How can I tell if the TV is HD?

[isaiahk9]

Call me stupid, but I don't know if this TV I have is High Definition, or capable of it.
The story goes, that my brother who is at an Ivy-league University was roommates with a ridiculously rich Greek (his family owns its own island). When the Greek left for Summer holidays, he left behind some of his stuff, to either be taken by his roommates or thrown out. Besides a PS2, some video games and a sound-system, a pretty small flat-screen TV was found. Now I have the TV.
So I have the choice of two TVs to use (mostly for gaming). There is a larger, definitely not-HD TV. Or, there is the slightly smaller screen, with brighter colors and higher resolution. They're at about a stalemate, so I was wondering if the flat-screen was HD.
The TV has no manual, and probably can't pick up any TV channels (so I can't just turn to a HD channel to test it). Is there something on the hardware, or some way to test it to find out if the TV is HD?

ty

[md]

What is the make and model?

[Clayton]

Surely you can find the model number on one of the stickers on the back somewhere, google that number, and you should have your answer.

[Tony]

A good clue is to take a look at its input ports. After all, you would need to hook it up to an HD source, if you want to play HD content.

[isaiahk9]

The model number was gtw-l17m103. I google-ed it, and got results, but did not find any information verifying or casting doubt on whether the TV is HD.

Question : This may seem really stupid, but on the back of the TV are a couple white icons stamped with information on the TV. One says its power supply. Two others say Analog-In and Digital-In, and one says that a computer can connect to it. Does this mean anything?

[wtd]

If it has a VGA input then there's a good chance it's at least 720p (1366x768).

How big is it in inches (diagonal) and is it widescreen, or 4:3?

[rdrake]

I'm guessing 17", 16:9.

[isaiahk9]

The screen is roughly 16.5", with dimensions of roughly 8.5" by 14.5". It definitely looks widescreen.

There are two ports on the back : RGB and DVI. RGB looks like this :
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/SVGA_port.jpg/300px-SVGA_port.jpg

and DVI looks like this :
http://www.atmarkit.co.jp/fsys/cableconnect/05disp_video/03dvi_d-box-l.jpg

[Ultrahex]

Well according to that model number it is a Gateway LCD17TV so this would mean,

720p (HDTV) ? 480p (EDTV) ? 480i (SDTV) are allowed. http://www.shopping.com/xPF-Gateway-17-in-LCD-TV

Given that is what the TV looks like obviously.

[andrew.]

Does it have Component, HDMI, or DVI inputs? If it has any of the three, it most likely is 720p or higher.

[isaiahk9]

@Ultrahex : that is what the TV looks like, but why the question marks?

@andrew. : it has a single DVI port.

[md]

720p is higher resolution then standard TVs (480p) but not quite HDTV (1080p).

[andrew.]

isaiahk9 @ Sat May 09, 2009 10:16 am wrote:

@Ultrahex : that is what the TV looks like, but why the question marks?

@andrew. : it has a single DVI port.

1. The questions marks showed up instead of bullets when he copied and pasted.
2. Then it is probably 720p which, as md said, is not fully HDTV, but it's a higher resolution than SDTV (I think it's 1280x720).

[isaiahk9]

OK, ty everybody (andrew. especially).

[gianni]

Referring to an individual by their nationality (i.e. the Greek) is considered racial/ethnic discrimination. I'm sure you meant no harm by it, but you might want to watch out for that one in the future.