Just a quickie before I spend 370 quid

Moonpie2

Moonpie2

Moonpie2

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Joined
23 Dec 2002
Posts
2,895
Location
Shiny Shanghai
Going to get a new HDTV (A Toshiba 40TA1C if you're interested)

And as long as my GFX card has HDMI out, then I can definitely have a mixture of TV and PC monitor as screen 1 and screen 2 from my PC right ?

Cheers
 
That's some weird TV.

It's not listed on Toshiba's website.

The only place I can see it for sale is in China.

What are you buying?

Nevermind, just seen the OP is in Shanghai :o
 
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Well, I finally got it... a bargain brand new at 330 quids.

Loving having HD finally. My PS3 feels like a brand new console and 2 PC screens is just funky.

A couple of niggles tho (neither of which are deal breakers)

1) Even with the TV switched off, it seems my PC is outputting to the 2nd screen. E.g.. there was a folder on the TV screen last night and I shut everything down. Then this morning, I booted up just my PC screen and double clicked the folder... and it didn't appear.... it was on the turned off screen.

2) Its a bit of an arse having to go into my sound settings and set the default speakers from outputting from the speaker slot, to outputting through HDMI each time I want sound to come out of my TV.

3) My HD 5450 occasionally struggles to run my monitor (1680*1050) and the TV (1920*1080) I noticed that if I'm running a 4gb film then I notice the occasional frame drop, but running 2gb films seems to have no effect.


I'm sure there must be ways around 1 and 2, and an upgrade will sort out number 3. All in all.... AWESOME !! :D
 
Moonpie2 said:
Seems my PC is outputting to the 2nd screen. E.g.. there was a folder on the TV screen last night and I shut everything down. Then this morning, I booted up just my PC screen and double clicked the folder... and it didn't appear.... it was on the turned off screen.

2) Its a bit of an arse having to go into my sound settings and set the default speakers from outputting from the speaker slot, to outputting through HDMI each time I want sound to come out of my TV.
Click to expand...

1) Are you just putting the TV on standby? Because the PC will still detect it as an available monitor. I switch my TV off with the power button and comp reverts back to one monitor.

2) If you constantly need to switch outputs then that's probably the easiest way to do it. Then again, if you set HDMI to default then switch the TV off completely so your PC no longer puts a signal through HDMI, it should revert to analogue audio automatically. Next time you switch the TV on again, it should go straight to HDMI becaue that was the default. Kind of linked into the first problem :).

Have you looked at using desktop management software like Ultramon, which is a godsend when you have more than one monitor. Extended taskbar, wallpaper and icon management, etc. One of the reasons I like OS X so much is because all that functionality is built into the OS.
 
I do the same. Play movies and TV shows on my 42" and some games at 1920x1080p. And surf the wed on my wee toaty 19". Used to surf on the 42" but get pretty dizzy after a few mins.
 
I was actually contemplating turning the TV off with the button earlier today.... and since it's almost bedtime in Shanghai I'll be trying it out very soon :)

Wish I could fix point 3 with a button, but I suspect fixing it with 80 quid might be closer to the mark ;)
 
Im sure a 5450 should run films at 1080p no problem at all does it still drop frames if u use just the tv as a single monitor? if not I run a 5570 with 2 screens and it plays them back fine
 
it would depend on the ram ionthe pc and the ram on the card too to how fast it renders the video at that resolution. the best fix for keeping your hardware the same is to change the screen res to a smaller one when watching the video and then make it fullscreen so it doesnt use as much memory (doesnt render as many pixels)
 
Well I tried what Mongy2130 said and there was still a definite lack of smoothness at 1920*1080. (when playing a 4gb film, not a 2gb film)
I guess it's my gfx card letting me down since I have an i3 and 4gb of ddr3 ram.

Still..... running my resolution closer to 720p still looks fab and is as smooth as silk, and that will do just fine until upgrade time :)
 
5450 does struggle with 1080p. I think it struggles with playback on a single screen. Plenty of 2nd hand tech shops in Shanghai, I'm sure you can pick up a better gpu for cheap :).
 
If you are using the TV to play media then use a media player than allows you to choose the audio output. I have media portal setup to play out of my speakers while everything else uses my headphones.
 
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