Watch DLTV online: Episode 184 episode 184

STUFF • Viewer Pics: Raj shows off a server farm built almost entirely of recycled Mac desktop machine down under in Australia. • Brian has an HDTV with no HDMI inputs. Can he send upscaled video from a DVD over his component inputs? Short version: Robert says, "no." • Now, if your current DVD player is SD (no HDMI or progressive output via component), he suggests you use an S-Video cable and enable the processing features on the TV (most every progressive scan TV has a film-mode setting, and some provide advanced picture enhancement features that may be worth trying). • If your current DVD player has component video output (and the TV has the input), use that connection. If it is a progressive scan player (480p), it *may* do a better job at deinterlacing the video than the TV will (***that is where the HQV DVD Benchmark Disks are really handy***). Regardless if it is 480i or 480p output, the TV will then scale the video to fill the screen. • Upconverting DVD video to HD resolutions via component video output is not permitted with legit players (those that properly process Macrovision protection schemes). If the DVD video is *not* macrovision protected, I believe most upconverting players allow HD output of this content via component - but how many people watch "home movies" they have burned to DVD. • Mike's 52 inch Sony rear projection LCD? Has DVI inputs, but no HDMI inputs. Can he use a HDMI to DVI adapter to connect an HDMI DVD player or a PS3 to his HDTV? Will it look worse for the conversion? Robert says, "No, the quality should be exactly the same. DVI is a subset of the HDMI spec so no actual conversion takes place." Mike, you will miss the audio signal carried over HDMI. You'll have to make use of the DVD player's SPDIF or Coax connector to a A/V receiver or use a pair of stereo RCA plugs to connect to his TV. One caveat, if you want to play HDCP protected viddy over your DVI (like an HD DVD, Blu-ray or PS3 game), you'd beetter hope you have an HDCP compatible DVI port in that TV! • Neil's worried: 'OpenBSD' says Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, especially the E6600 are "buggy as hell." Heck, all processors have some "errata" on them, to use Intel's term. They're noted and published to inform developers. (We hope.) Just make sure to update the BIOS for your motherboard regularly: Intel uses firmware upgrades to control problems with their processors. • What's the best $150 Direct X 10 graphics card for Todd's buddy: ATI's Radeon 2600XT or Nvidia's GeForce 8600GTS? In tests by Extreme Tech the Radeon 2600XT and the GeForce 8600GTS were so slow running available DirectX 10 patched titles that they were unplayable. You could turn off the eye candy but you end up with a DirectX 9 looking game, so why bother. Better choice would be the 8800GTS at the high end of the $200 - $300 range. The truth is until enough DirectX 10 games, which will start trickling out this fall you¹ll still be playing DirectX 9 most of the time. In that respect both the Radeon 2600XT and 8600GTS are solid performers with both being faster than the previous generation of DirectX 9 cards. • Blackmagic Design's Intensity $250 HDMI capture board. Although the premise is good, a low cost way of capturing HD video using the HDMI connection, it has some ease of use issues.

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