eh, most can do 768p, its been standard since the late 1980s. Just not for games, that was standard in 1993 I believe. Now PC can do UHD

It's because you have to realize your computer can do more than just browse internet sites for ... material.

shh tedster! you're spoiling the effect :p

Good one, especially being a copy of another thread in other forums... But just for the people that don't know about this, i'm gonna explain it:

PC doesn't do HD because that's a TV marketing decision, analog TVs had the NTSC/PAL standard definition for a long time before the digital signal hitted the TV world (late 90's), then, with digital capabilities, the TVs could do better resolutions, so they agreed to some resolutions (1280x720, 1920x1080) and marketed as HDTV (High Definition Television)...

A PC monitor (always digital) evolved fast from the small monochromes to the resolution of 640x480 (VGA), then it went to 800x600 (SVGA), 1024x768 (XGA), etc., and the bigger the monitor gets, the more resolution it can handle (as long as the video card also can handle it), so PCs had 1280x720, 1920x1080, etc., wayyy before the TVs could do that...

The reason now video cards and monitors are being sold with the "HD" in the specs is because a lot of PC users don't know about PC resolutions, but they know about HD, so it's another marketing decision...

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How you can hook-up your PC to your TV?

Analog TV: Look if your Video Card has a S-Video or Composite (Standard RCA Audio/Video) exit, connect the cables to your tv, configure the video and you're set...
Digital TV (Especially HDTVs): HDTVs have a Standard D-Sub (VGA) input, and a DVI/HDMI input, and video cards have also this exits, now you have to choose between those ones, connect the cables, configure the 2nd monitor and you're ready, but if you want to connect DVI to HDMI, you have to get an adapter, the video card can come with it, or you can buy it, it's cheap...

This is a bit off topic...but can somebody tell me if a 21.5" monitor with a native resolution of 1920X1080 would look better than a 24" monitor with the same native resolution?

I always make sure my TV comes with a standard PC VGA port that way I can connect my PC athough in my case the 360 to the TV.

Alternatively some of the newer cards come with HDMI ports, so basically the only thing stopping most people is lugging a PC to the TV or vice versa.

Of course my monitor is 1680 x 1050 which is the resolution I play my games, I consider this to be sufficient for everything I play today.

24" displays are typically 1920x1200 (16:10), which means black bars for any 16:9 aspect ratio signal (many widescreen movies).

Size of the display matters less than the aspect ratio (16:10 PC vs. 16:9 HDTV) and the native output resolution.

When comparing the same resolution at different display sizes (22" 1920x1080 vs. 42" 1920x1080 for example) the difference is the tightness of the dot pitch of the pixels. Smaller display, same resolution = tighter dot pitch, smaller pixels and less visible stepping at closer viewing distances. Tighter dot pitch generally looks sharper at closer viewing distances (also dependant on the quality of the displays being compared).

How closely you plan to sit in front of your display is the most important factor in determining which "looks better".

Using a 42" LCD HDTV as a primary monitor sitting on a computer desk (viewing distance of less than 2" for example) would be awkward and the pixels would visibly step.

Using a 22" LCD display as a TV to be used at TV viewing distances (greater than 5" for example) would be too small as even 20/20 vision would not be enough to see all the fine detail at greater distances.

For all intents and purposes, on current video set ups (HDMI or DVI), PC displays and HDTVs are interchangeable.

Plenty of people use their HDTV as a secondary or even primary monitor (assuming they sit back further than normal computing distances) and plenty of people use PC displays for consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Lower res HDTVs (1280x720, 1320x768) on the other hand, are not ideal as PC displays due to the lower desk top/window space, but they still give you the convenience of built in speakers for consoles (some PC displays have these as well) as well as a TV tuner (even fewer PC displays have these as well).

Case in point; I keep a gaming PC and several consoles hooked up to a 1920x1080 HDTV, and a second PC and another PS3 hooked up to a PC display on my desk.

because the owner is running there screen resolution at 640x480....don't know why, but I can surmise that they have yet not discovered the option to increase screen resolution or that they are some what blind and require everything to be large.

So for these people their is no such thing as HD gaming on PC.....just putting it out there.