Vista - How to get good vid on HDTV Plasma

I've got a 42" Plasma HDTV 1080i and wonder how you get output from dvi or hdmi to work good on the TV. I have tried before, but no resolution that was selectable would look good at all on the tv. So i'm curious how you get a good resoultion to work with the TV and it look good. I'd actually like to try gaming on it.

Some televisions today come with a DVI input that will work great together with a computer. Also, some video cards come equipped with an HDMI port. If your tv has HDMI but does not have a DVI input, you can try an adapter as this one that you plug into your DVI port on the computer and plug the HDMI cable into it (assuming your video card does not have an HDMI ouput).
As for gaming, depending on what type of games you play, I think there may be the slightest bit of lag between the input and what you see. You would most notice the lag if you play first person shooters since it's a really fast paced game, but won't really notice the lag (if any) on other slower types of games like WoW.

Thanks.
I already know how to connect, but my question is what do I need to do for a good picture cus the resolutions don't even come close to matching. Vista display property resolution vs the TV resolution and mode.

My TV has 480i/p, 720p, 1080i. 1280x760 or something I think is what the manual says, but not sure. For the pc I've got no idea how to make it fit the TV properly and look decent. The TV has HDMI and not DVI. The PC has DVI and i have already the DVI to HDMI cable. Plus the pc i have right now also has an HDMI port too. Sowever it's messed up in that it's covered from plastic and the main video card has crossfire enabled maybe to use both same time for better performance. I don't know.

Anyway i don't know how to get a good picture since it seems the resoultions don't match or something.

what are your PC specs....

i know old crossfire needed a split DVI cable to function
though im sure that TV is pushing a higher native res than 1280x760...??

are you saying normal TV viewing is worse than your vista image...?

Norm TV VIEWING IS PERFECT. the pc specs don't matter, just need to know what i need to do in the display properties to get a good image on the tv. with the given info for my tv people might be able to tell what would be the best way to setup the pc.

currently the video is radeon 3450 hd card, but there's an hdmi slot on the pc from like built in graphics 3200 series i think.

my main pc has a 8800gt 512mb dvi only.

this all boils down to as far as i can tell picking the right resolution in display properties. of course 60hz. on the 8800 card i tried many diff res and nothing looked good on the tv.

i wouldn't use the onboard HDMI at all..

there must be a way with the 8800 ......I WILL BE BACK

it seems people are struggling getting a high res with their PCs
they just are not designed to work the same as monitors...

have a look here......NVIDIA Forums > 8800GT + 1080p 42" TV. extreme OVERSCALING

these people are able to get 1920x1080

not sure what else to suggest...

as i said i have 1080i. it seems in your responses you didn't read all my threads or pay attention or you just forgot.

I have up to 1080i on my tv and just looking to get the resolution that will look good on it and line up with the corners etc. that's all.

1080i or 1080p they are practically identical..

the point remains.....if you want a better picture through DVI buy a monitor...i dont think you will get a clear image to stretch the full 42''

1080i, the former king of the HDTV hill, actually boasts an identical 1,920x1,080 resolution but conveys the images in an interlaced format (the i in 1080i). In a tube-based television, otherwise known as a CRT, 1080i sources get "painted" on the screen sequentially: the odd-numbered lines of resolution appear on your screen first, followed by the even-numbered lines--all within 1/30 of a second. Progressive-scan formats such as 480p, 720p, and 1080p convey all of the lines of resolution sequentially in a single pass, which makes for a smoother, cleaner image, especially with sports and other motion-intensive content. As opposed to tubes, microdisplays (DLP, LCoS, and LCD rear-projection) and other fixed-pixel TVs, including plasma and LCD flat-panel, are inherently progressive in nature, so when the incoming source is interlaced, as 1080i is, they convert it to progressive scan for display.

Im not sure which video card you are using now, I am not familiar with nVidia products, but with ATI, set your resolution to 720p in the catalyst control center and adjust the overscan if needed to fill the screen. Small text will not look 100% crisp because the image is still being scaled, but games and HD (720p) video will look great.

As for 1080p and 1080i being practically identical, while in theory this maybe true, but on a 1080i HDTV set that does not support true 1080p there is a huge difference. The TV will scale the 1080i image to the native resolution of the panel, which in most cases is 1366x768 or 1360x768.

Running 720p to your panel is the best resolution over a digital connection (DVI or HDMI) since the least amount of scaling will be done with that method. If you want to run the at the native resolution you will need to run an analog dsub (vga) connection to your tv, if it supports it and set your resolution to 1366x768 or whatever the native resolution might be.