Cannot display laptop video correctly through flat screen TV

[dubmunkey]

Hi All,

I have a 40 inch Samsung 720 TV and I am using a HDMI lead to watch video from my laptop.

I can't get the screen to display at a watchable size, the laptop is using a standard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver.

I've tried messing about with the settings on the TV but there aren't any options to resize an image.

I've also gone through all the resolution sizes (even unsupported ones) but cannot get the laptop image to fill the screen. If I use the resolution size of the TV the image appears at about a quarter of the size it should be.

So I need to know if this is a limitation of my laptops graphics card or something I'm doing wrong, I'd be more than happy to use an external graphics card if it would allow me to display my laptop full screen on my tv.

My friend had a pc and he just plugged it in to his 42 inch tv and the image appeared full screen on the tv, he didn't have to mess about at all so I'm wondering why it is so difficult for me.

Many Thanks

Dubs

[jagabo]

Since you are using an HDMI cable use a standard HDTV resolution: 1920x1080i or 1280x720p. 50 Hz.

[dubmunkey]

Hi,

I am using a resolution of 1280 x 720 but it doesn't fill the TV screen, is there anything else I can do?

Cheers

dubs

[jagabo]

What do you mean by "it doesn't fill the TV screen"? Is there a small black border around the edges? Is the picture the wrong aspect ratio? Make sure you have the right refresh rate set -- 50 Hz or 60 Hz.

[guns1inger]

Otherwise try a VGA cable at 1366 x 768

[dubmunkey]

Hi,

It displays at about a half of the size of the screen so there is a very thick black border around the image - it is the same size of say an 18 inch monitor with a black border filling up the rest of the space, the refresh rate is 60Hz which is supported by the samsung. The aspect ratio is 16:9 which is the same ratio as 1280 x 720 (which is also the aspect ratio and resolution of the TV).

Cheers

[dubmunkey]

Otherwise try a VGA cable at 1366 x 768

hi,

unfortunately I don't have a vga output from my laptop, only hdmi, dvi or s-video (and I'm retty sure the s-video is broken - but don't know how to check)

[dubmunkey]

i've also looked for the option of setting the resolution to 1366 x 768 on my laptop but don't have it as a choice (and i am displaying unsupported modes already)

[neomaine]

dumbmonkey,

What is the model of your TV? It'll help us narrow down display incompatabilities. What software are you using to play you video?

[jman98]

Samsung HDTVs typically do not support any connections from a PC to the TV except VGA. I cannot say with 100% certainty that this is true for your model, but in general it is true.

One of our members (I may be wrong, but I think it was edDV) has stated in the past that it is possible to get Samsung HDTVs to accept input from PCs via other connections such as HDMI, but they don't support it and you may have to tweak some settings on your computer to get it to work.

[nic2k4]

Doesn't the TV have a zoom function or something similar like picture size? Usually it's a button on the remote.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Check the settings in Display Properties(or the ATI/nVidia icon in the system tray), there you can tweak the settings for the display:

[dubmunkey]

dumbmonkey,

What is the model of your TV? It'll help us narrow down display incompatabilities. What software are you using to play you video?

Hi,

It is a Samsung LE40R74 BD, I'm using Media Player Classic and am using the onboard Intel 945GM graphics drivers.

Cheers

[jagabo]

Does the desktop fill the screen?

[dubmunkey]

Does the desktop fill the screen?

no the desktop is around the same size as it appears on my laptop and has a thick black border


moviegeek,

the display properties for my graphics driver (Intel 945GM) doesn't have those kind of options.

I'm going to search for the thread by edDV and this is all good stuff as it's narrowing down the problem

cheers

dubs

[guns1inger]

Intel graphics aren't the best, but they should still show you the second monitor, and give you a list of resolutions. Post a photo of the TV screen so we can see the difference

[[_chef_]]

I think that old 945GM and its drivers limit all your efforts here......

[dubmunkey]

guns1inger, I will try and get a photo- the biazarre thing is is that if I use a resolution higher than the TV's res the image is too big for the screen and I lose the taskbar and the top of the screen.

[_chef_], I am hoping it's not the case- but it may well be, if I could confirm it I would shell out for an external graphics card but need to know for definite before I spend any money.

cheers

[guns1inger]

If you get the correct resolution you will probably lose the taskbar and top of the screen to overscan. The Samsung series 6 and up have a mode called Just Scan which works with HDMI connections. I don't know if the series 4 has it. It is one of the modes on the Picture Size (P. Size) function on the remote. Just Scan should make all pixels visible. Given that it is an older and lower end model, it may not support it. If you cannot send 1280 x 720 over HDMI then you are pretty much screwed.

[dubmunkey]

hi,

I don't think it has 'just scan' only 16:9, widescreen and 4:3. I can output 1280 x 720 but when I do I get the issue with the small image- it seems to be the same size as the image that displays on my laptop- I have a few ideas though and will try them when I get in and get back to you with the results.

Thanks for everyone's help so far, I have some tweaking to do

[jagabo]

guns1inger, I will try and get a photo- the biazarre thing is is that if I use a resolution higher than the TV's res the image is too big for the screen and I lose the taskbar and the top of the screen.

That is your TV's fault. All TVs do that -- it's called overscan. Press the P-SIZE button on the remote and see if you have Just Scan as an option. It may not show up unless you're feeding it 1920x1080i or 1280x720p.

[dubmunkey]

guns1inger, I will try and get a photo- the biazarre thing is is that if I use a resolution higher than the TV's res the image is too big for the screen and I lose the taskbar and the top of the screen.

That is your TV's fault. All TVs do that -- it's called overscan. Press the P-SIZE button on the remote and see if you have Just Scan as an option. It may not show up unless you're feeding it 1920x1080i or 1280x720p.

thanks for this- definitely feel i'm getting closer, didn't realise the options may change depending on what is connected to it (i am av noob essentially - and this is the best forum I've found for info, superb!)

[MOVIEGEEK]

dubmonkey, this tool might help:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=947830

[dubmunkey]

I'm almost there! I used the DTD Calc that MOVIEGEEK recommended and have got very close, the screen is not slightly too big but if I resize it using DTD it has a bar of flickering which goes down the right-hand side, so I guess it's just tweaking the settings on the tuning tab. good recommendation!

[dubmunkey]

one thing that has occured during my tweaking is that the graphics on my LCD have degraded slightly and are more blocky than they were - my screen saver was a high res image of a landscape and something I've done has caused that to degrade and pixelate, does anyone have any ideas what could have caused this?

[jagabo]

one thing that has occured during my tweaking is that the graphics on my LCD have degraded slightly and are more blocky than they were - my screen saver was a high res image of a landscape and something I've done has caused that to degrade and pixelate, does anyone have any ideas what could have caused this?

I believe DTD is reducing the desktop resolution (and increasing the borders around the frame so that the output remains the same as the original size). So your background image is being scaled differently.