Here'se where I'm stuck. I hope you guys will be able to help me solve the problem.
I recently got a 2nd hand (3 yo) Panasonic 32" TX-LX60P HD Ready (1360 x 768) with 2 HDMI, no D-SUB, no DVI. I wanted to connect it to my 2nd PC (see sig). The small PC's mobo has only D-Sub so I knew I had to go with a discrete VGA. Luckily, I have two: oldish GeForce 6200 TC with DVI and a more fresh GT220 with DVI and HDMI. Of course both cards have D-sub, but it's of no use here. I also have a good quality HDMI cable and a DVI>HDMI thingy. I'm also using a 17" D-Sub NEC monitor as a primary display.
Neither card will work with the TV. Not thru HDMI, not thru DVI. Nada. None of these will even recognize the connected TV.
Then I remembered that my wife's laptop (HP G62 i3 with 15,6 " 1366 x 768 screen) has D-Sub and HDMI. Lo an behold, this time the TV went alive. Even tho it only allowed 1280 x 700 (or some such) resolution and the edges of the desktop were trimmed, the "Start" button and the cross to close windows were clickable, and the quality of the picture was great. And it was even better when I played a HD sample blown to the whole screen (16:9). Even tho the native resolution could not be achieved, I was be very happy with the picture, its quality, colors and overall performance.
Buffled with that, I connected my main PC to the TV. And again, nothing. Although the HD4770 actually recognized that there is a TV connected and the CCC showed that I have two displays running the same picture, the TV stayed black.
Some more info: I'm using the latest drivers on all PC; small PC has Win XP SP3, big one has Vista Ulti, laptop uses 7 Premium. I played with both HDMI connectors, and only #1 communicates with the laptop. I've had the TV for a few days only, it's 2nd had, but in v good condition in general. I have one other devices (DVD or BR players) to connect to the TV thru HDMI.
Well, I'm pretty much clueless on this one. Always thought that HDMI is a surefire way to connect devices.
Any & all info, tips, bits of advice and words of wisdom are most welcome & appreciated!
problem connecting LCD TV to HTPC thru HDMI/DVI
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flyingsherpa
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My only ideas:
1) sometimes you need to reboot the PC while the second display is attached before windows will see it correctly. You've probably tried that, but I mention it just in case you haven't.
2) Could this be HDCP thing? My knowledge on it is fuzzy, but it seems like it might be worth investigating here.
1) sometimes you need to reboot the PC while the second display is attached before windows will see it correctly. You've probably tried that, but I mention it just in case you haven't.
2) Could this be HDCP thing? My knowledge on it is fuzzy, but it seems like it might be worth investigating here.
scoop
TV is 1360 x 768, laptop is 1366 x 768. Even tho these two resolutions are v similar and no one should be bothered with just 6 lines missing or surplus, the problem is the TV will not operate at neither. Its best and only acceptable resolution when working with the laptop is 1280 x 760 (or similar, can't remember now, will post it later).
I've tried many other resolutions available but none have displayed properly - flickering, cropped desktop, blurry fonts...
Other than that, I'm v pleased with what the laptop was able to do with the TV, but my only and ultimate goal right now is to connect the HTPC to the TV.
flyingsherpa
1) Countless reboots, still nothing. Rebooter with and without the 17" LCD.
2) HDPC? I'm too clueless as to this concept. But a glance at wiki's article on that says that it's implemented in Vista. Could it be that XP is the problem? I'm of course more than willing to install Vista or 7 on the HTPC just to check it.
TV is 1360 x 768, laptop is 1366 x 768. Even tho these two resolutions are v similar and no one should be bothered with just 6 lines missing or surplus, the problem is the TV will not operate at neither. Its best and only acceptable resolution when working with the laptop is 1280 x 760 (or similar, can't remember now, will post it later).
I've tried many other resolutions available but none have displayed properly - flickering, cropped desktop, blurry fonts...
Other than that, I'm v pleased with what the laptop was able to do with the TV, but my only and ultimate goal right now is to connect the HTPC to the TV.
flyingsherpa
1) Countless reboots, still nothing. Rebooter with and without the 17" LCD.
2) HDPC? I'm too clueless as to this concept. But a glance at wiki's article on that says that it's implemented in Vista. Could it be that XP is the problem? I'm of course more than willing to install Vista or 7 on the HTPC just to check it.
Sorry to bump, but I've finally made some progress.
Altho i couldn't get any of my discrete cards to work, I somehow circumvented the problem - got a mobo with HDMI on board and Intel X4500 chip. (Actually I later switched to another mobo as the first one only had 1 PS connector, and my oldish but v useful keyboard/mouse combo requires 2 PS connectors).
I still can't get the TV to work with HD Ready res - only 1280 x 720 works fine. And by "fine" I mean it looks real good - especially for a caveman who just ditched his CRT TV. It just seems that my LCD TV's only resolutions when working with a PC are 1080, 1280 and some lower ones. I tried forcing the desired res with Intel drivers and Powerstrip but no go. Powerstrip is mighty powerful and I did lotsa reading on this subject, but it just seems that my TV's best res is 1280 x 720. Could be due to the fact that it only packs 2 HDMI, and has no D-SUB or DVI. Owners of similar and other TVs claim that D-SUB would be required to achieve PC resolutions. Meaning newer TVs with D-SUB should (will?) have no problems displaying the meaty 1386 and higher res (provided the native res is high enough).
Working in 1280 x 720 means all edges of the screen are trimmed, so one has to adjust it properly. No problem with that.
Another peculiarity I observed is as follows. I first hooked up 17" monitor to the PC's D-SUB and followed with connecting the TV (either via HDMI or DVI>HDMI connector). The drivers would recognize the TV is connected but nothing showed on it. I could play with switching or coupling screens etc., but there was no picture. Frustrated I started playing with the cables etc. I turns out that to display anything on the TV I had to pull the cable from the TV's HDMI and then plug it back. Had to do it only once. Afterwards, when I disconnected the 17" for good, the TV would go alive w/o problems.
Altho i couldn't get any of my discrete cards to work, I somehow circumvented the problem - got a mobo with HDMI on board and Intel X4500 chip. (Actually I later switched to another mobo as the first one only had 1 PS connector, and my oldish but v useful keyboard/mouse combo requires 2 PS connectors).
I still can't get the TV to work with HD Ready res - only 1280 x 720 works fine. And by "fine" I mean it looks real good - especially for a caveman who just ditched his CRT TV. It just seems that my LCD TV's only resolutions when working with a PC are 1080, 1280 and some lower ones. I tried forcing the desired res with Intel drivers and Powerstrip but no go. Powerstrip is mighty powerful and I did lotsa reading on this subject, but it just seems that my TV's best res is 1280 x 720. Could be due to the fact that it only packs 2 HDMI, and has no D-SUB or DVI. Owners of similar and other TVs claim that D-SUB would be required to achieve PC resolutions. Meaning newer TVs with D-SUB should (will?) have no problems displaying the meaty 1386 and higher res (provided the native res is high enough).
Working in 1280 x 720 means all edges of the screen are trimmed, so one has to adjust it properly. No problem with that.
Another peculiarity I observed is as follows. I first hooked up 17" monitor to the PC's D-SUB and followed with connecting the TV (either via HDMI or DVI>HDMI connector). The drivers would recognize the TV is connected but nothing showed on it. I could play with switching or coupling screens etc., but there was no picture. Frustrated I started playing with the cables etc. I turns out that to display anything on the TV I had to pull the cable from the TV's HDMI and then plug it back. Had to do it only once. Afterwards, when I disconnected the 17" for good, the TV would go alive w/o problems.