PC to TV

[Mr. G]

So maybe you guys can help me. I am trying to plug my laptop into my TV to use the TV as a monitor. The laptop is a gateway 7322GZ W/ Vista and the tv is an RCA 52" D52130. The laptop has a VGA out and the tv has a VGA in. I currently have a VGA connecting the two. Doesn't work. Now on the back of the tv it says that the VGA is NOT a pc input but the person I bought it from said he had it hooked to a pc before. Oh and I did configure the pc to use this "other" monitor as far as I know. Any ideas?

[guns1inger]

You may have to go into the TV menus and explicitly tell the TV to use the VGA port. Or ask the person you brought it from how he did it. He may have used DVI or HDMI instead.

[Bwizzy]

I just looked up your TV, what an odd resolution it has.
1080i capable, 1232 x 1080i pixel resolution
I've never seen that resolution.

[MJA]

it was released in 2001.

[Mr. G]

Yea I did check the tv menu for a VGA input and I saw nothing like that. The guy I bought it from is pretty savvy and he is certain he hooked it up that way. One interesting thing is when I rotate through the different inputs ie video 1, video 2, High Res., Comp ect, the "no signal" disappears in the High Res mode unlike the other modes. That is to say when I configure my pc to use an external monitor it creates an effect of getting rid of "no signal"but not enough to make the desktop appear.

[jagabo]

If the TV accepts VGA signals it may only accept very specific resolutions and refresh rates. Try setting the computer to some of the most common:

640x480 60 Hz
800x600 60 Hz
1024x768 60 Hz

[Mr. G]

Thanks for all of the ideas. Sadly I tried the above to no avail. You know there is one thing I may be doing wrong; unless I check the "Extend the desktop onto this monitor" box, the pc will not show the tv as connected. Now I have been told that I should not check this box but it will not connect otherwise.

[jagabo]

If you can, hook up a VGA monitor first. Verify that the port is working as expected. Then switch to the TV.

[Mr. G]

Thanks jagabo I tried that and here is what happened. I hooked it up and when I clicked to connect to an external display it will not connect unless I also click to extend the desktop to the other monitor. So I extend to the other monitor and wala there is my background picture on the other monitor but nothing else. So I have no clue how to get my laptop to connect to an external display without extending the desktop AND I still have to get my TV to recognize the laptop display once the earlier is handled. Thanks for any input.

[jagabo]

You can drag any application to the second monitor. So you could drag a media player there and force it to full screen -- it will become full screen on that monitor.

ATI also has a "theater mode" where whatever is playing in a media player on the Desktop appears full screen on the second display. Finally, there is clone mode where both displays show exactly the same thing. I seem to recall it's a little difficult to get ATI cards into that mode. First you have to extend the desktop to the second monitor then look around through CCC for the clone option.

But what you have now is sufficient for testing your TV's D-15 input. If you set the second display to one of the basic VGA resolutions (640x480, 800x600, or 1024x768, all at 60 Hz), unplug the monitor then plug in the TV -- the TV will show the picture if it supports VGA input.

[Mr. G]

Well I did try plugging into a regular monitor and wala my desktop picture appeared. No icons but just the pic. So I then plugged into my tv with the various resolutions suggested and it flickered a bit but then nothing.