Hey guys, im building a comp for a gaming / mediacenter, what cable do i use to connect my new comp to the tv for playback

Alex

I recommend a google search using something like "PC+video+out+tv+quality" without quotes. You're likely to be pretty disappointed when connecting to a standard tv. Man-o-man, I wanted to do this so badly myself. It looked like total junk.

im getting a new tv... maybe a philips LCD 40 " hdmi hdtv


any ideas?

Well, for crying out loud! I guess we're hardly talking about a standard tv here, and I am insanely jealous too. The DVI connector is the same as the HDMI, but HDMI is designed to also carry audio...as you probably know. They're backward compatible with standard DVI as well. You best bet looks to be a DVI-to-DVI connector, rather than DVI-to-HDMI. Mainly because your video card doesn't contain an audio component, but also because there appear to be sync issues with the HDMI cable. Either way its all digital from PC to the set. Looks like you can play mp3s and view jpgs from a USB thumb drive too. Surely someone offers an ultra high end cable, which may be worth the money if you're dropping $2K on your tv/monitor. The link below shows the connector type though. *drools*

Cable:
http://www.computercablestore.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=199

Discussion:
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/111735.html
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/122868.html

im getting a new tv... maybe a philips LCD 40 " hdmi hdtv
any ideas?

yeah... avoid philips TVs!
anyways,
you need a video card with DVI output, if you don't already have one for best picture...
DVI connector is the same as the HDMI
http://www.jenving.com/image/hdmi-dvi.jpg
DVI and HDMI are totally different connectors, DVI uses the same protocol, but is becoming a connector of the past. HDMI contains audio, but you wont be using it in this case. You better be getting a nice surround sound system with that TV and come out of the computer with spdif/toslink!

DLP and LCD projection TVs look phenominal as monitors!!!!

why avoid them?

My apologies. As jcnoernberg pointed out, DVI and HDMI connectors are not the same at all. My horribly worded post should have indicated that the Philips has both connection types, and that you'll likely want to use a direct DVI connection to your video card rather than a converter cable.

I am unfamiliar with the quality of the Philips display, so I can't comment on that.