Connecting a PC to LCD HDTV

[ibex333]

Hello.

I just bought a DVI to HDMI cable to connect my PC to my LCD HDTV. After connecting everything I tried both the DVI and HDMI modes with no result. The TV screen is black - no signal. The cable is good. TV is also fine. Am I missing something?

PS: I also recently connected my digital cable box to another TV in my house with DVI to HDMI cable and I don't see much improvement in quality over the component tri-color cable when watching HD channels. In fact I'm not sure there's any improvement at all. Why's that? Any ideas?

 

[SpeedEng66]

first depending on which v-card you cant just plug a dvi and it will be up and running
go into display properties and check the drop down display and switch over to the other monitor (or clone the setting so it will push video out through vga and dvi)

and second are you watching with hd channels or just regular channels?

 

[sciencewhiz]

Make sure your video card is outputing DVI-D signals (it may only support analog, in which case it won't work). Also, check the manual for the TV and find out what resolutions support, and make sure the video card is set to one of those.

 

[ibex333]

Originally posted by: SpeedEng66
first depending on which v-card you cant just plug a dvi and it will be up and running
go into display properties and check the drop down display and switch over to the other monitor (or clone the setting so it will push video out through vga and dvi)

and second are you watching with hd channels or just regular channels?

That was with HD channels. No noticeable difference between component and DVI to HDMI cable.


I've been to my cable company's return center yesterday, and found out that they now offer cable boxes with an HDMI connection on the back, and not DVI like the one I have.


I did some research, and it looks like there is no difference between DVI and HDMI when it comes to quality. The only difference is that when using HDMI, one doesn't have to use the audio cable. Is this true? Is there no reason for me to get an HDMI box?

 

[ibex333]

Ok.. I got the PC-HDTV connection working. Mt PC detected the TV no problem and even shows the TV's model in the display settings.
I have a resolution problem. When I select "dual view" I cant see any icons on the desktop(shown on TV) - just the desktop itself. When I select "clone" it looks like the TV is running at the PC's resolution because it ends up squishing everything and stretching the display, plus it cuts off the lower panel along with the start button, etc. (my pc has a a squared screen, while the TV is wide screen)

Help please? Any other forums you know of that deals with these things?
Also I heard that static images can damage TVs. Let's say I leave my TV showing my PC's desktop for 4 hours... Will that damage the TV?

 

[Muadib]

I did some research, and it looks like there is no difference between DVI and HDMI when it comes to quality. The only difference is that when using HDMI, one doesn't have to use the audio cable. Is this true? Is there no reason for me to get an HDMI box?

If by HDMI box, you mean your cable box, then no, there really is no reason. As you have already seen, component cables can handle HDTV just fine.

The only time you would need HDMI for video, is if you wanted you use a upconverting DVD player, or wanted to feed your TV a 1080p signal from a source like a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: ibex333
Ok.. I got the PC-HDTV connection working. Mt PC detected the TV no problem and even shows the TV's model in the display settings.
I have a resolution problem. When I select "dual view" I cant see any icons on the desktop(shown on TV) - just the desktop itself. When I select "clone" it looks like the TV is running at the PC's resolution because it ends up squishing everything and stretching the display, plus it cuts off the lower panel along with the start button, etc. (my pc has a a squared screen, while the TV is wide screen)

Help please? Any other forums you know of that deals with these things?
Also I heard that static images can damage TVs. Let's say I leave my TV showing my PC's desktop for 4 hours... Will that damage the TV?

I'm pretty sure the problem you are having has to do with your primary display & HDTV running at different resolutions. If the TV is 720p its native resolution is either 1366x768 or 1280x720 & if its 1080p it is 1920x1080 & both of these will be at 16:9 aspect ratio as opposed to your "square" moniter which is 4:3. Also your PC's moniter is most likely running at somthing like 1280X960 resolution & at a much higher vertical refresh rate then the tv 60hz supported by the HDTV.

Since the TV doesn't match your primary PC displays settings you can't choose clone without causing problems ... go into your video driver & see if you have the option to select individual display settings for each moniter & try configuring the HDTV to its native resolution @ 60hz vertical refresh & see if that fixs things up.


Edit: Burn-in isn't much of a problem with modern LCD's these days, but I would still configure the PC to power off the moniter after say 20 minutes of inactivity if it were me just to be safe, however bottom line is that I use my 24 inch LCD moniter roughly 6 hours a day & most of that time I'm displaying the taskbar along with other static items ... after a year theres no trace of image retention.

 

[ibex333]

Only dual view allows me to change my monitor's and TV's resolutions independently of each other, but dual view does not allow me to see what's on the monitor. Clone just matches everything from the monitor to the TV, which is exactly what I need, but I cant adjust TV's resolution.
I don't seem to have any issues other than parts of the screen cut off due to the resolution mismatch. Both the monitor and TV run at 60hz. My TV is indeed 720p and 1080i.
Resolution is 1920x1080 in HDMI mode.

The monitor is a 17 inch Viewsonic VP171b and it runs at 1280x1024. I suppose the only way I could get my TV to perfectly match what's on the monitor is if I had a widescreen monitor...

 

[sciencewhiz]

when you run dual view, set the TV as the primary monitor if you want the icons and such on the desktop. Or, disconnect your monitor and just run with the TV.