What should I look for

[chesters1]

you can get a cheap DVI to 15 pin monitor connector easy enough if you need it.

cards not old Den its ancient ,get a 512mb (at least) 9000 series card and see the difference.

be wary of "HD" cameras ,the optics may have enough pixels but is it stored as RAW or merely compressed on the storage device .

if any compression is used ofcourse its no longer HD

 

work out the numbers

 

1920 x 1080 x 30 (fps) = 1 second of "footage"

heck of a big card needed for a film

 

most cards now have an "HD" out but whether it is is down to the same numbers and compression factors ,the saying "theres many a slip betwixt cup and lip" can now be "theres many a slip between camera optics and monitor"

 

you cant get a HD film onto a normal DVD (hence the blueray) and mpeg 4 is a compressed format so neither are HD ,higher definition perhaps but no where near true HD (using the lowest form of "real" HD 1080p) i think were a few years away yet from real (even 1080p) HD in any form

Edited January 5, 2009 by chesters1

[poledark]

Dave, yes the card is "old" but very servicable I may keep it a while longer. The camera referred to is a Sony HD 1080 Full HD and uses Sony AVCHD. I do not think it is compressed. Sony refer to it as "Full HD" so I gues that is what it is

 

Den

[corydoras]

you can get a cheap DVI to 15 pin monitor connector easy enough if you need it.

cards not old Den its ancient ,get a 512mb (at least) 9000 series card and see the difference.

be wary of "HD" cameras ,the optics may have enough pixels but is it stored as RAW or merely compressed on the storage device .

if any compression is used ofcourse its no longer HD

 

work out the numbers

 

1920 x 1080 x 30 (fps) = 1 second of "footage"

heck of a big card needed for a film

 

most cards now have an "HD" out but whether it is is down to the same numbers and compression factors ,the saying "theres many a slip betwixt cup and lip" can now be "theres many a slip between camera optics and monitor"

 

you cant get a HD film onto a normal DVD (hence the blueray) and mpeg 4 is a compressed format so neither are HD ,higher definition perhaps but no where near true HD (using the lowest form of "real" HD 1080p) i think were a few years away yet from real (even 1080p) HD in any form

Hi Dave

I kinda agree with you in the HD side of things, a lot of folks are going to be disappointed when the find that their "HD Ready" teles don't support HDCP when they connect them to a REAL HD source like a blu-ray player and all they see is standard DVD resolution or worse just a blank screen or a message telling them that there TV doesn't support HDCP, but that's a digression, not helping Den at all.

 

Something like this Den, but make sure you get the HDMI adaptor

 

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9600gt_us.html

 

You should be able to pick up one for c£100, maybe less. Failing that Pop into PC World tell them what PC and Monitor you have and see what they suggest. Your new monitor will look even better with a new card, especially if you like to play with Video