Problems connecting tv to htpc

[joh3004]

I just purchased a Westinghouse VK-42F240S. It has 1080p native resolution and supports that resolution thru the vga connector. I connected my htpc to the Westinghouse via a vga cable.

When I do this I can only get a 1280 x 1024 resolution. When I change my video card settings to 1920 x 1080 it just cuts off part of the screen. There is an hdtv mode on the video card settings, but the only options it shows me are 1280 x 720 @ 50hz and 1280 x 720 @ 60hz.

My video card is a Radeon 9600 and I just updated to the newest drivers. According to their support site the Radeon is supposed to support 1080p.

Any ideas of how to get 1920 x 1080 to work?

[Fuzzy]

Honestly, it sounds like it is working right. The set should have a decent amount of overscan, whereby the actual 1920x1080 field of pixels is actually larger than the visible portion of the screen. This is just a characteristic of TV's in general. This is fine for Sage, as you can adjust the 'Overscan Settings' to tell it what part of the screen is visible. If you are trying to work outside of Sage, and the overscan is a problem, I believe the newer radeon drivers feature a way to remove the overscan (it basically creates a custom resolution that is something like 1880x1040, but still uses the 1080p timings, so the TV doesn't know the difference, just nothing is drawn outside the visible screen.

[joh3004]

Thanks for the reply. Actually let me clarify, when I force it to 1920 x1080, it doesn't use the entire screen. The right and left sides are black. The visible desktop is in a 4x3 shape rather than a 16x9.

[Fuzzy]

Hmmm... if that's the case, it sounds like an issue in the tv itself. I have noticed that some tv's automatically scale everything that comes in the VGA port, even if that signal is a standard HDTV signal. It sounds like this is the case. It might have a setting to allow native resolution, but I'm not familiar with that TV. Have you tried the HDMI input on the set? It might be a much better option, as it will probably accept the standard HD resolutions correctly there.

[gplasky]

The native mode for that TV is probably 1280 x 1024 resolution. (In vga mode) So the TV will scale it to 1280 x 720 in HDTV mode on your video card.

Gerry

[jprine01]

Some TVs (our Viewsonic 2750w) require you to set the resolution in the tv menu also. The Viewsonic has a aspect ratio button you have to set to 1:1, and also set the resolution to 1366x768 (tv menu) otherwise it will only display 1280x1024 or 1024x768. Mine isn't 1080p but still check all the tv settings something may be holding it back on that end.

If you get it working let us know how well, im looking for a 42" 1080p myself.

Also I looked on their website and it lists 1080 for PC resolutions.

[joh3004]

The native mode for that This probably 1280 x 1024 resolution. (In vga mode) So the TV will scale it to 1280 x 720 in HDTV mode on your video card.

Gerry

Check this out: http://www.westinghousedigital.com/d...px?itemnum=233
It says that it supports 1080p from the pc. I guess it could mean I have to connect the pc via a dvi-hdmi connector, but that kind of doesn't make sense because in all of their documentation they label the "vga in" as "PC".

I went through all the possible tv settings and nothing changed the screen. I'm going to purchase a hdmi cable today and see if that helps. The only problem with that is that with an hdmi cable I won't be able to hear audio.

Thanks for all your help guys.

[joh3004]

The DVI - HDMI cable didn't work. The tv doesn't even receive a signal.
I'm trying to talk Westinghouse, but they basically are blaming my graphics card even though I'm running the latest drivers and have had no problem with my graphics card before.

[jprine01]

Hrm.. If your video drivers display 1920x1080 as a option they are receiving the correct data from your tv. Have any other computers you can try? You sure you looked for all scale/resolution settings in your tv options? 1280x1024 is not widescreen maybe its set on 4:3 or something...
Good luck.. bad to hear about Westinghouse support.

[joh3004]

I tried a different computer but it didn't work. So, I'm returning the TV for a different one to see if that works.

[ShortySeanbo]

Check out a utility called Powerstrip. I believe there is a free trial version. I had problems with my Toshiba 1080p tv accepting DVI->HDMI 1080p signal (it would only accept 1080i) with my Raedon x1950pro.

With powerstrip I could tweak the timing and it worked perfectly. This may fix your VGA problem too, but it should definitely get the DVI->HDMI working.

It also has some nice color/gamma modifications etc.