HDTV Generic PnP Monitor Driver for Win7 dated 2006?

M

mr-freeman

n00b
Joined
Oct 7, 2012
Messages
38
Is there a more up to date monitor driver for connecting a pc to HDTV? The one built into win7 seems really old and dated 2006! Surely Microsoft must have updated it since then? Monitors and tvs have changed a lot in the last few years. I looked on Microsoft website but nothing there.

I just wondered because I have a slight colour issue with my tv when my pc is hooked up to it (slight bleeding/dark blue border around red lights that are surrounded by blue background). I don't know if this is related to the 444 chroma issue (and I have tried all the tricks and EDID override etc but no change). This doesn't happen when I connect to my Dell monitor using the Dell driver, so it isn't the pc or graphics card at fault. Plus I've changed the HDMI cable over, no change. But either way I am stuck using the generic driver and I just wondered if anyone has ever made a more recent driver that works fine with modern hdtvs? Thx
 
Despite you thinking it is definitely not the PC, providing us your system specs would help, but also the make and model of your TV you're connecting to.

Things I would be looking at: TV settings and looking for any sort of option to indicate it's being connected to a PC (my Samsung does, albeit very obscurely and not in the options menus). Looking at the driver option to change the "Color Temperature", which if you're using a Radeon graphics chip then I can help guide you to it, but I suspect you know where it's at. :p

All I can say is the default driver works beautifully for me with my 46" Samsung LED HDTV (Nov 2011 model), which I use as monitor for everything from editing photos in Photoshop to gaming, and I can't have color issues for PShop (and I'd notice).

The only real thing I can think of is that some TVs have individual settings for each HDMI port, and so when you switch over you may be expecting the settings to carry as well, but might not be the case. Could very well be set to something like "Movie Mode" *shrug*
 
Formula, so you are using the generic Microsoft driver? If so, I suppose that means it's not the driver. My graphics card is Radeon 7950, Catalyst 13.4 drivers, Win7 64-bit. TV is Panasonic TX-L39B6B (Basic 1080p, LED, no smart functions or 3d), but it doesn't have a 'PC Mode', just HDMI 1,2,AV1,2 and TV. I've renamed the HDMI inputs to PC, and I've tried both HDMI sockets. I've turned off pretty much every processing option on the tv as they all make the picture worse (including 1080p pixel direct as it causes banding and pixelation). I haven't changed the Advanced/White balance/RGB/Tint values, just left them at zero (they don't solve the bleeding problem anyway). PC output is RGB Full, TV HDMI Input Range is Normal (NOT Full!), as this makes the screen more vibrant, but neither full or normal solves the red/blue bleed issue. Can I ask what settings you have on your Samsung?

Can I ask you, why does the colour temperature option disappear from the CCC graphics menu when you use HDMI?? If I am using a DVI to HDMI cable, the colour temperature option is available (along with a tick box for 'use EDID information'), but with HDMI to HDMI cable it disappears! Just another weird glitch that pc users have to contend with. But anyway I tried that on DVI (I reduced the temperature from 6500k to about 5000k), and it helped with the colour bleeding but it made the screen go yellow tinted, so that isn't ideal. Plus with DVI I lose the audio aswell.

I'm going to test this pc on another tv at some point to try and establish whether it's the tv or not. Also I need to test another pc or console on this tv. The interesting thing is that tv programmes via the aerial look perfect, no colour issues whatsoever.
 
Last edited:
Well to start with, the "round-about" way I mentioned of setting an input to PC Mode on my Samsung, is actually exactly what you've done on yours, by naming the input as "PC". I stumbled across it's effects entirely by accident. But to answer your question, yes I generally am using Microsoft's Generic HDTV driver (I say "generally" because I recently tried to hack a 120Hz driver to see if I could gain 120Hz since mine is supposed to be 120Hz [called "240 CMR" by Samsung], but it is little more than a generic driver itself based on the INF innards; alas no dice.)

I too turned off all of the "enhancement" features with my set, and that is why I was so happy to find out that my renaming of that HDMI to "PC" had slipped it into a more-or-less "Monitor Mode" like when using the VGA port. Which I mention that because a whole swath of those enhancements get shut off a bit further then what them being in "off" actually does it seems, but also grays them out to being incapable of getting turned on. Nonetheless, I shall entertain your request, not that many of the settings will transfer over to a Panasonic, nor do I even remember their "default" settings lol
General Settings: Picture Mode - Standard (Energy Saver, Entertainment is the other option), Backlight @ 18 (of 20), Contrast 100/100, Brightness 45/100, Sharpness 45/100, Color (Grayed) 50/100, Tint (Grayed) G50 : R50. Advanced Settings ("Entertainment" disables this): Gamma -1, White Balance is set to 25 for the three R G B Offsets and three T G B Gain settings (this is default). Picture Options: Color Tone - Standard (Cool, Standard, Warm1, Warm2), HDMI Black Level - Normal (Low, Normal; set to Low everything is far more vibrant and dynamic BUT the whites are OVER white, taking on a blueish tinge, which Warm1 is overkill as compensation).

