24in iMac HD?

[Bonked]

I'm basically trying to decide if I should spend the extra $ to get the 24in iMac as opposed to the 20in, and my main reason would be to use it also as a second HD monitor/TV.

So, I understand that the 24 inch iMac has HD type resolution. But, is it really HD, and if so how is the quality compared to an actual HD TV? And how would one watch HD content on an iMac except by downloading TV shows through the internet? There's no HD DVD player in the iMac, and you cannot get a TV signal in the iMac, can you?

Thanks!

 

[Flyinace2000]

I'm basically trying to decide if I should spend the extra $ to get the 24in iMac as opposed to the 20in, and my main reason would be to use it also as a second HD monitor/TV.

So, I understand that the 24 inch iMac has HD type resolution. But, is it really HD, and if so how is the quality compared to an actual HD TV? And how would one watch HD content on an iMac except by downloading TV shows through the internet? There's no HD DVD player in the iMac, and you cannot get a TV signal in the iMac, can you?

Thanks!

I use a peice of software called iRecord. This lets me record directly from my HD cable box via firewire. I can capture DRM free transport streams of HD shows. They play back in VLC wonderfully. The one thing it does not let me do well is watch live TV, but who does that anyway.

You could also get one of the Elgato prodcuts to get standard def cable or OTA HD TV.

I have a G4 tower in the basement hooked up to all my external drives and the cable box. Then i just mount the drives from my iMac and playback over the network. Its works very very well

 

[wizwaz3]

I'm basically trying to decide if I should spend the extra $ to get the 24in iMac as opposed to the 20in, and my main reason would be to use it also as a second HD monitor/TV.

So, I understand that the 24 inch iMac has HD type resolution. But, is it really HD, and if so how is the quality compared to an actual HD TV? And how would one watch HD content on an iMac except by downloading TV shows through the internet? There's no HD DVD player in the iMac, and you cannot get a TV signal in the iMac, can you?

Thanks!

In terms of quality, the iMac sports a 1920x1200 resolution. True HD is 1920x1080. All computer monitors are 16x10 instead of 16x9. If you were to go out to Best Buy right now and buy a 26" HD LCD TV, you would get a resolution of 1366x768. Compare that to the iMac, you're looking at a much sharper, more Hi-Def image. The pixels in LCD TVs are much larger than those in Monitors. The smaller the pixel, the sharper the image.

That said, I don't know any solutions for receiving TV signals. I JUST bought my first iMac (24" ) and it's shipping as we speak.

 

[Chundles]

In terms of quality, the iMac sports a 1920x1200 resolution. True HD is 1920x1080. All computer monitors are 16x10 instead of 16x9. If you were to go out to Best Buy right now and buy a 26" HD LCD TV, you would get a resolution of 1366x768. Compare that to the iMac, you're looking at a much sharper, more Hi-Def image. The pixels in LCD TVs are much larger than those in Monitors. The smaller the pixel, the sharper the image.

That said, I don't know any solutions for receiving TV signals. I JUST bought my first iMac (24" ) and it's shipping as we speak.

There are a number of USB TV tuners for the Mac, Elgato make a bunch of them and have some great software too.

 

[wizwaz3]

There are a number of USB TV tuners for the Mac, Elgato make a bunch of them and have some great software too.

Awesome! I think I'll look into one. Next payday of course.

 

[Zwhaler]

In terms of quality, the iMac sports a 1920x1200 resolution. True HD is 1920x1080. All computer monitors are 16x10 instead of 16x9. If you were to go out to Best Buy right now and buy a 26" HD LCD TV, you would get a resolution of 1366x768. Compare that to the iMac, you're looking at a much sharper, more Hi-Def image. The pixels in LCD TVs are much larger than those in Monitors. The smaller the pixel, the sharper the image.

That said, I don't know any solutions for receiving TV signals. I JUST bought my first iMac (24" ) and it's shipping as we speak.

This is true, but youll scare yourself with regular (480p) broadcasts. Just make sure you watch all of your HD on your iMac, and regular tv on something else. The quality is atrocious, because it streches out 640x480 over 1920x1200. Lots of strechage!

 

[Bonked]

So basically...

...it looks like the iMac can be used as a pretty good 2nd HD TV, but you have to get the content in there using the various means listed above. I'm surprised that standard TV gets stretched - I'd think they'd just put it in a box or something to keep the aspect ratio, etc correct. I'm assuming SD DVDs look okay?

Thanks for the help!

 

[skubish]

...it looks like the iMac can be used as a pretty good 2nd HD TV, but you have to get the content in there using the various means listed above. I'm surprised that standard TV gets stretched - I'd think they'd just put it in a box or something to keep the aspect ratio, etc correct. I'm assuming SD DVDs look okay?

Thanks for the help!

DVDs look fine on a Mac. Just remember you will probably have black bars on the top and bottom because of the different aspect ratio.

If you Elgato the TV picture doesn't have to be stretched if you don't run it in full screen.

 

[wizwaz3]

DVDs look fine on a Mac. Just remember you will probably have black bars on the top and bottom because of the different aspect ratio.

If you Elgato the TV picture doesn't have to be stretched if you don't run it in full screen.

Does anybody know if the iMac up-converts DVDs to high-def? I mean, you would think Apple would do that since HD up-converters are around... Anyone know for sure?