Hooked up my laptop to my TV, now have problems:

basilmarket.com forums : Tech Talk | 12 posts archived

thread starter Tvdude Jun 09 2010 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I hooked HDMI (laptop) to DVI (TV). The TV, I believe, is the oldschool 4:3 aspect ratio and the laptop is the newschool 16:9 aspect ratio. My screen on my laptop is fine but it's the TV that has problems. There's a bar at the top and bottom of my TV screen. What's worse is that my full desktop isn't even on the screen, the bottom and top are chopped off. Also the leftmost and rightmost side of my desktop is chopped off too! Why does this happen and I can't seem to get it to work no matter what I do! Is there a way to get the fullscreen 4:3 ratio on the TV or does HDMI only send the 16:9 aspect ratio. Anyone else have the screen problem and know a fix?

My Characters: Inferno02 - 56 Windia Assassin

CTBlack 06/09/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I think the issue is with the screen resolution on your laptop, try a changing to difference resolution (one with 4:3 ratio if you have). * Hi Hi Ky Ky *

My Characters: CTRed1 - 152 Bera Paladin

Tvdude 06/09/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I changed to 1024x768 and now the desktop icons just got bigger but more parts of the desktop is chopped off now.

My Characters: Inferno02 - 56 Windia Assassin

CTBlack 06/09/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] Tvdude : I changed to 1024x768 and now the desktop icons just got bigger but more parts of the desktop is chopped off now. [/quote] That proofs its got to do with resolution, as old non LCD types of TV has only 525 lines, play around with various resolutions, probably try a lower resolution like 800x600 or even 640x480.

My Characters: CTRed1 - 152 Bera Paladin

Tvdude 06/09/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

The lowest it goes is 800x600 and choosing that one makes it worse. The icons are giant now and a lot more of the desktop is chopped off.

My Characters: Inferno02 - 56 Windia Assassin

BobR 06/09/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

See if your video card has any special setups available- for example, my nVidia card has a little icon in the "task bar tray" (next to the clock on the desktop) that brings up the special settings. Often there's an aspect ratio setting control in there, and there may also be other specialized display format settings available.

My Characters: MikeDaNewGuy - 53 Windia Blaze Wizard

djpinc19 06/09/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Then why aren't you going the other way and increasing the resolution? Hell, just give a list summary of what happens at each available resolution. List your video card too.

My Characters: venoalchemst - 61 Khaini F/P Wizard

Tvdude 06/10/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I have an Nvidia graphics card. There's a lot of configurations I tried. The "Clone" setup where the laptop screen is the same as the TV screen only allows me to change resolutions based on my laptop's resolution, so max is 1366x768. Then there's the "extend" setup where the laptop and TV are side to side pretty much and in that configuration I can switch the TV's resoltuion. Even the biggest one (something x 1080) was cut off. Thus I'm starting to think no matter what resolution I change, there's an area that's cut off and it's another problem. But idk what problem.

My Characters: Inferno02 - 56 Windia Assassin

BobR + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

There may be "centering" controls available somewhere in the setups (I dunno- I usually ignore the multi-display sections of video controls since I never use them) that would let you center the display for the TV on the extended display. That's what you probably need to use (extended) since your laptop's screen is a different format from the TV's aspect ratio. And CTBlack was right in the first place, most older non-HD TV sets can only display very low computer resolutions. See if the extended display format lets you set the TV any lower than the clone setup does. And yes, a lower resolution will make everything look big. This is why people never used to use TV sets on their computers, unless they were VERY expensive (and somewhat rare) "high resolution" TVs.

My Characters: MikeDaNewGuy - 53 Windia Blaze Wizard

Harlequin 06/10/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

A TV isnt exactly a good choice of Monitor as they cant scale up to resolutions that a dedicated PC monitor can. The chopping off of part of the screen occurs when the screen cant handle the resolution correctly, either find some way to center it, or find a resolution that works.

My Characters: Harlequinv5 - 86 Broa Crusader

Tvdude 06/10/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Nvidia actually had this function where I could resize the screen to my choosing! So I changed it so there was no part of my desktop cut off using that feature. There's still the bars on the top and bottom and I don't know how to get rid of them (if even possible). My TV is a 2002/2003 Sony 32" HDTV, max is 1080i though, it's OLDSCHOOL LOL. I hear 720p is actually better than 1080i so I use that. When text or icons get too small it gets unclear a bit but it's cool this works and I watched a movie using this setup and it was satisfactory.

My Characters: Inferno02 - 56 Windia Assassin

skye09 06/11/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] Harlequin : A TV isnt exactly a good choice of Monitor as they cant scale up to resolutions that a dedicated PC monitor can. The chopping off of part of the screen occurs when the screen cant handle the resolution correctly, either find some way to center it, or find a resolution that works. [/quote] Last I checked, a PC monitor cant scale up either; if my monitor uses a 16:9 aspect ratio and has a max resolution of WSXGA+, I cant set it to run at WUXGA. Driver-pending I can run near any resolution under that, including ones that dont conform to that aspect ratio, but I cant go up.

My Characters: NasRenegade - 98 Windia Dragon Knight