I would actually watch TV in "PC" mode, except only one HDMI can be labeled as such :( So I watch TV in "Game Mode" :\ Unfortunately it doesn't disable all the enhancements fully, as there's still a slight auto-dimming that happens it seems, but that only happens when the picture is a dark scene. Which is unfortunate since I watch a lot of shows that have such, for example space shows (be it Sci-Fi or actual Science), which faint stars get dim to the point of nearly vanishing. It doesn't really ruin watching anything, it's just annoying for someone like me who can so easily spot it.

As for why the Temperature option disappears... that's a damn good question lol I never noticed it until your brought it up! I can't really find any reason for it on Google. Though, I was trying to figure out what exactly "ITC Processing" does, as it shows up on my "Properties (Digital Flat-Panel)" CCC page and was going to suggest you enable or disable it, and this result came up which I feel worth SOME sort of mention:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1246038/g...-and-pixel-format-need-help-with-ccc-settings
But it also brings up another valid point: the AVS forums WOULD be a good place to try and nail down your problem, far better than here IMO (I mean no offense to anyone... just, [H] is to hardware what AVS is to Audio/Video lol).
But since it was mentioned, as far as Pixel Formats go, I personally run YCbCr 4:4:4; however, I see no discernible difference on the desktop between it and RGB 4:4:4 (Full RGB).

Finally, something else to try, provided you have the means (or perhaps a friend has), using the Display Port and adapting to HDMI. Not sure if it'll help or change, but it'd at least offer another connection method to attempt.
 
Thank you so much for your response, very interesting! But guess what, I have just discovered a fix to my problem (stupid me, stupid TV, stupid Panasonic!!!! LOLLLLL)!! If I switch to "TRUE CINEMA" mode, it CHANGES the actual colour palette/spectrum of the tv! I can't believe it, I thought it just made the screen duller and darker for watching movies so I discounted it as it looked ridiculous. But I tried it again, bumped up the brightness, contrast etc. and I realised the colours are now fixed! No more bleeding between reds and blues. PPPHHHEEWWW! Have I just activated 444 chroma then? I swear I tried before and it didn't fix the colours. Maybe renaming the input to PC helped? But I am using HDMI to HDMI cable, so I didn't think it would work?

Now to make sure I'm not going insane, I just went into my Paint program and called up the rainbow of colours on screen (same as google search for colour wheel or colour space diagram etc.) and you can see the blue range of colours CHANGES drastically from cinema mode to the other modes (Normal, Dynamic, Custom)! So it's actually changing the spectrum more to match a PC monitor. Is this 444 then or what, I'm so confused? Anyway, FINALLY I have the correct colours lol, so my cheapo TV was a bargain after all! :)

(Only problem remaining is a bit of DSE/Dirty Screen Effect, but that apparently affects loads of tv's these days and it only shows on football matches, so I can live with it!).
 
haha Sweet, glad it got sorted! I'm baffled by lots of things with TV "features" as well, not understanding why some things are how they are, or do what they do :| Makes you feel old when you're 30 but wish things were simpler and not so "flashy" lol I guess it's a lot to ask for that your device is so complex that "Off" and "Disabled" no longer mean such. I love my Samsung TV but should I really have to watch TV in "Game Mode" just to better disable crap I have disabled in normal mode, but persist in some small way... :rolleyes: [/rant]

Something I did just think of that could be useful for you to look into is the "Service Menu". I presume you're at least familiar with it, but if not it's basically a secret menu to access manufacturer settings, usually used during repairs (used by Service people, and so named as such). Useful to people like us because it can let you REALLY disable stuff, or change features, sometimes even unlock things from higher models :D BUT, it's also very dangerous and you'd want to read up on pages to find out exactly what you should steer clear of, and how exactly to navigate the menu, because such as on my Samsung if you hit Right and expect to navigate what you are actually doing is changing a setting. At any rate, just make sure you take very good notes on all the defaults in every menu and sub menu (I took pictures instead of writing down everything).

But yea, good that you're rockin correct coloring now lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top