Blu Ray Drive on a PC

[mattaggie]

If I put in a Blu Ray drive into my PC will I get the full HD experience? My monitor is an 22" AOC that goes up to 1600 X 1050 resolution and I have an EVGA Nvidia 8500 video card. It connects by a DVI cable. I guess I am confussed as to what makes a computer HD. When it comes to regular video equipment, everything is labeled as HD, but not so with PC parts.

[Hi Ho]

HD is simply a specific resolution. There are actually two resolutions used in HD sets; 1280x720 and 1920x1080. Your monitor is in between. You should get an excellent HD picture though it's not quite 1080p.

As for sound, it's a little more difficult to take advantage of the high resolution audio found on Blu-Ray discs using a PC. See HERE (http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1306/1/dts_hd_and_dolby_truehd_on_your_pc/index.html).

[mattaggie]

Thanks. I am noticing that a number of AMD motherboards are coming with an HD output (DVI and/or HDMI). Any opinions on how good these on-board video cards are compared to buying one seperately? In terms of gaming, Blu Ray playback, etc.

[Hi Ho]

The "HD output" is really a marketing gimick. Virtually all video cards today are capable of outputing HD resolutions. An HDMI output is compatible with more TVs but that's about it. The onboard solutions will probably do OK with Blu-Ray but don't expect much gaming power from any onboard chip.