Now that we all know how to get OTA HD, now we need to know how to connect our HTPC to our HDTV, so that we can watch our free HD in all its glory. Sure HD is cool on a computer monitor, but it's nothing like a huge HDTV.

How you do this will depend primarily on your PC and your HDTV. Lucky for us that they both share some common interfaces. The most common interface is DVI for computers and component for HDTVs. You have a few options here. S-Video and Composite won't work because they only carry SD signals and what fun would that be?
Before we get started I want to mention that all TV's are subjective to some overscan, yes all, but some more than others. At the very least 2% and at the very most 10%. Normally you don't notice, but when displaying your desktop on your HDTV even a small amount of overscan is noticeable. If you plan to watch movies and other videos it won't bother you. If you are planning to surf the web or play video games it can be more intrusive.

If you are one of the lucky ones who have a DVI port on your computer and a DVI or HDMI port on your HDTV. You can buy a cable and set your computers output resolution to one that is supported by your HDTV. That is This seems pretty simple, but unfortunately it isn't always that simple. HDTVs and computer monitors don't always support the same resolutions. All the video standards are covered in this image. It is confusing but useful. The main thing to pick up from the image is that PC's don't use the same native resolution as HDTVs. Some HDTVs can accept standard PC resolutions like my Sharp AQUOS. To see which resolutions your HDTV supports check out the manual. Most companies have their manuals online so if you don't have yours head over to the manufacturer's website to look it up.

As you can see from the grid my HDTV supports most resolutions, the other great thing about this TV, is that there is no overscan at PC resolutions, but there is at normal HDTV resolutions. Unfortunately this is not the norm, but if you are one of the lucky few then you can grab a cable and connect it.

You can use VGA, component , DVI or HDMI to carry HD signals. Since digital is generally preferred you should use either DVI or HDMI. If your HDTV has a HDMI and since no computers have HDMI yet you will need to use an adapter from DVI to HDMI. Lucky for us, HDMI uses the same signaling technology as DVI.

Before you plug in your DVI cable from your PC to your HDTV be sure to set the resolution to one that is compatible with your HDTV. If your computer monitor and your HDTV only share one common resolution, set it to that until after you get a picture on the HDTV, then change it to the desired resolution. When possible always try to use the displays native resolution. For example my Sharp AQUOS's native resolution is 1280x768.

If the desired resolution isn't available from the display controls of your PC then you will need to add it. You can use a great piece of software called Powerstrip to do this. Install it and then add the desired resolutions. To add a custom From here you can add a preset or user defined resolution. If your TV only accepts 1080i then use "1920x1080i 60hz". resolution to PowerStrip go into display profiles, then "Advanced timing options", then choose "Custom Resolutions". User defined resolutions are beyond the scope of this guide. The best article I have ever read on how to do this, is at the AVSForum. So check it out, but keep in mind that Powerstrip includes most of the HD resolutions for you, so you don't have to copy and paste the timings in yourself as described in the article. If you are a Mac user look for DisplayConfigX. Linux users need to add the custom resolution to their xorg.conf, you can find help here.

Unfortunately for most of us, it isn't this easy. Most HDTVs only accept a few resolutions and some only have component input. Since most PCs don't have component output, it can be a bit more difficult. Your best bet is to either buy a video card that supports component output like a Radeon X600, or to buy a VGA to component converter. Since the convert costs as much as a good video card, it usually makes sense to go with the new Video card. When shopping for a video card keep in mind that sometimes the adapter doesn't come with the card, even though the card supports it. My Radeon 9700 required me to buy an additional $29.99 adapter to unlock the component functionality. Luckily most of the newer Radeon cards now come with the cable. As always when using a cutting edge video card be sure to use the latest driver. But don't be scared to roll back a few versions if you have problems. The latest Radeon drivers have HDTV resolutions built right in, so there is no need for Powerstrip. You can still use it to tweak your setup if you want, not to mention the other 100 things it is good at. If you end up using the VGA to component adapter, then you will need Powerstrip to setup the correct resolution. Don't be afraid to try different resolutions to find the best one. I find that because all HDTVs have overscan, non standard HDTV resolutions can help to eliminate the overscan. It is important to keep in mind that it is possible to break your TV by sending it the wrong resolution. So make sure you understand what you are doing before you start to experiment too much. I wouldn't use any resolutions that is not preset without first reading the thread over at AVS.

Good luck and be sure to post any questions or success stories in the comments.