HD is done!

Turns out the solution to watching stored and internet video on a big TV is simple.

I got myself an Asus EN9500GT video card (whopping $87, or $67 with a rebate), which besides being powered by nVidia 9500GT GPU with 512MB DDR3 RAM, has a native HDMI 1080p output, with SPDIF jack on board to plug PC sound from the motherboard into the HDMI stream. That's pretty much it. Set the resolution to TV's native 1920x1080p 60Hz, hook up PC HDMI output to the TV input and voila -- everything looks and sounds fantastic. Both stored videos and House via Hulu.com in 480p full screen look great.

That's it for the video streaming. Audio should be easier.

WTF

After I changed the video card today I took a closer look at my old video card and to my surprise found that three out of 10 capacitors on it have burst to shit. Literally split open. I think this explains the extremely loud bang I heard coming from the PC a few months back. I blamed the HD, but I guess the blown capacitors make for a better-fitting explanation.

Funny thing is -- they got factory-set weakness at the top, meaning they are designed to explode. Weird.

( ...See it up close... )