Question about using LCD TV as a monitor

S

shrumhead

Gawd
Joined
Feb 11, 2002
Messages
531
I recently purchased a new LCD TV (TOSHIBA 32" 16:9 8ms 1080p LCD HDTV 32RV525R).

I absolutely love the picture quality with my xbox360 and blueray player but sometimes I like to switch my computer over to it and watch movies/shows that I've downloaded. I have a Radeon 4850 video card and I connect to the LCD TV via a DVI to HDMI cable. Now, the first time that I switched the video over to the LCD TV (1920x1080) the image looked very soft and a little blurry. This didn't surprise me because it is a TV after all and meant to be watched from a distance... so whatever, the picture is a little soft/blurry, I'll deal.

I put a blueray movie in my computer because I wanted to see how the picture looked being played off the computer compared to my blueray player, the picture wasn't even in the same ballpark. The picture, when playing the blueray movie on my computer was CONSIDERABLY worse (this is still at 1920x1080 resolution) than my blueray player... Ok, I just assumed that's how it was.

Then I decided to play around with the resolution settings. With my computer still using the LCD TV as a monitor, I switched the resolution from 1920x1080 to 1360x768 (720p I assume?) and instantly the picture was perfectly crisp and clear. Entirely useable from any distance. Now this is where I got confused. My logic was that the reason 1080p looked so soft/blurry when displaying from my computer was because I was simply trying to display so many pixels across a much greater surface.... but that doesn't make sense when you consider that a lower resolution looks SOOO much better. A lower resolution has less pixels to display over a greater area right?

I have searched around and tried to read some guides on aspect ratio and resolutions online but I must admit I'm a bit confused. If anybody could help me understand what I may be doing wrong or where my logic took a wrong left turn I would be very greatful.

Oh and I did try different settings on my TV like dot for dot, native, full, but its all the same soft/blurry image at 1080p when using it as a monitor for my computer... from my blueray player it looks great. EDIT:: Oh and also the blueray movie is definitely 1080p.
 
Last edited:
Hmmmm well according to that thread he did indeed figure out a way to get it crisp and clear so when I get home today I'll be tinkering until I figure it out!

Thank you very much for finding that thread for me and the fast reply =D
 
I have the same graphics card and it plays BD just as good as my PS3 to my Samsung LCD TV. You just do not have things setup right. Go here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=166 and find the thread for your TV. AVS Forums covers this kind of stuff in a lot of detail. You need to make sure you have your graphics card setup right as well. There is special HDTV settings in the Catilyst Control Center.

Have fun

Dave
 
Thank you very much Dave, I didn't even begin toying with Catalyst last night so I'm sure between the avs forums and the control center I'll be able to sort things out.

Thank you again and I'll post back with exactly what I did to make it work.
 
Finally found the option to fix this. Let me be very clear, IT IS AN ATI DRIVER PROBLEM. There is no problem with the TV, there is no problem with the settings, it is entirely an ATI graphics issue. Buried deep within the catalyst control center (Desktop and Display) right click "configure" and switch the scaling option to 0%... what a pain in the ass.

Thanks for the help everybody, hope this helps anybody looking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top