PC Connectivity

We've been enjoying the 37" Sharp Aquos LCD for several months now (especially those CSI episodes broadcast in HD). However, we had never watched a DVD movie on this display. Recently, I went and got the necessary cables to take advantage of the DVI input to the TV. I connected my IBM Thinkpad to the display and right away got a very crisp rendering of my PC desktop. I tried various resolutions and settled on the oversampling "stretch" mode. Even though the top and bottom of the screen gets cropped, it works well watching 16x9 DVD movies. The sound is also decent with the TV's speakers.

The setup gets a little messy with the cables and wires needed for hooking up the laptop. I'm thinking of getting the Mac Mini as a low cost home theater PC (HTPC). The form factor allows for this and the G4 processor supposedly is powerful enough for rendering 1080i HD content. That would be my next project -- taking advantage of the Aquos' TV Guide programming capability. It automatically downloads TV Guide scheduling (sans the monthly TiVo charge) and allows for recording to be scheduled to a DVHS. Software exists to allow HTPC's to function as virtual digital VHS devices. Finally, a way to get TiVo like functionality with high definition content...