Browse Instructions

Now that we all know how to get OTA HD, now we need to know how to connect our HTPC to our HDTV so that we can watch our free HD in all its glory -- HD is cool on a computer monitor, but it's nothing like a huge HDTV.

How you do this will depend primarily on your PC and your HDTV, lucky for us that they both share some common interfaces -- and newer video cards have HDMI. The most common interface for computers is DVI and HDMI for HDTVs, so you have a few options here -- S-Video and Composite won't work because they only carry SD signals and what fun would that be?

Before we get started I want to mention that out of the box all TV's are subjective to some overscan, yes all, but some more than others. At the very least 2% and at the very most 10%. Normally you don't notice, but when displaying your desktop on your HDTV even a small amount of overscan is noticeable. If you plan to watch movies and other videos it won't bother you. If you are planning to check the web or play video games it can be more intrusive. It is worth your time to check if your TV has a 1:1 pixel mapping mode like Samsung's "Just Scan."