Hooking my notebook to my 42in HD LCD

FidgitUK · 19 Jan 2007 at 16:22

I have a dell xps m1210 with the nvidia go7400 gpu in it. I also have a toshiba 42in 42WLT66 which is capable of putting out 1080i(1920x1080?) resolution. I want to use that as my primary display when im in that room. I have a vga/dvi cable which ive connected and used FN + F8 to send the signal problem is it only used half the full screen to view, when i try and mess with the resolution settings it actually makes it worse.

Can anyone thing of something obvious I'm missing, or is there a how to guide anyone knows about?

Many thanks

Sirrel Squirrel · 19 Jan 2007 at 16:55

The screens resolution is probably 1366x768 or 1280x720, try one of those and see what it looks like

Mud · 19 Jan 2007 at 16:58

Go into Display Properties->Settings->Advanced->7400Go->Screen Resolution & Refresh Rates (assuming you're using classic look). See if you have an option to "Show standard HDTV formats". Might help, might not. Try what Sirrel is saying too.

james.miller · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:03

first link on google says its a 1080x screen lol the problems is that, as far as i can tell, its limited to 1080i so you'd need to drive it with a 1920x1080 interlaced signal. the drivers have it built in for my 8800gtx, but you might have to try something like powerstrip to get it working

Sirrel Squirrel · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:08

The link says its a 1080p tv (1920x1080) so you should be able to just set the gfx resolution to that and it should work

FidgitUK · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:08

THanks for replies. First two no such luck im afraid. Powerstrip, now that keeps getting suggested, new to using it though. Basiclly i need to make a customer driver with it to push out the 1920x1080i?

james.miller · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:11

Sirrel Squirrel said:
The link says its a 1080p tv (1920x1080) so you should be able to just set the gfx resolution to that and it should work

no it doesnt, it says thats its a 1920x1080 panel. 1080p is mentioned once thruout that review, and thats regarding displaying 1080i signals. if you google around some more, other peopel oare saying the same thing.

FidgitUK said:
THanks for replies. First two no such luck im afraid. Powerstrip, now that keeps getting suggested, new to using it though. Basiclly i need to make a customer driver with it to push out the 1920x1080i?

yeah.. basically what it does is insert custom resolutions and timings into your display drivers.

Sirrel Squirrel · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:11

Just seen this on avforums "Also I think you'll find that the Toshiba is simply a 1080p panel and that the set will not accept 1080p signals. i.e. 1080i is the best it will accept. As per usual de-interlaces and writes to the panel in progressive mode."

which I've just noticed james.miller said

Not too sure what res you should run it at now

james.miller · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:13

it'll still do 1080i. my 40" sony doesnt do 1080p over component which is how i have my pc connect atm, so i just run it at 1080i - its still 1920x1080 and still looks great

Sirrel Squirrel · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:15

I'm confused now lol, so if you plug a pc into it you can output at 1920x1080 and the tv will interlace it or does the gfx card do that?

james.miller · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:16

The card does the interlacing. lcd's are progressive displays. if you have a tv that will accept a 1080p signal the tv doesnt do any deinterlacing. my tv and others like it wont to 1080p over component (it does over vga and hdmi though) so i just send it a 1080i signal. the tv deinterlaces it and then displays that picture

Sirrel Squirrel · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:23

This is what confused me, I know tfts are progressive so when I saw the res was 1920x1080, I assumed that meant 1080p but the tv can't accept more than 1080i through the ports so it has to deinterlace it right?

james.miller · 19 Jan 2007 at 17:24

correct

FidgitUK · 19 Jan 2007 at 18:00

Hmmm. Made customer resolutions, gone to apply them. No joy. No idea whats going wrong.

chaparral · 19 Jan 2007 at 18:12

The VGA input is limited to to a max res of 1280x1024

Taken from page 7 of the manual

Press the Bto select PC mode.
The following signals can be displayed:
VGA: 640 x 480/60 Hz (VESA)
SVGA: 800 x 600/60 Hz (VESA)
XGA: 1024 x 768/60 Hz (VESA)
SXGA: 1280 x 1024/60 Hz (VESA)
IMPORTANT NOTE: SXGA will display but it will
not be to VESA standard.

I remember reading about this on avforums when the 42LTW66 first got released..

james.miller · 19 Jan 2007 at 18:47

limited or supported max? sony dont support 1080p on my lcd either....

Ste · 19 Jan 2007 at 19:15

That screen doesn't support 16:9 over VGA.

My work around is to run 4:3 at native (1024x768, since the screen has 768 vertical lines), and distort the aspect in zoomplayer such that when you press the 'wide' button on the remote it all comes out in the wash and you end up with a nice 16:9 picture.

Rubbish for internet/word/etc though

FidgitUK · 19 Jan 2007 at 21:20

Ahh it all makes sense now.

Yeah im running it now at the 1024x768 and pressing the wide button. Works ok for what i wanted. Basiclly i wanted to just want to be able to when i was chilling playing the box flick over and use my wireless keyboard to check on downloads/forums whatever.

Not the res I'd like ideally but sitting in my recliner i can see/read everything i need to (with a few tweaks of my firefox settings), so good enough.

Thanks for everyones help once again. Been much appreciated.