Need advice - "PC inputs" give native res?

DonkeyStyle \o/

I haven't bought anything yet, but what I'd like to do is have an LCD TV hooked up to my PC as a clone of my normal desktop.
Most likely I'll go for something cheap and cheerful in the 720p ("HD Ready") range, but I'm not sure if I can send the panels native resolution from the PC, or rather if the TV will accept anything other than some expected standard 4:3 PC aspect (640x480 / 800x600 / 1024x768 / etc.)
While browsing specs I came across something like the above... and it has me concerned.
Do you think this is a common issue?
Would it matter (or be more prevalent) on a VGA connection or DVI?
Or if all else fails could I go DVI through the HDMI port and achieve native panel resolution that way?

The idea of sending a 4:3 aspect picture to a 16:9 TV seems a bit stupid... and I'd like to avoid upscaling/downscaling if at all possible... since it's rather shít looking on some of the less expensive HD tvs.
I figure I could let my PC do the upscaling, since it does a fine job for my 20" widescreen monitor.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Khannie

You lost me a bit. Not sure if this helps, but I send a 720p picture (native res) from a pc to a projector over vga. Looks sexual. No problem with it not being 4:3 at all.

8T8

Most 720p HDTV's with VGA input have a native res of 1366x768

VGA input will support the following resolutions
640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x720*, 1360x768

* Special case not all TV's expose this resolution.

When using VGA most recent HD sets now have an internal auto mapping/scaler feature this automatically adjusts the image so you get effective 1:1 pixel mapping on the screen (no black borders) however older or cheaper sets will sometimes have only the scaler which means when setting a resolution you will have to manually adjust it to fill the screen like old CRT's (some don't even provide that).

The resolution of 1366x768 is only achievable by going through the HDMI input and forcing a custom resolution.

With your PC you will need to set the resolution to a common ground that both can handle if using clone mode and if your PC monitor is not widescreen then that probably means 1024x768. As for how that looks I'd say fine for the most part but it may depend on the TV and the quality of it's scaler if it's only for watching movies/videos and the like then it's nothing to worry over.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Thanks for the replies... interesting.

The spec sheet I was looking at only listed 4:3 aspect resolutions for the VGA input... which freaked me out a bit.
Not accepting its native resolution over VGA seems like a strange idea to me... but God only knows what they're running that signal through.

The resolution of 1366x768 is only achievable by going through the HDMI input and forcing a custom resolution.

That sounds like a winner.
My nVidia card lets me set custom resolutions for the secondary display... but the cloning stuff I'll have to experiment with I think.

FYI, I'd like this for PC gaming as well as movies... so horisontal scaling / vertical cropping and pillar-boxing are all out.
My current monitor is 16:10, so I know how much I hate dealing with 4:3 on it.

8T8

1366x768 is not a computer compatible resolution which is why it is not available in normal circumstances, that said it will still work if forced.