Using a TV as a Monitor...

[Eightball]

So I recently came into possession of a 42" Viewsonic HDTV by way of a graduating senior that I knew. According to the online specifications, it can support a 1920x1080 resolution. So I got the idea in my head to bring this mammoth back to my university dorm room (you know, to get my techno-mojo on). Since space is always a concern in my cramped conditions, I'm setting about trying to use this thing as my computer monitor. I mean come on, who wouldn't want to see Metro 2033 on a 42" at native resolution?

Here's my problem. I really have no idea what the fuck I am doing. This thing has a VGA and 2 HDMI ports in the back. I tried plugging into the VGA port (my video card has 2 DVI ports, so I used a DVI to VGA adapter thingamabob) and the thing is insistent on displaying in 1680x1050, like with my ASUS monitor. I know this thing is supposed to be able to do 1920x1080, but I can't find a way to cajole it into doing so. Is there something I'm missing? Is VGA an inadequate connection? Should I buy DVI to HDMI instead? I would be willing to get a new graphics card if this works, but I want to be certain that this thing will even display in 1920x1080...

Any ideas?

[Eightball]

All right, so I took the five minutes to pull my head out of my ass and see the following under "PC Compatibility': 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x1024, 1360x768, 1440x900, 1680x1050. I'm guessing this means that I can't go above 1680x1050 with VGA, but let me know if I'm wrong in that assumption.

So here's the important question. Would I be able to get 1920x1080 out of this television if I either used a DVI to HDMI cord or bought a new graphics card that supported HDMI? I've never used the HDMI input in my life before, I have no idea how it works. Help me out guys!

[Mission Difficult]

Kind of lame that the TV doesn't support 1080p over VGA because it is capable of carrying it. If the monitor says it it can do it, then it should be able to do it over HDMI. The adapters aren't expensive so it's worth a shot.

[shoopfox]

I've used a couple HDTVs as main monitors and I've always had some kind of issue. Have you tried to force it into 1080 to see what happens?

[K2]

Just get this, or this and this so that you can reuse the HDMI cable later.

[Eightball]

I've used a couple HDTVs as main monitors and I've always had some kind of issue. Have you tried to force it into 1080 to see what happens?

I tried using the nVidia control panel to make a "custom resolution" at 1920x1080 and it more or less throws a temper tantrum and says no. I really haven't found any means to do it.

And Mission & K2, my plan for now is to buy a DVI to HDMI cable from Best Buy or some other large evil electronics chain to test it out. If it doesn't work, I return the cable. If it works, I return the cable anyways and buy a better graphics card that supports HDMI. I had been considering upgrading my card for a while now anyways. Still thanks for the link K2, some crazy prices there.

Versus also brought up an interesting problem: input lag. I guess that in TVs, signal lag isn't a huge issue, at least not compared to computer monitors. So far I haven't noticed anything much. I perceive an almost unnoticeable delay between keystrokes and the characters appearing on-screen, but the reality is that I never paid attention to it with my old monitor. I'll probably have to plug them both in and find a way to detect a difference.

[Eightball]

So I picked up a DVI to HDMI cable that I do not intend on keeping ($50, what the fuck no) and connected it. Yeah, it's displaying in 1080p...but something's amiss. The picture is not scaled properly; bits off the top, bottom, and sides are being cut off. Plus, the picture quality seems...diminished from VGA. I really notice it when looking at text.

Really disappointed with the results so far.

[Ianki]

So I picked up a DVI to HDMI cable that I do not intend on keeping ($50, what the fuck no) and connected it. Yeah, it's displaying in 1080p...but something's amiss. The picture is not scaled properly; bits off the top, bottom, and sides are being cut off. Plus, the picture quality seems...diminished from VGA. I really notice it when looking at text.

Really disappointed with the results so far.

this happens on my lcd monitor using the hdmi chord too.  there is a setting in either the ati or nvidia control panels that deals with image scaling.  you need to push this up until it fills up the screen.  the resoultion will be sharper at the proper scaling.

I don't know where it is in the nvidia control panel, but it's a pain to find in the ati control panel....

[Eightball]

[quote author=Eightball link=topic=4776.msg162271#msg162271 date=1278351043]
So I picked up a DVI to HDMI cable that I do not intend on keeping ($50, what the fuck no) and connected it. Yeah, it's displaying in 1080p...but something's amiss. The picture is not scaled properly; bits off the top, bottom, and sides are being cut off. Plus, the picture quality seems...diminished from VGA. I really notice it when looking at text.

Really disappointed with the results so far.

this happens on my lcd monitor using the hdmi chord too.  there is a setting in either the ati or nvidia control panels that deals with image scaling.  you need to push this up until it fills up the screen.  the resoultion will be sharper at the proper scaling.

I don't know where it is in the nvidia control panel, but it's a pain to find in the ati control panel....
[/quote]
Found a setting to "scale my desktop" and make it fit within the boundaries of the screen. However, this seems to actually make a new custom resolution (I'm now on 1838x1036...). We'll see how my games handle it, but since the picture quality is still kinda dubious, I may scrap this project yet.

