Introduction

Recently I had a look at some HDMI graphics cards, and discovered that getting your computer to display a proper HDTV signal isn't simply a question of having a card with the right connectors.

When you connect a computer to your TV using a digital signal like HDMI, the process isn't as seamless as connecting a dedicated piece of AV hardware, like a TV tuner or DVD player. This is because AV equipment makes automatic allowances for overscan whereas graphics cards don't. To fix this, there's a certain amount of manual tweaking required in the driver.

I wanted to compare AMD and nVidia's driver capabilities to get your system up and connected properly to an HDTV. The two cards used were an MSI NX7600GT Diamond Plus and Sapphire X1600 Pro HDMI. Both cards have native support for HDMI.

 

Let's get this show on the road and check out the process of setting up HDMI on your HDTV.