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Setups: HD Television Versus DLP Projection
You need to connect a PC to your 3D-Ready HDTV to watch stereoscopic video. But many home theater enthusiasts use a DLP projector as a high definition television monitor . It is only natural to compare the advantages of each method.
Connecting your 3D-Ready HDTV to the required 3D-PC is no different from connecting it to any other home theater PC. Your antenna, satellite or cable TV box connects
to the HDTV in the same way as usual. You have the usual choices of what kind of cabling to use: an HDMI cable, S-Video cable, or component video
cabling.
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The required PC connection is easy. All it takes is a DVI to HDMI cable. The DVI end plugs into the PC video card, the HDMI end plugs into
the HDTV. The television has a special socket marked "3D SYNC" in the back. Connect the IR emitter to this plug and place the emitter on top of the set.
That's it. All the hardware is connected.
Surround Sound Connections
But wait! What about surround sound? Good question. You probably already have a DVD player in your entertainment system, and you probably already
have it connected up for surround sound. But for watching 3D-DVD's you will not be using your DVD player, you will be using the DVD drive in the
PC. If you want "3D Sound" with your 3D video experience your PC will have to support multichannel audio. The good news is that most all
PC motherboards now provide this feature. You will just need to feed this audio into your current surround sound receiver.
Many home theater enthusiasts use their HTPC to turn a DLP Projector into a high definition tv monitor. With the simple addition of a
3D Video adapter these systems can be turned into a home 3D-IMAX cinema center. There are just two major requirements for this setup to
work well for 3D video. The projector must be a DLP projector with a VGA video input connector. The safest bet is to select a model listed
on Andrew Woods most excellent
3D Compatible Projectors list.
It is also best if your HTPC uses an nVidia graphics card. For playing 3D movies and video files these are all you should need. If, however,
you also want to play video games in 3D you will need to purchase a 3DFlightSim's
Stereo Projection Converter.
The cabling is very similar for the two systems. The addition of optional video connections from the cable or satellite box to the
PC provides a nice feature. If the PC has a TV card you can record or pause programs without paying for a cable/satellite company DVR.
Additionally, if your TV card is an HDTV card you can record/pause/watch free OTA ( over-the-air or antenna) High Definition! I've found
this especially good because the HD version of OTA programs provided by the cable/satellite companies is sometimes very noticably degraded compared
to the free, OTA signal.