[Ianki]

[quote author=Ianki link=topic=4776.msg162274#msg162274 date=1278351791]
[quote author=Eightball link=topic=4776.msg162271#msg162271 date=1278351043]
So I picked up a DVI to HDMI cable that I do not intend on keeping ($50, what the fuck no) and connected it. Yeah, it's displaying in 1080p...but something's amiss. The picture is not scaled properly; bits off the top, bottom, and sides are being cut off. Plus, the picture quality seems...diminished from VGA. I really notice it when looking at text.

Really disappointed with the results so far.

this happens on my lcd monitor using the hdmi chord too.  there is a setting in either the ati or nvidia control panels that deals with image scaling.  you need to push this up until it fills up the screen.  the resoultion will be sharper at the proper scaling.

I don't know where it is in the nvidia control panel, but it's a pain to find in the ati control panel....
[/quote]
Found a setting to "scale my desktop" and make it fit within the boundaries of the screen. However, this seems to actually make a new custom resolution (I'm now on 1838x1036...). We'll see how my games handle it, but since the picture quality is still kinda dubious, I may scrap this project yet.
[/quote]

you want to look for a setting that deals with overscan or image scaling.

[Eightball]

[quote author=Eightball link=topic=4776.msg162275#msg162275 date=1278352679]
[quote author=Ianki link=topic=4776.msg162274#msg162274 date=1278351791]
this happens on my lcd monitor using the hdmi chord too.  there is a setting in either the ati or nvidia control panels that deals with image scaling.  you need to push this up until it fills up the screen.  the resoultion will be sharper at the proper scaling.
I don't know where it is in the nvidia control panel, but it's a pain to find in the ati control panel....

Found a setting to "scale my desktop" and make it fit within the boundaries of the screen. However, this seems to actually make a new custom resolution (I'm now on 1838x1036...). We'll see how my games handle it, but since the picture quality is still kinda dubious, I may scrap this project yet.
[/quote]
you want to look for a setting that deals with overscan or image scaling.
[/quote]
I found a setting for Overscan/Underscan, but no changes seem to occur when I swap them and apply.

Here's a screenshot of my setup for reference; games look fine on it I suppose:

[Darklink]

what brand is that

[Eightball]

what brand is that

It's Viewsonic. I got it off of my cousin who bought it bargain for $600 two years ago. The price sounds damn good, but I guess I pay for it in quality.

The size and heat of this thing are becoming too much to bear. My neck is just killing me and I feel that my performance in tf2 is hurt from not being able to see everything at a glance and instead having to look around different parts of my screen. I'm scrapping this project for now.

Still, 22" feels kinda small now. Maybe there's still something I can do for the summer...

[Darklink]

[quote author=fifty¢ link=topic=4776.msg162286#msg162286 date=1278356174]
what brand is that

It's Viewsonic. I got it off of my cousin who bought it bargain for $600 two years ago. The price sounds damn good, but I guess I pay for it in quality.

The size and heat of this thing are becoming too much to bear. My neck is just killing me and I feel that my performance in tf2 is hurt from not being able to see everything at a glance and instead having to look around different parts of my screen. I'm scrapping this project for now.

Still, 22" feels kinda small now. Maybe there's still something I can do for the summer...
[/quote]I think the blurry text is a general problem with using large TV's as monitors not sure though.

[shoopfox]

Yeah overscan is my biggest issue and the newer nvidia drivers actually made things worse-- I would be missing about 100 pixels on each side of my screen. I think I made a custom resolution and dicked with some of the timings and it seemed to fix everything on win7. Those are different for every TV so you'd have to look the timings for you model. On my xp partition I gave up and just run it in the next lowest res.

Blurry text isn't actually an issue, though trying to read from the couch is so I have to plop down a chair right in front of my TV and play with a keyboard in my lap and a mouse on a side table haha. It's glorious to play TF2 on a 42' screen if you can manage to get things working

[HeK]

So I picked up a DVI to HDMI cable that I do not intend on keeping ($50, what the fuck no) and connected it. Yeah, it's displaying in 1080p...but something's amiss. The picture is not scaled properly; bits off the top, bottom, and sides are being cut off.

I warned you about this last night.

Whats the model number of that TV?

[Kirby]

Check the DPI settings eightball.

IIRC TV's normally run a lower DPI than computer monitors.

[HeK]

Check the DPI settings eightball.

This isn't a printer, a digital display will have a fixed dot pitch and pixel density.

Unless you mean font scaling.

[Eightball]

[quote author=Eightball link=topic=4776.msg162271#msg162271 date=1278351043]
So I picked up a DVI to HDMI cable that I do not intend on keeping ($50, what the fuck no) and connected it. Yeah, it's displaying in 1080p...but something's amiss. The picture is not scaled properly; bits off the top, bottom, and sides are being cut off.

I warned you about this last night.
Whats the model number of that TV?
[/quote]
All the information I have on it was on that hyperlink in the opening post; I remember you mentioned something about specifically plugging it into HDMI-2, but there wasn't a difference either way for me. Not sure why there would be but durp.

I already gave up on this project. Even if it displayed nicely, there are just too many problems posed by using a 42" screen 1-2 feet from my face. However, I haven't completely put my ambitions to rest. If you guys know of smaller TVs that would do this task nicely (or alternately, 24"+ monitors that have component, composite, and HDMI inputs for game consoles) let me know, I'm seriously trying to find a way to improve my current setup (and justify getting a better graphics card).