Using TV for PC monitor

Ok, I have a computer that I've been using for Netflix and despite Gates best efforts, it works just fine. The issue I have is that when I use the TV as a monitor (sony rear projection, HDTV ready) the image just isn't great. It's not a convergance thing, just seems like the text isn't very clear at all. Netflix movies are ok (depending on my internet connection at that minute), it's just when I try to look at a web page.
The PC used to me used as my PVR so I don't understand why this TV isn't as clear as a regular monitor? I've tried putzing around with the setting that I know about.
Any ideas?

try the resolution settings on your pc. Some video cards just don't support something as big as what you are running.

Yeah, play with the graphics card settings. Also, how are you connecting the PC to the TV? I experimented with the round S-Video cable thingie and the quality was not good. I went to a HDMI cable and it works well. A bit tricky to get my graphics card to talk to the TV and all, but once I had all the settings down (had to download a previous version of the drivers for the card), it's good.

Not 100% sure on this but it may be a resolution issue, The 720P HD TVs have a resolution of 1280 X 720, which is still sucky by computer monitor standards, I like to see at least 1,000 pixels in any one dimension.

Of course I am a resolution snob....

Now if you have a 1080P HDTV then your problem lies somewhere else.

Try playing with TrueType Fonts, or increasing the font size.

If netflix is the main reason you want to use the tv have you considered some of the other options?

The Xbox 360, PS3, Roku box, and certain Blu Ray players allow instant watch through netflix for not a whole lot of money.

enjoy,

Jacques

Try to match the resolution from your computer to the exact native resolution of your television. The refresh rate (hertz), and color quality (32 bit or 16 bit) might need to be adjusted, too.

my TV is setup next to my computer for this reason... granted it's an old 32" tube... using Svid I just drag the movie over to the TV screen when I want to watch something... set to 800x600 seems to do well (movies only) on the TV... resolution is just BAD for anything where text is involved...

From what I recall, S-video is 800x600.

EDIT: D'oh, beat me to it. I'll bet interlacing has an effect here as well, as 800x600 is legible on other monitors.

Thanks guys. I started to look into the native resolution and got all corn-fuzed. So, after doing a little research I found this posted on a forum:
Many owners of this TV, have expressed their anger when they read in the owners manual this TV does not does not display a NATIVE 720.

Well I have had a decent conversation with Sony today & I got the lowdown.

On 3 pages ( 8, 28, 39 ) the manual says that this TV CAN display 480p 720p 1080i.

On one of those pages, page 39, it also says that the TV does not display a NATIVE 720.

Right on top of that on the same page 39 it says that the TV displays 720p with the connection of a digital TV receiver.

The term native means the TV is the original source of the signal.

Meaning the TV itself, (it's native tuner) using the composite, S video or the antenna or cable input, such as video games that say to be in 720. It will be automatically down converted to 480p, the original (NATIVE) display capability of the TV.

On page 8 it states that the TV can display 720p, WITH CONNECTION THROUGH VIDEO ports 5 & 6 (Component HD) and 7 (DVI).

It also says on page 28 that component connection is required to display 480p 720p 1080i.

When connecting a digital receiver, that is not the TV's tuner in its native form, you are feeding the TV a non native signal through ANOTHER TUNER through HD inputs, COMPONENT or DVI.

Through these inputs the TV has the capability to scan or produce this outside non native 720p signal.

It is not native because it is outside the realm of the TV's tuner, that would be regular connections, S video, RF. composite and antenna & cable input.

In that small paragraph that says the TV cannot display a native 720p signal, notice it doesn't mention the connection of a digital receiver, neither does it say that the TV cannot display a 720p at all. It specifically says A NATIVE 720p.

Directly on top of that statement on page 39 it mentions that the TV can display 720p with the connection of digital TV receiver.

I have read many complaints about this. People could not understand why when they go to say... HBO HD, and select 480p, they can use the wide zoom feature that this TV has to crop stretch etc. However when they would set the box to display 720, the wide zoom feature on this TV would not work. It was obvious that the TV was not down converting it to 480p, if it was they would be able to use the TV's zoom (stretch) feature as they did when the digital receiver was set to 480p. This is because when the TV was fed the non native 720p signal, it produced its 720p wide screen format, the same as when putting the box in 1080i.

They mentioned native 720p because that was the next step in higher digital format.

