Panasonic HDTV as a monitor?

FoldingAddictFoldingAddict Montgomery, AL
edited March 2004 in Hardware
I guess this is as good a place as any to post this.

I have a Panasonic 56 inch projection HDTV, with a DVI connection on the back. So I bought a $70 (:() DVI cable, and hooked it up to a couple of different machines. On every machine the picture was cut off at all ends, (top, bottom, left, right). Here is what I have tried.

I have tried special resolutions, but none of them are scaled properly.

I have looked for some kind of picture scaling in the TV's options menus, but there is nothing.

Any ideas?

Tried 2 systems. A Dell 2.6Ghz P4m lappy with a Ti-4200 mobile. And a Dell P4 1.3Ghz P4 with a GF3 Ti-500. Tried multiple drivers, no change.

~FA

Comments

  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited March 2004
    http://www.dscaler.com/


    The TV is most likely 16:9 and a computer image at 1024x768 is 4:3. Higher resolutions won't solve the problem as that will exceed the 1080i scan format.
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited March 2004
    Dude I have been down this road and it gets UGLY!

    DVI on HD TVs wasnt meant for computer video cards. Instead DVI is supposed to be an anti-piracy measure for future components. Future components are supposed to implament an encryption standard that is only decryptable by a dvi port on a TV. That way you cannot record the encrypted data (weather it be a movie, tv show, pr0n, whateva) and pirate it to dvd or internet.

    I have spent MANY hours attempting to resolve the exact same issue you are having now.

    Prolly the best solution is an app called Powerstrip which will allow you to tweak resolutions, screen positions, and refresh timings.


    Even with Powerstrip its a huge pain. Check out AVSForum for the best resource on the web for HDTV PC compatibility.

    The best card for this setup is prolly a Radeon card. I am able to get a resolution of like 1900x600.

    Once you do get it working it IS worth it. Especially for gaming. High definition gaming is beautiful!

    In fact I am building a second PC right now for use ONLY as a high def gaming console.

    Good luck :beer:
  • FoldingAddictFoldingAddict Montgomery, AL
    edited March 2004
    Thanks for the help.

    I have just installed powerstrip, and I'm looking through the screen resolutions pre-defined by powerstrip. There are a ton of them that say "HDTV Standard" or "HDTV Derived". Which one is best? I looked on the AVS forums, but I couldn't find anything for my specific HDTV.

    Panasonic PT-56WX53

    Here are the "specs?" for it: http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=F&storeId=11251&catalogId=11005&itemId=64560&catGroupId=11253&modelNo=PT-56WX53&surfModel=PT-56WX53

    I can't figure out 98% of what's on that page.

    ~FA
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited March 2004
    You prolly wont be able to get it to scale 100% perfect. The best luck I had on a geforce 4 were 848x640. That resolution still looked great in games, but for windows app use it can be very tedious.

    Keep checking avs to see if anyone has found resolutions that work for your TV. I never did find a res that worked perfect for my Sony HD
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited March 2004
    Well let's start simple.

    16:9 That's the aspect ratio. 16 units wide by 9 units high. Normal TV is 4:3. Movies are shot in widescreen (letterbox) format...16:9

    480p/1080i. To competing formats of HDTV. 480 "progressive" and 1080 "interlaced". Progressive is creating the image one line after the other top to bottom

    ************
    ************
    ************

    and so on.

    Interlaced is what NTSC TV is. The picture draws the odd lines first (1 field)

    ************

    ************

    ************

    and then the even lines (1 field)


    These two combine together to form a single frame. 30 fps for TV.


    If your computer is set at 800 x 600 that means it's 800 lines which is less than 1080...1024 is still less than 1080. That means you aren't exceeding the capabilities of the set to display the computer signal.

    A non HD "Normal" TV only has 525 scan lines which is less than even the lowest desktop resolution of 640 x 480. The "normal" TV isn't capable of handling the PC signal and screws it up...the fuzzy deskop image on TV.

    Try DSCALER first and work in 800x600 or 1024x768 settings first. Then try FormFactors suggestions. But AVSFORUMS is a good'un. Lots of worthwhile reading there.
  • FoldingAddictFoldingAddict Montgomery, AL
    edited March 2004
    Hmm....Maybe we're not on the same page. I want my PC to output its picture to my HDTV, meaning I want to use Windows/play games on my TV. I don't see anything in DScaler that will help me with the cut-off picture and such.

    ~FA
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited March 2004
    DScaler might work. I will give it a try...

    there is also this here http://buy.ati.com/shopati/product.asp?category=AA&part%5Fno=HDTV+DVI%2DI+US&find%5Fcategory=AA&find%5Fdescription=Accessories&find%5Fpart%5Fdesc=&country=USA

    That might help.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited March 2004
    It might help if you tried it on the 9800. iirc, ATi's cards are much easier to deal with when they're connected to HDTVs than nVidia cards are... :-/
  • FoldingAddictFoldingAddict Montgomery, AL
    edited March 2004
    I don't have any Radeons.:(

    ~FA
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited March 2004
    Oops. Saw FormFactor's post and thought he started the thread... :rolleyes:
Sign In or Register to comment.