Your setup doesn't sound all that different from my gaming rig setup when I was running it connected to a 50in plasma tv.
My video card is an Nvidia 7800GS, and your setup trumps my computer as far as the PC specs. Without knowing what kind of video card you have, I'm kinda going on speculation.
In my configuration, the 15-pin D-sub connector for video (blue connector with three rows of pins for an analog monitor) went to the plasma, while the DVI port had an analog adapter that went to another smaller LCD flatpanel (for non-gaming time).
My 7800GS was able to drive the 50inch with no difficulty and ran the display's max resolution of 1280x1024 at true color (32bpp) out of the 15 pin VGA port. Even in gaming, the card was able to drive the resolution to the monitor's limit so it was never a problem.
The key for driving large displays bigger than a 17inch LCD is going to be the video card. The video card has to keep drawing the interface and the larger the resolution, the more video RAM and processor capability you will need. Thankfully video cards nowadays can handle huge resolutions in stride. Personally I recommend Nvidia but ATI's been doing some good stuff too. Either way, if you go with one of those two brands, you can't really go wrong.
Now, as far as TV is concerned. This is going to be the thorn in your side.
For me, what I did was I used an old (pre DTV) Hauppauge analog TV card and connected it to the video out of my cable box, then used a dual RCA to 1/4in phono jack cable to run the audio. This way, I was able to watch TV in a window, while using my computer hooked up to the plasma TV. The advantage was I didn't have to switch the inputs and sacrifice using the computer on the big-screen.
As an alternative, I also had the component connections off of the cable box going into the TV as it's own input, so that while the cable box was hooked up to the computer, it was not dependent and the two devices were seperate but without losing features. (My cable box was a DVR)
Unfortunately, Cable TV doesn't work that way. If you subscribe to any of your cable company's TV services, you _HAVE_ to have a box. I _DO NOT_ recommend attempting to jack with cablecards. I used to work for the cable industry in Houston and they were hellacious pieces of garbage. Save yourself the headache and get the cable box.
As far as billing goes, I have no idea, you're better off asking the cable company. 9 times out of 10, you will need to pay for cable services + Internet services in order to be able to get TV and Internet access. They come out and install a trap on your line to filter out the tv signal if you do not subscribe to it.
Can you post with some information in regards to your monitor's model number or what ports it has available on it so I can take a look and give you a better recommendation?
My video card is an Nvidia 7800GS, and your setup trumps my computer as far as the PC specs. Without knowing what kind of video card you have, I'm kinda going on speculation.
In my configuration, the 15-pin D-sub connector for video (blue connector with three rows of pins for an analog monitor) went to the plasma, while the DVI port had an analog adapter that went to another smaller LCD flatpanel (for non-gaming time).
My 7800GS was able to drive the 50inch with no difficulty and ran the display's max resolution of 1280x1024 at true color (32bpp) out of the 15 pin VGA port. Even in gaming, the card was able to drive the resolution to the monitor's limit so it was never a problem.
The key for driving large displays bigger than a 17inch LCD is going to be the video card. The video card has to keep drawing the interface and the larger the resolution, the more video RAM and processor capability you will need. Thankfully video cards nowadays can handle huge resolutions in stride. Personally I recommend Nvidia but ATI's been doing some good stuff too. Either way, if you go with one of those two brands, you can't really go wrong.
Now, as far as TV is concerned. This is going to be the thorn in your side.
For me, what I did was I used an old (pre DTV) Hauppauge analog TV card and connected it to the video out of my cable box, then used a dual RCA to 1/4in phono jack cable to run the audio. This way, I was able to watch TV in a window, while using my computer hooked up to the plasma TV. The advantage was I didn't have to switch the inputs and sacrifice using the computer on the big-screen.
As an alternative, I also had the component connections off of the cable box going into the TV as it's own input, so that while the cable box was hooked up to the computer, it was not dependent and the two devices were seperate but without losing features. (My cable box was a DVR)
Unfortunately, Cable TV doesn't work that way. If you subscribe to any of your cable company's TV services, you _HAVE_ to have a box. I _DO NOT_ recommend attempting to jack with cablecards. I used to work for the cable industry in Houston and they were hellacious pieces of garbage. Save yourself the headache and get the cable box.
As far as billing goes, I have no idea, you're better off asking the cable company. 9 times out of 10, you will need to pay for cable services + Internet services in order to be able to get TV and Internet access. They come out and install a trap on your line to filter out the tv signal if you do not subscribe to it.
Can you post with some information in regards to your monitor's model number or what ports it has available on it so I can take a look and give you a better recommendation?
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