Mark - I have a 15 pin DIN connector on the back of my Samsung TV that I'll eventually use to connect to a PC. At some point in the not so distant future I will probably replace my current home office PC with something newer, and take my old PC and connect it to my TV, with audio out to the receiver. I'll then pick up a wireless keyboard and mouse, and the PC will remain connected to my network via wireless ethernet.
The uses I am aiming for are
- browsing the net from my couch on the 46" Samsung (seems like a lazy ass thing to do, but what the hell).
- using the PC and a program like MusicMatch or iTunes to play MP3 playlists through the stereo (probably need to update my sound card)
- maybe use it as a DVR, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble yet and I don't know what kind of program guides you could connect to this way. When you think about TiVO it is nothing but a hard drive and some Linux code, so maybe this bears watching.
- storing/playing video I've taken with the camcorder and edited
- viewing pics I have stored on the computer HD on the big screen
- maybe video conferencing with a quickcam (I have one now but don't use it all that much)
- games (although I've got the kids Playstation hooked up already and I'm not a huge game player on the PC; probably be more for the kids)
- like you're already planning, I will have network share locations set up so that I can access the files anywhere else on my network.
I think the good reasons to bring the PC together with the HT is the rich delivery of entertainment...games, the web, internet radio/video.
Sounds like you've already got your connections and media options all worked out so I won't comment there.
You mentioned your card has HDTV out. So does your video card have a built in HD tuner? Where does it get the signal? Cable? Satellite?
