Page 1 of Media Centre Style PC For CAD on a 42

I have just installed a 42" Panasonic Plasma for my father-in-law. When I mentioned he could connect a computer to it and do his CAD programs on it his eyes lit up!!

It just got me thinking, would it work? I`m no expert with CAD software so wondered if anyone had any advice or are able to point me in the right direction? :/

Here is a list of things I`m thinking:

1. Needs to be black and about the height of an old VHS recorder to fit into new TV stand

2. Needs to total no more than about £500 including oem Vista or XP to keep him interested.

3. Is resolution of 1024 x 768 of the plasma going to be good enough for CAD software?

4. Better to use VGA or HDMI

5. Apart from the CAD software it would only need to connect to the net wirelessly, so no TV cards or anything apart from a DVD drive

6. I`m thinking the Keyboard/mouse could be the main problem due to sitting on a sofa and using? Mouse pad in keyboards any good? Thought of trackball but not sure he would like it? Am I going to need a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse due to the 3-4m distance from the TV?

7. I can also build the PC myself but would consider an already made one if the price in not to high?

Any help appreciated. :)

TV - http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/558141/index.html?trackInfo=true

This item was edited on Friday, 23rd January 2009, 23:06

PC case and keyboard easily sorted BUT

1) I wouldn`t want to do CAD work at that resolution. What is he used to?
2) Display proportions will possibly look `odd`. Circles will appear oval. 16:9 vs 4:3
2) I would be very worried about screen burn on a plasma screen.

This item was edited on Saturday, 24th January 2009, 01:18

In the time to watch a bit of TV and get upstairs bytemaster has said it all.
The resolution thing isn`t right though - one you adjust the PC to the proper resolution (a widescreen one) it is OK.. BUT....
Resolution not high enough. Is that the resolution of the TV?
Would never use plasma for CAD. No matter what some may say about modern plasmas, CAD apps will have the same menus on all of the time and will damage it. I use CAD for hours a day..(but on LCD). In fact, I would be reluctant to run a PC for too long on a plasma.... that nice blue bar across the bottom............

Ste

This item was edited on Saturday, 24th January 2009, 00:34

Quote:
The resolution thing isn`t right though - one you adjust the PC to the proper resolution (a widescreen one) it is OK

If you change the display proportions on the PC to a wide screen format that will certainly let you show circular circles. But you will no longer have 1:1 pixel mapping which will degrade the image.

Anyway I think we both agree it is a bad idea.

I completely forgot about screen burn :/

Looks like I will give it a miss then :(

I was looking forward to a new project :(

Thanks for everyone`s help

Screen burn will generally only "take" after about 2 hours of a static image, so if you were to say do an hour at a time that would negate that being a huge issue.

That being said I`m not sure about the pixel ratio stuff mentioned above cos I would only use the input for playback of video type content.
(Saying that though, my desktop looks damned impressive on my Panny at full resolution!)

Oh, and screen burn (or image retention to be more exact ;) ) can be cured or at least masked... I fell asleep with Sky+ on and the simpsons playing one morning, woke up 7 hours later to see the blue box with "End of Recording. Press Back Up to Exit" glowing on my Samsung :(
6 hours of a static white Jpeg played as a VCD and you`d never know it had happened.

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

Quote:
If you change the display proportions on the PC to a wide screen format that will certainly let you show circular circles. But you will no longer have 1:1 pixel mapping which will degrade the image.Setting the PC to 1024x768 will be fine and give the correct 1:1 mapping. What is the degradation you`re talking about? CAD apps don`t work like that - as in it`s not as though when you view something at 1:1 scale you can stick a ruler on the screen and measure it.. Not that I haven`t seen anyone try it..

jimbo, getting rid of it after one-offs is possible (not always) but using it day in day out for hours would harm it..

Ste

Quote:
Setting the PC to 1024x768 will be fine and give the correct 1:1 mapping. What is the degradation you`re talking about? CAD apps don`t work like that - as in it`s not as though when you view something at 1:1 scale you can stick a ruler on the screen and measure it.. Not that I haven`t seen anyone try it.

A PC set to 1024x768 is generating a display for a 4:3 screen, if you display that on a 16:9 screen at 1:1 pixel mapping the image is horizontally stretched. It is the same effect that you see when watching 4:3 SD material stretched to full screen on a wide screen display. (Everybody gets fatter).

The alternative is to set the PC to output 16:9 (say 1366x768), then the display proportions are correct but now each of the PCs pixels has to be represented by less than one screen pixel, or to put it another way. Each of the display`s pixels has to represent `one and a bit` pixels of the signal it is receiving (called interpolation). This can work fine for large areas of homogenous colour, but can play hell with fine detail, text etc.

lol - that`s what I get for posting after midnight while half p***ed and then as I get up.
Just because 1024x768 is just about the most common PC ratio didn`t stop me totally typing a load of bollocks as though it was a proper PC widescreen ratio....

Ste

Your brain is probably scrambled from trying to explain consumer rights, I gave up on that one. :D