Problems connecting PC to HDTV with VGA cable

Wow I just built an awesome Home Theater PC. Fancy pants Ahanix Dvine 4 HTPC case and all.....just one problem, the picture looks horrible! I tried to connect my pc to the vga input on the back of my HDTV hoping for better picture quality than the s-video connection. But you guessed it, it (*gasp*) didnt work. I get picture while i'm booting up (although a the picture does look a bit weird at times), but as soon as it is about to switch to the logon screen, it goes back to the "waiting for signal" on my tv. It works fine in s-video mode, though. Couldnt be the vga cable cause i'm using it on the monitor i'm on right now. I tryed switching to a few different resolutions, but no luck, any suggestions? Dont know much about hdtvs, this is my first...........

 

If it is showing the picture ok during boot but then losing it when windows is about done booting, it is the video settings in Windows. You may need to go in, in safe mode with the TV attached, and change the monitor settings to suit you TV.

Also your video card may have come with controls that appear in Control Panel itself, or in Control Panel-Display-Settings-Advanced, that you can use to switch the output from CRT to TV. Check it out and post back any queries/findings.

 

Hi Magus_XI.

One sequence on boot up is that the scan rate the video card is putting out may be much lower on boot up until the drivers for the card are ran. You might try reducing the scan rate down to 60 or so and if that works slowly increase until you get the right one. I've run into this problem before. Your monitor may be set for 85 or so but the TV might be much lower or just not synchronized.

giles

 

Just a little note about the last reply in this thread, HD TVs typically run at HIGHER frequencies than CRT monitors,, Normally HD TVs start at 100hz. Your CRT settings are likely to be too low for the HDTV, not too high.

 

Thanks Dez Bradley.

I thought that might be an area of mismatch but wasn't totally clear on the specifics. Just something to look at. I'm thinking of getting an HDTV card for my computer soon to replace my receiver. My big ugly 10' dish is soon to go and be replaced with the smaller setups so I'm just starting to look at potential problem areas in a new setup.

giles

 

Giles, You might get more bang for your buck if you get a receiver box for your TV, and run a cable to your PC with a video capture card in it.

HD cards in PCs are susceptable to interference and can suffer quality problems from your PCs peformance at times, extra heat in PCs and electronic interference. Digital set top boxes are much better units than the PC versions. I know, i tried both at home.

Getting cheaper now too are flat panel wide screen monitors with HDTV built in.

 

Hi Dez Bradley.

I'm looking to go the other way. I have a 38" HDTV with a built-in receiver that I've enjoyed for a long time now. It's much easier to control the satellites with a PC than a single satellite receiver so I'm looking at the cards in Europe for that purpose. I don't watch tv on the pc, just looking to control the input. I know noise is a problem but I have a few ways to block and filter.

I notice you're from Queensland. I spent a lot of time in Aus in the late 50's and
early 60's while on Operation Deepfreeze in the Antarctic. Made many friends and still keep in touch. I regularly catch the news at news.com.au. Spent a lot of time in New Zealand also and got hooked on DB beer. We sent about 50,000 cases of DB down to the ice I think. Gets thirsty down there.

giles

 

Getting back to settings...

I wonder about using the HDTV as the "primary" screen. I am wondering if Magus_XI is using the HDTV as a monitor. TVs are not really manufactured to perform as monitors unless they designed that way.

If the HDTV cannot acheive the settings that are required as a primary monitor, then it could be set up the secondary screen and just used as for display of the Home Theater part...that is...run the computer functions on a standard monitor and run the "home theatre" display on the TV as "secondary monitor ".

Magus_XI, you may want to try running the HDTV as the "secondary screen ", your graphics card probably has a DVI connector, there is a DVI to VGA adapter so that you could connect your monitor to the VGA output and your HDTV to the DVI output using the adapter (for a better connection than the S-video connection).

I might be right off track, but from your post it looks like you are trying to run the TV as a monitor.

Matt