How can I connect my HDTV to my computer as a secondary monitor?

[cucuzza]

I'm trying to connect my HDTV to my computer to use as a second monitor. The HDTV is a Westinghouse 32" LCD (Widescreen LCD TV LTV-32W1). My primary computer monitor is being connected by VGA.

I've connected the HDTV to my computer using a DVI cable (BYTECC 25 ft. DVI-D Dual-Link Digital Cable w/Ferrites Model DVI-D25). Each end of the DVI cable is a male connector, one that plugs in to my video card (NVIDIA 9500GS) and one that plugs into the back of my TV. Every time I try to set up multiple monitor display (Dual View), my computer's monitor goes black and says "PC resolution out of range, please set to recommended setting of 1280 x 1024 @ 60 Hz). This is the resolution my monitor has always been in. It is my understanding that the resolution of a 32" 720p tv is 1280 x 720, fully within my PC resolution's range. My TV says "no signal" though my DVI is securely plugged in and the TV's source is set to DVI. I've tried all combinations of resolutions with the same result.

What am I doing wrong? How do I enable the DVI port so I can connect to the HDTV as a monitor? How can I make this work?

[me-eyes]

Have you tried connecting to the TV only to make sure it can accept the signal? The TV has a resolution of 1366*768 and I suspect this may be more than your monitor can handle - consequently it sounds as though you are asking for clone-view rather than an extension of your desktop (i.e. secondary screen has a different view). I presume your graphics card is up to the job, but what model is it?

Once you can get a signal through to it, re-connect the monitor and set up the dual display.

Hope it works!

[angloraven]

You wrote that your computer and TV are connected via VGA; try using remote's menu or perhaps a "source" button on the remote to set for VGA.

[n0ty]

BTW, the manufacturers specs say the acceptable PC inputs are 640x480, 800x600, 1,024x768, 1,280x720, and 1,366x768.

[Nelson37]

Set your monitor resolution to something lower that both can handle, like 800x600. Do this with ONLY the PC monitor connected. Then add the TV. If no display, disconnect and see if you can change the settings for the TV only, again target something like 800x600. You may have to get it working as an extended display, or as a clone with different resolution settings.

What is happening, apparently, is that the card is going to the max resolution for the TV, which is beyond what your monitor can handle.

It would be helpful to know what video card you have.

[jagabo]

Some monitors and TVs cannot accept high resolutions via the VGA port even though they can accept high resolutions from the DVI or HDMI port. That is because analog VGA has to be converted to digital to put it on the screen.

I have one monitor that will accept up to 1680x1050 at the DVI port but only up to 1280x1024 at the VGA port.

Some graphics cards (NVIDIA) can run in clone mode but output different resolutions to each monitor. The smaller monitor acts as a scrollable window onto the larger Desktop.

[n0ty]

As I recall, he's using the DVI input. I think you'll have to set your monitor to one of the resolutions I listed before, attach the TV then change your monitor back to the previous resolution. Good luck!