boots up. My screen being a TV, I guess the list 
will automatically include 1080p, 720p (1280x720 at 60) and so on.

2D performance is awesome on any chipset. For 3D, the 8200 was OK for 
simple games, but it got massacred by more complex apps on Windows.

Just install the NVidia binary (closed) drivers and use the 
nvidia-settings utility to tweak the outputs and settings and stuff, if 
something doesn't work the way you want.

The MythTV community knows a lot about HDMI and Linux. See their wiki 
and the users mailing list.

-- 
Florin Andrei

http://florin.myip.org/



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