New TV monitor resolution

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimL
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JimL

XP Pro SP3, T42 IBM Thinkpad

I just bought a new Sanyo 32 inch flat panel TV with a "PC" connection that
is a DB15 SVGA jack, which I'm plugged into - much easier for my old coot
eyes, even though the resolution remains at 1024 x 768. In Display
properties > Settings > Advanced > Displays, it shows up as a monitor (the
left panel), not as a TV (the right panel).

It seems odd that on the Display properties > Settings page it shows as Not
active, it is not attached and the semigraphic for it is "hatched out." (My
pea brain wonders how it is showing my desktop if it is neither attached nor
active.) If I attach it it immediately converts the monitor to Extended
Desktop, which has nothing at all on it. There is a checkbox there to tell
it to make the monitor a desktop extension, but it sets it to desktop
extension whether or not I check that box.

(Someone probably knows how to use an extended desktop. Naturally "Extended
desktop" does NOT appear in the Help Glossary. At one point my cursor arrow
showed up on the "extension" but windows and popups, etc. on the laptop.
Turned off the TV and rebooted to get rid of that.)

The TV manual says it will accept higher resolution (maybe a little less
fuzzy?), but as long as it is in this unattached mode higher resolution
settings do not stick.

Am I pretty much stuck with this unless I use a different (not DB15)
connection?
 
JimL said:
XP Pro SP3, T42 IBM Thinkpad

I just bought a new Sanyo 32 inch flat panel TV with a "PC" connection that
is a DB15 SVGA jack, which I'm plugged into - much easier for my old coot
eyes, even though the resolution remains at 1024 x 768. In Display
properties > Settings > Advanced > Displays, it shows up as a monitor
Click to expand...
extension whether or not I check that box.

(Someone probably knows how to use an extended desktop. Naturally "Extended
desktop" does NOT appear in the Help Glossary. At one point my cursor arrow
showed up on the "extension" but windows and popups, etc. on the laptop.
Turned off the TV and rebooted to get rid of that.)

The TV manual says it will accept higher resolution (maybe a little less
fuzzy?), but as long as it is in this unattached mode higher resolution
settings do not stick.

Am I pretty much stuck with this unless I use a different (not DB15)
connection?
Click to expand...
For help with an IBM/Lenovo laptop I would suggest you try a group
with a high ratio of IBM/Lenovo users. Where your chances of help are
much higher.

comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video
ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad
rec.video
rec.video.desktop
misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.cards.video
microsoft.public.windowsxp.video
 
JimL said:
XP Pro SP3, T42 IBM Thinkpad

I just bought a new Sanyo 32 inch flat panel TV with a "PC" connection that
is a DB15 SVGA jack, which I'm plugged into - much easier for my old coot
eyes, even though the resolution remains at 1024 x 768. In Display
properties > Settings > Advanced > Displays, it shows up as a monitor (the
left panel), not as a TV (the right panel).

It seems odd that on the Display properties > Settings page it shows as Not
active, it is not attached and the semigraphic for it is "hatched out." (My
pea brain wonders how it is showing my desktop if it is neither attached nor
active.) If I attach it it immediately converts the monitor to Extended
Desktop, which has nothing at all on it. There is a checkbox there to tell
it to make the monitor a desktop extension, but it sets it to desktop
extension whether or not I check that box.

(Someone probably knows how to use an extended desktop. Naturally "Extended
desktop" does NOT appear in the Help Glossary. At one point my cursor arrow
showed up on the "extension" but windows and popups, etc. on the laptop.
Turned off the TV and rebooted to get rid of that.)

The TV manual says it will accept higher resolution (maybe a little less
fuzzy?), but as long as it is in this unattached mode higher resolution
settings do not stick.

Am I pretty much stuck with this unless I use a different (not DB15)
connection?
Click to expand...

When buying LCDTV sets, you really have to be careful, download the
user manual before you buy, and verify the specs. Some of the older
sets had a few gotchas, that made them less than useful as PC displays.

Some useful properties

1) LCDTV VGA connector supports Plug and Play, via DDC.
You can verify this, by seeing whether DDC cata is coming across
from the LCDTV set while it is hooked up.

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/moninfo.shtm

If an LCDTV doesn't support DDC, resolution choices at the
video card may be limited to 1280x1024 or 1024x768 or some
low resolution. This was intended as a safety feature, for
the non-multisync monitor era. With the ATI control panel,
you should be able to override this.

