Connecting pc to tv

[hygieneboy]

I have a 3 year old lap top that I connect directly to my tv via a s-video cable and the results were atrocious....no color, blurry, etc.

Im considering buying a pc with an hdmi out. If I connect that pc directly to my Harmon Kardon receiver via hdmi, should the results be good?

My ultimate goal is to connect an external hard drive filled with DV-AVI files that I want to watch on my tv to this new computer.

[jagabo]

Im considering buying a pc with an hdmi out. If I connect that pc directly to my Harmon Kardon receiver via hdmi, should the results be good?

What kind of TV do you have? VGA from computer to HDTV can be very good. So can HDMI (or DVI -> HDMI). But nothing looks good on an SDTV. Well, that's not entirely true. SD video can look pretty good on an SDTV (about as good as a DVD player) with the right graphics card set up correctly.

My ultimate goal is to connect an external hard drive filled with DV-AVI files that I want to watch on my tv to this new computer.

You may want to look at the Western Digital TV HD Media Player.

[edDV]

Try VGA from the current laptop.

BTW, I already checked the WD media player. It is not spec'd to play DV-AVI.

[jagabo]

BTW, I already checked the WD media player. It is not spec'd to play DV-AVI.

Ah, missed the "DV". Just read "AVI".

[hygieneboy]

I have a Harmon Kardon AVR-254 receiver and a Samsung LN4095 1080p tv.

Yeah I thought the WD TV would have been perfect, but no DV-AVI support.

[edDV]

I have a Harmon Kardon AVR-254 receiver and a Samsung LN4095 1080p tv.
.

Connect the laptop VGA to the TV PC port (VGA) then run audio to the Harmon Kardon AVR-254.

[jagabo]

If you get a new computer DVI -> HDMI (or straight HDMI if you new computer has HDMI out) will work even better. I'm pretty sure that Samsung has "Just Scan" for pixel-per-pixel mapping with no overscan at 1920x1080p60. That's what I do with my LNT-4665.