New iMac Connected to a 65" Plasma

[MacCBR]

First Post....

I want to buy a new iMac, specifically to connect to a 65" Commercial Panasonic Plasma which has a VGA input. I know I will need an adapter to do this.

My question is, will the better built in Video Card in the new 24" iMac (NVIDIA GeForce 8800) produce better video on the large Plasma versus the standard ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO Video card?

I plan on using the iMac as a Audio/Video Server and it will be placed very close to the Plasma. I would like to be able to download HD content from iTunes and play directly from the iMac to the Plasma. I know about the posibility of using appleTV, but why would I need AppleTV if I can just connect the iMac directly (and also considering my Plasma TV has a specific input for 1080p computer monitor resolutions).

I guess I could also use a mac mini, but I understand the Video may be even worse.

Thanks for the Advice.

 

[TBi]

(and also considering my Plasma TV has a specific input for 1080p computer monitor resolutions).

I highly, highly doubt that the plasma can go to 1080p resolution. Plasma screens tend to have quite a low resolution. It might accept the 1080p, but will internally scale it down to the actual resolution of the screen. This scaling is normally bad for quality.

All you'll need for the iMac tho is the mini-DVI to VGA connector which is sold on apple's website.

Don't be shocked though when the resolution won't go above, say, 1024x768.

 

[MacCBR]

Maybe I was a little off. The native resolution on the VGA input is 1,440 x 1,080.

Anyway, what about the Pic quality?? Will I see any meaningful difference between the 2 video cards on the new iMacs?

 

[TBi]

Maybe I was a little off. The native resolution on the VGA input is 1,440 x 1,080.

Anyway, what about the Pic quality?? Will I see any meaningful difference between the 2 video cards on the new iMacs?

Sounds about right for a 65". Well i would hope it had a better resolution than 1024x768. Still not full 1080p though.

The picture quality between the two cards will be almost identical.
The Geforce just has faster 3D. For 2D and movies you should not see a major difference in quality. Although it would be worth reading reviews comparing the video decoding capabilities of both cards. They both use different methods which leads to slightly different results.