2) It is important for the VGA port on the LCDTV, to support
native resolution. For example, say you have a 1366x768 LCDTV,
and yet the LCDTV VGA port only supports up to 1280x1024. It may
mean, that no matter what output mode the computer uses, it will
always be resampled at the LCDTV set. This can cause jaggies on text.

For your T42, it mentions a few different options for the laptop GPU.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-57839

Normally, you should have several mode choices for a second (plugged in)
monitor, in addition to the laptop primary LCD.

This is the only thing I know of, that remotely resembles a
manual for Catalyst Control Center. And it lacks enough pictures
to help you decide what is wrong. Normally, you'd drag the newly
appeared monitor on the right, into the "hole" in the center, to
tell the control panel you're setting up a new configuration. You
can drag the monitor back from the "hole", to convince CCC to undo
the setup and return to single monitor mode. The picture for this
is on page 14. Does your control panel look like page 14 ? If
it doesn't, perhaps your GPU is something other than ATI.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060314203735/http://visiontek.com/CCC.pdf

Paul
 
For help with an IBM/Lenovo laptop I would suggest you try a group
with a high ratio of IBM/Lenovo users. Where your chances of help are much
higher.
Click to expand...

Actually the SVGA output of a Thinkpad is pretty much identical with that of
a desktop.
 
Paul said:
When buying LCDTV sets, you really have to be careful, download the
user manual before you buy, and verify the specs. Some of the older
sets had a few gotchas, that made them less than useful as PC displays.

Some useful properties

1) LCDTV VGA connector supports Plug and Play, via DDC.
You can verify this, by seeing whether DDC cata is coming across
from the LCDTV set while it is hooked up.
Click to expand...

First, thank you very much for the wide ranging reply and links to related
material, etc. My thinking device is working on tiny bits of it at a time
(the only operating mode it has nowadays).

Altho the set plugged up and ran right off, it is not DDC (I wouldn't know
what that means even if I looked it up, because I would forget it in
minutes.) I could have sworn that I read in the manual that it was plug and
play, but it doesn't seem to be.
If an LCDTV doesn't support DDC, resolution choices at the
video card may be limited to 1280x1024 or 1024x768 or some
low resolution.
Click to expand...

Wonder of wonders, I've gotten a bunch out of it. Not because I remembered
anything I read (I remember this kind of stuff about 45 seconds) but because
I just kept dinking around with it.
2) It is important for the VGA port on the LCDTV, to support
native resolution. For example, say you have a 1366x768 LCDTV,
and yet the LCDTV VGA port only supports up to 1280x1024. It may
mean, that no matter what output mode the computer uses, it will
always be resampled at the LCDTV set.
Click to expand...

Actually I got it up to 1360x768 while dinking around. (T42 max is
2048x1536.)
Normally, you should have several mode choices for a second (plugged in)
monitor, in addition to the laptop primary LCD.
Click to expand...

Every other time I try something it kicks into the Extended Desktop thing
and gets all screwed up - driving me nuts. In one set of options it warns
that it you are in Extended Desktop mode it will ............ Believe me
it does ............. Is there some way to prevent XP from jumping it into
this extended mode?
the setup and return to single monitor mode. The picture for this
is on page 14. Does your control panel look like page 14 ? If
it doesn't, perhaps your GPU is something other than ATI.
Click to expand...

I'm not following much of this. I do not have CCC, but I do have an ATI
page with a bunch of tabs at the top (Each tab has an ATI logo on it). The
CCC panel appears to have stuff gathered from all over into one page.

It seems that what shows up depends on what I'm connected to. If I make the
LCDTV active, the ATI tabbed page WILL NOT open. I can "unactive" the LCDTV
(display 2) and go back to the TFT laptop screen (display 1) whereupon the
ATI page reappears. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the
LCDTV doesn't have DDC.

I seem to be bumping into two things. No DDC on the LCDTV and this darn
Extended Desktop mode jumping up every time I turn around. Comments?

Thanks again.
 
JimL said:
First, thank you very much for the wide ranging reply and links to related
material, etc. My thinking device is working on tiny bits of it at a time
(the only operating mode it has nowadays).

Altho the set plugged up and ran right off, it is not DDC (I wouldn't know
what that means even if I looked it up, because I would forget it in
minutes.) I could have sworn that I read in the manual that it was plug and
play, but it doesn't seem to be.


