Re: [LAU] Plasma TV as monitor for studio work.

alex stone wrote:
>
> Have any of you in our linux audio world such a setup?

I do, although I'm not using it for audio/music work.

Here's how the whole thing works. My usage scenario is different, it's
not a studio, but I think you'll find some useful ideas here:

It's a 58" Panasonic 1080p plasma TV. It's connected to:
1. A dual-boot Playstation 3 running:
- the original PS3 GameOS for multimedia playing, some games,
Playstation Home and whatever else may be available on this platform
- Yellowdog Linux PowerPC edition for Cell CPU hacking and to give me
access to the Blu-Ray unit
2. A dual-boot cheap home-made quiet energy-friendly PC running:
- Mythbuntu for MythTV frontend (the backend is on a different machine
and it's up 24/7) and a few games
- Windows XP for games almost exclusively

So it's mostly for multimedia and games, although some browsing does
take place every once in a while on any platform out of the four
available (even the PS3 browser is somewhat decent, albeit quite
primitive), and also some hacking / programming / screwing around on the
Yellowdog partition.

The PC has a GeForce 9600 GT 512MB, fanless:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125098

It's a good card which provides reasonable frame rates for many games,
but unless the PC has very good and very fast air circulation, it gets
scorching hot (I could smell it across the room), which kind of defeats
the purpose of it being fanless (PCs pumping lots of air are not quiet).
Just put a medium-size fan right on top of the radiator, connect it to
+5V so it spins slowly and it's quiet, and the heat problems are solved.

It's connected to the TV via a DVI/HDMI adapter and an HDMI cable.

Everything (PS3, PC, TV) is set to 1920x1080 @ 60Hz (a.k.a. 1080p). The
PC uses the official binary Nvidia drivers for both Linux and Windows.
There are no problems related to resolution, displays, frame rates, etc.
Everything just works.

The sound is not routed to the TV, but instead it goes to a cheap "home
theater" Teac system - the PS3 is connected via optical cable, the TV
via optical too, and the PC via either analog or coaxial (both stereo,
my Teac cannot do 5.1 on analog) although both provide the same signal
and only one link should be enough. The home theater has 5.1 speakers.
The amplifier is OK (it's hard to make a bad amplifier these days), the
5 speakers are pretty bad unfortunately, the subwoofer is actually quite
good (Cambridge Systems, back when they were an independent company).

It took a while to balance the subwoofer with the rest of the audio (I
did it empirically), and even now there are peaks and valleys of
low-freq interference through the room - but at least the main listening
places are okay, it's mostly some corners where bass is way too weak or
too strong. But that's normal for a regular living room which has not
been prepared for audio.

The TV is calibrated with the Avia II DVD played on the PS3; I also used
the calibration filters. You should do this, it makes a very big
difference. The display now is very balanced, smooth, pleasant to the
eye. The brightness has been tuned somewhat low, which wouldn't be good
if the sunlight was shining directly in the room, but that's never the
case except briefly in the morning and then nobody watches the TV -
maybe the kids on a random Saturday, but they don't mind. :-)

http://ovationmultimedia.com/avia2.html

I put a low-power fluorescent bulb behind the TV, lighting the whole
wall behind. Normally I turn off all the other lights. That's how the
calibration took place - the screen is calibrated specifically for that
light, but it looks okay anyway.

This setup is very comfortable for anything. Just be aware that the
optimal viewing distance for movies is bigger than the optimal distance
for hacking. You need to get a lot closer when you're reading regular
text. So you need to move the chair, or use a chair when hacking and the
couch when watching movies.

Don't worry, there's no eye fatigue, if the screen is calibrated and
it's not burning too bright. Get as close to it as you wish. If you're
pretty close, the large working area in front of you looks awesome. The
1080p resolution is not extraordinary these days, but the sheer size of
the screen changes everything.

Beware, any regular computer screen will seem puny after you get used to
the big screen. :-) There's no going back once you start walking this road.

Wireless keyboard and mouse are very useful with this setup.

-- 
Florin Andrei
http://florin.myip.org/
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