Viewing PC's HD files on HDTV?
 

I've been reading here that one does not get the "full glory" of HD when viewing HD content on a PC and a PC monitor; it should really be viewed on a HDTV set.

But I don't own a HD cam, a HDTV nor a HD disk player. I do have a 720p HD projector.

I've hooked up my PC to a friend's HDTV and played DVInfo clips, WMV-HD and DIVX-HD files but it's just another, bigger computer screen to me. I'm still not seeing the full potential of HD in this case, right?

Please help me figure out what I am missing. Is there a setting on PC to make sure the video output is native 720p (all my content is 720p)? My PC is connected to the projector via DVI to HDMI.

Also, I've been using VLC and WMP to view the content in "normal" or "100%" size mode.

Any help appreciated. TIA.

HD projection - why no wow factor ideas
 

Couple of thoughts.

1. What size image are you projecting? 720p spread over a large image on a screen (many feet across for example) might not look that impressive as the individual pixels are going to get quite big. A HDTV is typically 3 to 4 ft diagonal.

2. A projector is is only a good as it's lense. You say it's a HD projector so hopefully there will not be too much softening/loss of resolution.

3. (OK I lied, it's going to more than 2!) What are you projecting it on? Is it a proper reflective type screen?.... or just a "white wall" which might give you a pretty uninspiring picture. HDTV LCD panels are, of course, back lit so it will be difficult to get the depth of colours/dynamic range effect with a projected image compared to them.

I'm no expert but hope these might help you work out what's wrong at least on the projection side.

4. (Edit, and adding another one!) One other thing is the HDTV you've tried. Maybe your friends is a good one or not. I really don't know but some are way better than others and, to be honest, some I've seen I'd struggle to watch because they are so poor - so don't judge HD on one TV.

Anyone else?

There's no reason that you can't get great quality, viewing HD video files played by a computer (assuming the computer is powerful enough). Probably the weakest link in the chain, for the videos you are viewing, is the compression of the source files. Most video downloaded from the web is very highly compressed.