Wonder of wonders, I've gotten a bunch out of it. Not because I remembered
anything I read (I remember this kind of stuff about 45 seconds) but because
I just kept dinking around with it.


Actually I got it up to 1360x768 while dinking around. (T42 max is
2048x1536.)


Every other time I try something it kicks into the Extended Desktop thing
and gets all screwed up - driving me nuts. In one set of options it warns
that it you are in Extended Desktop mode it will ............ Believe me
it does ............. Is there some way to prevent XP from jumping it into
this extended mode?


I'm not following much of this. I do not have CCC, but I do have an ATI
page with a bunch of tabs at the top (Each tab has an ATI logo on it). The
CCC panel appears to have stuff gathered from all over into one page.

It seems that what shows up depends on what I'm connected to. If I make the
LCDTV active, the ATI tabbed page WILL NOT open. I can "unactive" the LCDTV
(display 2) and go back to the TFT laptop screen (display 1) whereupon the
ATI page reappears. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the
LCDTV doesn't have DDC.

I seem to be bumping into two things. No DDC on the LCDTV and this darn
Extended Desktop mode jumping up every time I turn around. Comments?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

The only comment I'd have at this point, is for you to somehow get a better
understanding of just what hardware is driving the various displays
you're playing with. Maybe you're right, and more than one hardware
device is involved with your video. If you look in Device Manager,
what do you see under "Display adapters" ?

If you don't know how to navigate to Device Manager, you can go to
the Start thing, select "Run", and type this as the program name to run

devmgmt.msc

Maybe that will give you some idea what hardware you've got. As for
what appears in Control Panels, that depends on the drivers. Windows
has its own default control panel when no driver is installed. When
you install a video package consisting of a driver and control panel
software, the control panel stuff may become more evident in some
"Advanced" section.

Paul
 
Paul said:
The only comment I'd have at this point, is for you to somehow get a
better
understanding of just what hardware is driving the various displays
you're playing with. Maybe you're right, and more than one hardware
device is involved with your video. If you look in Device Manager,
what do you see under "Display adapters" ?
Click to expand...

ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500

Nothing else and I have no idea why it is all in caps.
you install a video package consisting of a driver and control panel
software, the control panel stuff may become more evident in some
"Advanced" section.
Click to expand...

My drivers are all XP Pro SP3 default. My only controls are default. Much
of the stuff in XP's Display properties > Settings > Advanced (where the
many ATI logos are) is what I said the picture of CCC shows on one page.

I believe the control panel differences (half ATI and half not) between my
native computer display and the LCDTV are based on the actual hardware
differences. As I said, the LCDTV has no DDC/CI.

Still, if I make the LCDTV active it jumps into Extended Desktop mode. If I
don't make it active, the "Exact Duplicate of Desktop" function from Display
properties > Settings > Advanced are in effect.

Thanks
 
JimL said:
ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500

Nothing else and I have no idea why it is all in caps.


My drivers are all XP Pro SP3 default. My only controls are default. Much
of the stuff in XP's Display properties > Settings > Advanced (where the
many ATI logos are) is what I said the picture of CCC shows on one page.

I believe the control panel differences (half ATI and half not) between my
native computer display and the LCDTV are based on the actual hardware
differences. As I said, the LCDTV has no DDC/CI.

Still, if I make the LCDTV active it jumps into Extended Desktop mode. If I
don't make it active, the "Exact Duplicate of Desktop" function from Display
properties > Settings > Advanced are in effect.

Thanks
Click to expand...

The section beginning on PDF page 14 here, should address all the
modes supported.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060314203735/http://visiontek.com/CCC.pdf

The Extended Mode here, allows the two monitors to have
different resolutions. The Task Bar wouldn't be at the
bottom of the #2 display. Maybe if they were stretched,
both monitors would have to use the same resolution setting.

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/6444/cccih9.jpg

In this laptop article, they support single, extended, and clone,
and the extended seems to make the two displays the same resolution.
(Click the ATI icon at the bottom of the display, to get the rest of the info)

http://support.sony-europe.com/tv/tutorials/computer2tv/computer2tv.aspx?site=odw_en_GB

When a second display is connected, and the ATI controls are current in a single
display mode, you should be offered choices as to what mode it goes to,
from a menu, at the time of the addition of the second monitor.

Paul
 
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