Blu-ray player in computer versus standalone in terms of quality

[canadianjameson]

Hi all,

I just bought a new 46" tv and i'm wondering whether to buy a standalone Bluray player or put one in my computer tower (which can display to the screen)

Am i going to get a massive loss of quality if I get one for my computer?

Thanks,

Jay

[edDV]

That would depend on the display card capability in your computer.

In general, a standalone player will offer better image quality.

[canadianjameson]

I have the Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX (http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_7800.html) so the graphics capabilities are there.

I suppose my question is does the difference in performance justify the difference in costs?

[rr6966]

I have a computer with Blu Ray and a couple of standalone units. The standalone option, in my opinion, is the way to go. If you are interested in the hi rez new audio formats, the computer really doesn't support these or not easily as pluging in a standalone into an HDMI receiver.

[canadianjameson]

perfect, i'll go standalone

last tangential question: I have a DVD player that is connected to the new TV by RCA cables, but it also has an HDMI port. will i get any better picture quality by switching from the RCA to HDMI (given that it's just a standard 39$ Phillips DVD player)

Thanks so much!


Jay

[MOVIEGEEK]

HDMI will look better.

[canadianjameson]

cool - i'll order them now.

While i have you here - and this is MAJORLY tangential so feel free to ask me to post somewhere else, but here's an issue i just came across:

I don't quite know if this will work, but i currently have this connecting my PC to the computer:
http://www.svideo.com/7svto3rca.html

I'm upgrading to this:
http://www.svideo.com/dvihdmi30.html

now the question is... do i need to ALSO buy this:
http://www.svideo.com/audioadapter30.html

or can i a) just leave the current audio connections connected, but unplug the s-video plug and plug in the HDMI cord, OR b) do i need another type of wire?

Thanks so much, and sorry for the tangent

[MOVIEGEEK]

I assume you are connecting the PC to the 46" tv, if so I would use the audio cables you already have.
If you're connecting a standalone player to a HDTV then all you need is HDMI.

[canadianjameson]

okay cool, so i can do that then... and how do i ensure that they are connected / in sync with that HDMI cable (i.e that the TV recognizes that THIS HDMI cable is paired with THESE audio inputs)?

[MOVIEGEEK]

That might be a problem, you could run the audio to your receiver.
Does your volume control in Windows have an option to enable HDMI audio?

[canadianjameson]

it seems to have something called 'realtek digital output'

would that be of help? i dont think it has an hdmi control because my video card is DVI out - the cord i'm getting is DVI to HDMI

what to do?