The TV cannot dispaly a native 1080i signal as well, but they don't mention that and makes it sound as though the TV just can't produce 720p. They are telling that the TV can't go to the next higher step 720p, NATIVELY.

It is very confusing and after talking to Sony I now understand. They could have put the manual in simpler terms.

But to all owners of HD ready TV's that says the TV can't display 720p natively, remember that has nothing to do with a digital receiver, a non native source.

What the heck does all that mean?

How do you have the PC connected to the TV, what type of cable connection?

I do the opposite for now. I use a 24" widescreen monitor as a HDTV for the time being...

Soon that will be replaced by a LCD TV, and the monitor will go into my man cave (and replace a dinky 17" monitor that I'm using down there)

The native resolution of a tv or monitor is the actual physical number of pixels that it can display. If you get really close to the screen you can actually count them up. Normally the manufacturer will list the native resolution (1280x720 or 1920x1080....) in the specifications in the manual. If the signal received is anything but this size it will either display it as a smaller picture (black box all the way around), or more likely, it will stretch or squish the picture to make it fit. And in doing so some of the information from the video source will either be lost or "invented" to fill in the gaps. The sharpest picture will always be the "native" resolution. (The only problem with this statement is just because the cable box or video card is sending a 1280x720 doesnt mean the camera recording it had the same resolution, or the editing room computers for that matter.)

sachilles wrote: How do you have the PC connected to the TV, what type of cable connection?

s video

DrBoost wrote: s video

There's your problem.

Wikipedia says that: "Due to a lack of bandwidth, S-Video connections are generally not considered suitable for high-definition video signals" link

Thanks guys. I'm pulling the TV out tonight to see what options I have. I think my vid card has a DVI out...

Dr. Hess is correct. It's at least part of your problem.

If you have a dvi port on you pc, use that and connect to your tv through it's dvi port(which it probably doesn't have) or get a dvi to HDMI converter plug, and hook in through your tv's hdmi port. You can get the dvi to hdmi convertor plug thing at any electronics store, best buy or whatever. It will make a big difference.

just looked back and saw your tv does have a DVI port. That is how you want to connect. If your pc doesn't have a dvi port(white rectangular thing), it might not be well suited to the job until you add a video card that does.

On my entertainment PC, I added a video card that had some kind of digital video port. I don't remember what it was called, maybe DVI. I got a cable that went from that to HDMI at monoprice. The audio had to go separately from the sound card to one of the other channel's audio in.

Just a note, some of the ATI video cards will do HD video and audio through the DVI port. Mostly their HD series cards.

Ok, there are tons of DVI cords out there. I don't know what I need. My tv has DVI-HDCP, but I don't know about the card. I can't remember what card it is. If I just connect a DVI-I cable am I good to go?
I'm excited to see the difference.
Radio Shack has them for $30, eBay has them for less than $10.

If its a rear projection TV its going to be blurry when used as a monitor. Even my DLP is blurry when used as a monitor. Its a tradeoff, a bit of softness makes movies look great, movies with any kind of special effects look terrible on a set that is very sharp.

The only thing you can really do is make sure you are outputting the native Progressive resolution of the tv, most likely 1280x720 but check the specs. Do not use the max interlaced resolution, the TV will just scale it down to the native Progressive resolution anyway.

One other thing, use the best connection possible, if you are using VGA and your TV has DVI or HDMI use that instead and skip one instance of digital-analog conversion.

www.monoprice.com for cables, its a trusted company that sells good cables at a great price, and they have been doing it a while.

Boost:

http://www.monoprice.com Go there for your cables.

If your card has DVI, it should still work, but without HDCP capability built into the card you may not get all off the performance.

If you run into problems utilizing the HD capabilities of the set via the PC, look for video cards that have HDCP capability. There are more than a few out there for reasonable prices.

DrBoost wrote: What the heck does all that mean?

A television or monitor only has a fixed amount of pixels. The most ideal resolution setting is the one that matches the pixel count exactly. However, to cope with a variance of available resolutions from input sources, many televisions have internal scalers that match outside resolutions to their own native resolution. When a set does not have a 720p "native" resolution, it means that it has a really similar pixel count, but it has to fudge it a bit to actually fit the screen.

As others have mentioned, S-video can only display 480i at best; that is, a 640 x 480 interlaced picture (even horizontal lines one frame, the odd lines the next). You will need the DVI cable to show a picture at a higher resolution.