connecting a hdtv/pc to cable??

What do i need to connect a cable tv/internet (comcast) to a hdtv/pc
monitor? This hdtv/pc monitor has more connections than i've ever seen on 1
device..
And would appreciate a web site that describes "how to" if possible.


I have a cable box now that carries both the tv signal and the internet signal
but have no idea how to hook it up for hdtv. The pc part is great at 30 inches
(just what these old tired eyes needed, a bigger screen).

thank you,
savagcl

 

Hi Clif,

Can you give some more details? Model numbers? If you can find a web link to their User Manuals someone may be able to decipher them. You may just need a "something to something" adapter.

Matt

 

Hi, Mattman, how you doing?

Its a Westinghouse, model LTV-30w2, their latest model, so of course, the
paperwork is the last thing done. Their web page shows a users manual called
LTV-30w2 but asking them, its not the correct manual (to be added when
available, HA!). www.westinghouse.com is the site name.

I got the TV hooked up with the help of a friend. He came over and it works
great. Just needed a splitter and some coax cable plus an interpretation of
the manual terms. Thanks.

Now i'm trying to coax a little more from the PC part.
The manual says its capable of 1280x1024 resolution in PC mode but so far
the best i can get is 1280x768@60Hz. This is shown in the Specifications
page. Understandably, the games i have suffer from the jaggies.
The graphics card (GForce 6600 GT) is able to do 1280x1024x32 but when i
look at the display settings, there is no 1280x1024 setting available. Same is
true within the games settings.

Have no idea what is meant by the HDTV Compatability modes of 480i, 480P,
720P or 1080i, yet.


thanks,
savagcl

 

Hi Clif, going well thanks .

If it helps, compatability modes:
http://www.rpsoft2000.com/information/hdtv.htm

Someone may be able to correct me, but 1280x1024x32 would mean a refresh rate of 32Hz which is quite low and if readable may hurt your eyes (give you headaches). It sounds like you are pushing both the monitor and the graphics to their limit (and they may not want to go there! ). Do you have drivers installed for the monitor? In Display (Control Panel) or Device Manager, the monitor should be listed by model, not just "default monitor ". I would uninstall and reinstall the drivers anyway. Did you see any drivers at Westinghouse? Maybe there are some updates (although they may be in the pipeline like the manual ).

I don't think Win XP always installs the "best" drivers, if you let it do it automatically. I have had to take out and reinstall a lot of drivers in Win XP (hardware works, but it does not work well), I always rip out and reinstall drivers that I think are suspect and install them manually if I think that Windows is selecting the wrong ones (maybe from the "list" of models). If there may be old drivers still around in the system, they may need to uninstalled before you install the new ones...so...uninstall the current (new) monitor drivers, shutdown and disconnect the monitor. Attach the old monitor, boot up and let Windows install the drivers. Go to Device Manager and remove the drivers for the old monitor, shutdown, disconnect the old and connect the new monitor. Select and install the drivers you think are the best. This is what you might call the "drivers hokey-pokey"

It may relate to the graphics drivers. I would remove the old drivers in Safe Mode, then carefully monitor how Windows reinstalls them. See if there are new versions available, constant graphics card driver updates are being released. Do a google search for your model and see which version of the drivers the gaming fraternity endorse.

Matt
Edit: you will be pushing the graphics card quite hard. It will be producing a lot of heat. Check your cooling system and if you need more fans.

 

According to westinghouse (and windowsxp), its a plug and play monitor. So
no drivers are needed. Old drivers for monitor and graphics have been
removed.
I can go up to 2048x1536 now but when i do (anything above 1280x768 the
picture is extended off of the screen (moving the mouse to either left or right
edges, up or down edges, makes the picture scroll). Not very good for flight
games.

The HDTV part works independant of the PC part, like having two devices in
one physical unit. The HDTV part works great, i pulled down some trailers in
HDTV and its very good. The PC monitor is "sync'ed" to 1280x768, showing
the full picture on screen. I have 3 settings (for PC mode) built into the unit
menu -
STANDARD, shows a square picture (left/right sidea are blank (blacked out).
FILL, uses all of the screen.
ZOOM - dont know yet, see no difference.

Some research showed me the difference between 480i, 480P, 720P, 1080i.
The "P" Progressive presents a much better picture, non-interlaced.

Learning more as time (and playtime) passes.

thanks, Mattman,
savagcl

 

2048 x 1536, now that's HIGH , I would stick within the manufacturers recommended limits, in case something goes wrong it may void the warranty.

It probably won't make any difference, but you could check the settings in the motherboard BIOS/CMOS. You can set the AGP Aperture Size up to half the size of your system memory (so if you have 512mb of RAM, you could set the aperture size to 256, although 128 should easily be sufficient). Check the AGP setting (should be 8X for that card, but some motherboards have a default setting of 4x and need to be set manually). You could set the "Fast Writes" to enabled, but the video card must able to support fast writes, so you will need to check the graphics card information. Of course, don't change settings unless you are certain of what they do. Apart from 4X to 8X, these changes are relatively cosmetic.

Let us know if you have further breakthroughs.

Matt

 

Well, its going back to bestbuy. It works fine but when i loaded up some
of my games all i got was a white bright light and some shadows of invisible
game pieces even at 800x600x16.

So, while i like the big screen, the resolution just isn't there, or its there but off
to the sides of the screen. 1280x1024x32 will run but to see the sides, top or
bottom, i have to move the mouse to the side i want to see and wait for it to
scroll on-screen (which means the opposite side is scrolling further off-screen.

Think i'll swap this in for a true, large PC monitor and forget the HDTV for a
while. I'm in front of the PC more that the TV anyway and the HDTV parts
need to "age" some more.

Thats my breakthrough!

Thanks, Mattman,
savagcl

 

I assume that is a LCD rear projection TV?

In Rear projection LCD is about the lowest quality picture of large formats.
The DLP (Digital Light Projection) is much better.

If that monitor was in fact an LCD membrane Display well then I dont know what to say.

Plasmas are decent but I think 42" is the smallest one.

 

No, its not a rear projection model. Just a LTV flatscreen 30" with HDTV and
a PC hookup.

Either way, its going back tomorrow. Now, I'm looking for a good large monitor
with high resolution, fast response time and small pixel size.

thanks,
savagcl

 

Clif, if you are not happy now then it is doubtful that you would be any more happier in the future.

Suggest you find a screen (monitor) in the price range you are interested in then do a Google search for that model number and "review ". This may show you the goods and bads.

Personally, I think you will get the best value from a CRT monitor unless you are pressed for space.

Matt

 

OK, seconds thoughts!

I found a program (powerstrip) that has the ability to adjust screen size. Some
guys over at a high-def forum uses it to make "tweaks ". Will look at that and
see what develops.

I looked around for monitors but didn't really see anything promising.

Thanks for your interest mattman,
savagcl

 

check your display settings

On a normal 'square monitor' follows this formula on scren size. We'll take 800X600 as an example because it's easy to see. The height will be 3/4 of the width.

Your working resolution dosen't match that. The display wants to match the screen size. If you go to a 'square screen' resolution it will make it's best fit. It won't fit so it allows the scrolling of the desktop to make up roe it. I ran across this with an ATI card that I exceeded the monitor's resolution so it made up for it.

Jay

 

Clif,

Juist a thought, this program may help you. I still have not had time to try it.
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=42277

Matt

 

Mattman,
Sounds interesting anyway. I pulled them and will give a try.

Let you know results soonest.

thanks,

 

NoGo. It only resizes a window, not the desktop. Looks like both
are the same.

thanks, Mattman,
savagcl