Aspect ratio from PC to HDTV

LowkeyHD · Post by **LowkeyHD** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:22 pm

My Samsung HDTV supports PC input via vga/svga cable. I have no trouble getting the video signal to the tv but I cannot find a way to adjust the display to correctly utilize the 16:9 aspect. I suspect that the signal from the pc is the cause. I am using a Dell laptop with an ATI Mobility 7500c video adapter. I have tried to find a solution on ATI's website but with no success. Is there a software solution ? Maybe a setting in either my web browser or Windows Media Player? Keep in mind that this is purely for novelty purposes. Thanks for any insight.

Post by **Shane** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:46 am

I know Richard may have more technical insight into this, but for starters, make sure your PC/laptop can display a resolution that is 16:9 aspect ratio. Most laptops cannot do this as they are assuming you are using the attached screen. For example, looking at mine here (IBM Thinkpad T43p), the following are the resolutions I have available:

680x480
800x600
1024x768
1280x1024
1600x1200

Note that every single on of these is a 4:3 resolution (roughly), meaning that my TV would likely stretch it, or show it in pillar box (black bars on the sides).

- Shane

LowkeyHD · Post by **LowkeyHD** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:02 pm

That's what I thought. I was hoping there was something within the settings of the browser that could adjust to the aspect ratio. I thought that if I can set it "wrong" for the laptop then it might look right on the tv. Thanks

Post by **Shane** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:42 pm

Have you played around with the "external" resolutions of the graphics card? this can usually be found in the "Display" properties are of Control Panel (assuming you're running Windows).

ATI typically installs it's own display drivers over the defaults Windows includes ... and quite frequently, there's a tab there for configuring external displays (those connected to the laptop via the VGA out). I would check there and see if there are any "wide" resolutions supported.

If you could include your laptop model number and/or dell service tag I might be able to get more detailed info.

- Shane

LowkeyHD · Post by **LowkeyHD** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:32 pm

I have an Inspiron 5100. There are settings for multiple monitors. I can turn off my laptop screen while using the tv as a monitor only but the settings don't seem to change. I have yet to try setting it to only display on the tv and then rebooting. I also have an S-video output but that won't give the resolution I want. As far as I can tell the ATI settings will only give a 4:3 ratio. The computer is getting a bit old in tech terms. There was little widescreen proliferation when I purchased it.

jcousins · Post by **jcousins** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:37 am

I have an older Toshiba Satellite laptop and a Sony Bravia XBR TV (46"). I played around for quite a while until I discovered the correct combination. The laptop has display 3 choices - laptop only, laptop plus external monitor and external monitor only. When I set it to "external only" and made sure the TV was powered on BEFORE booting the laptop, the screen settings dialogue magically included "1920 x 1080" in the resolution choices dropdown list. My guess is that the TV itself reports it's max resolution to the laptop, because how else could the laptop know? I had never seen this resolution available before.

The TV screen makes an awesome computer monitor. I use it now to do slideshows (I have lots of travel photos). I will try to attach a photo of the screen in computer display mode.

[img]http://john.mikecousins.com/images/DSCN2531.JPG[/img]

John

alanray · Post by **alanray** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:04 am

I understand that a program called PowerStrip allows changing the resolution of most modern graphics cards to DTV standards.

It can be found at http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm

Let us know if it works for you.

theboss · Post by **theboss** » Sat May 26, 2007 10:52 pm

This means the graphics card and/or gpu Driver are incapable or displaying the TV's resolution. Most newer GPU's Nvidia 6/7/8 Series, ATi 18/1900 series have no issue displaying widescreen resolutions. Even my onboard GPU displayed 1280x720. I mean if your gpu can handle the res it will revert to its proper aspect ratio. I have a Samsung 23' HDTV (Not PC monitor, the ones that were used at microsoft 360 kiosks and release), its 720p and takes a vga input of the same thing via a 7900 card.

fsenseearthlink · Post by **fsenseearthlink** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:36 pm

Well, this thread sure helped me out a lot. I had been feeding my HP DV-4000 laptop's S-Video output to an S-Video input on my Samsung and had been struggling with the aspect ratio problem myself. I checked the HP update procedure on my laptop and it indicated there was no driver update for the Intel graphics chip. But, when I went to the Intel support site, I found a 2007 dated driver package for this chipset. The new driver included TV related functions including setting the resolution for the TV and notebook screen, and saving the two settings in profiles that can be easily selected from a menu making the switch very quick. I also changed the video feed to the PC input on the Samsung, connecting that to the S-VGA output on the HP with a new monitor cable. The result was an incredible improvement and I now have the monitor resolution set to 1920x1080. I looked at the other piece of software mentioned in a previous response and it worked fine, but the Intel driver was able to do everything I needed without using the other software. The short of it is: the TV is set for 16x9 mode for the PC input and I no longer have to screw around with aspect ratio to get a perfect picture.