Gaming Desktop to HDTV

[Zetta_x]

My favorite place on earth, I hope an ATI user who has had similar issues can help me:

System Specifications:
-Graphics Card: ATI 5400 series (maybe 5450)


Issue:
-Connecting HDMI to a normal computer monitor works (HP w2338h to be exact)
-Connecting to Vizio 42 inch using HDMI doesn't work

My problem is that I want to sometimes connect my Desktop to my Vizio, so I plug in the HDMI cords, load up the Catalyst control center, my computer recognizes the TV. So I set the option to duplicate the monitor on the Vizio and I am still getting no signal.

Any other tips or information needed?

 

[Originality]

First, the obvious: make sure your drivers are up to date. After that, try making the TV the primary screen to see if it is accepting the signal at all. Third, check that it's on the right HDMI channel (e.g. my TV has 4 HDMI slots, the PS3 on HDMI1 and the laptop on HDMI4).

If that still doesn't work, my guess is that either the laptop is trying to output on a resolution that's too small for the TV, or the TV's native resolution is too big for the HD5400 series GPU to output. HD5400 is the lowest end of the Evergreen GPU series (any lower and it'd be integrated, not discreet). Even so, I imagine it should still be able to output to both at once (even if performance is quite low on such a big screen).

 

[Zetta_x]

Thank you for the quick response, my graphic drivers are up to date

I have tried making it the primary screen and that didn't go so well

I have made sure its the right HDMI connection, I actually used to make that mistake a lot and now I seemed to have learned from the first 100 times of borking that.

I'm going to be placing the blame on the HD5400 series card. I had a Gtx 320 work perfectly (that was with the Nvidia software and drivers) and as far as I can tell the TV is being recognized but just unwilling to display.

Thanks for your help

 

[luckwii]

How about the TV software? Is it up to date?

I haven't had much experience with PC to TV HDMI connection other than my own. But, from desktop right click the screen and go into the graphics settings. Hit properties and settings and look through all the options. Maybe there is something you missed. Resolution should show up at any setting. Or at least crash and show an error if it is way off.

How about your device manager? Connect the TV and look from the PC side to see if it recognizes the TV.

Do you have a second HDMI cable to see if maybe the cable is bad?

 

[moose3]

I'm using a diff card (4870x2) but the TV as monitor does work...

Have you tried using the TV only and not both at the same time? I also know that the TV/card combos's can sometimes be a bit finicky, so try powering up the TV then the comp, and see if you are at least getting the bios display, then you would know it's windows problem or hardware problem, and you can start from there to narrow it down.

 

[Santee]

Try all the hdmi slots on your tv various times with the monitor plugged in it thats how I get my tv to work with my 5770.

 

[Zetta_x]

How about the TV software? Is it up to date?

I haven't had much experience with PC to TV HDMI connection other than my own. But, from desktop right click the screen and go into the graphics settings. Hit properties and settings and look through all the options. Maybe there is something you missed. Resolution should show up at any setting. Or at least crash and show an error if it is way off.

How about your device manager? Connect the TV and look from the PC side to see if it recognizes the TV.

Do you have a second HDMI cable to see if maybe the cable is bad?

Hmm, good idea looking through device manager. When I go through ATI's Catalyst Control Center, it recognizes the TV. I even set up options to direct the output to the TV using various settings and the TV is still picking up no signal. I will browse through the Device manager and see if I can change anything from Windows 7 vs CCC. I'm pretty sure the HDMI cord is ok as I am currently using the same one to output to the monitor I'm using right now and I have full video + sound support.

The set-up I want is to connect one output using VGA with DVI adapter to my regular monitor simultaneously using HDMI to connect up to my HDTV with a duplication setting so both screens show the same output vs dual monitoring.

I'm using a diff card (4870x2) but the TV as monitor does work...

Have you tried using the TV only and not both at the same time? I also know that the TV/card combos's can sometimes be a bit finicky, so try powering up the TV then the comp, and see if you are at least getting the bios display, then you would know it's windows problem or hardware problem, and you can start from there to narrow it down.

My laptop has a GTX 260 (not sure why I mistakenly put 320 last time =P) and it worked perfect through HDMI connections. However, given that the graphics card for my laptop is much better then for my desktop (I know it's backwards), it was able to manage dual monitoring and such. I should have tried using only TV to begin with. I'll try that too

QUOTE(IchigoSJ @ Jul 19 2010, 06:20 PM)

Try all the hdmi slots on your tv various times with the monitor plugged in it thats how I get my tv to work with my 5770.

Thanks for the advice! It has 4 different HDMI ports so I guess I have options to choose

Quick Update:

Device Manager Stuff: Not working
Using TV Only: Not working
HDMI port 1 - 4: Not working

-For the device manager it recognized the TV, but I was limited to what settings I could and ended up with no signal. I tried all 4 HDMI ports all each with no signal (doesn't show the BIOS on any of them either).

I'm going to take defeat on this one

I may just upgrade the graphics card in this desktop to something like the gtx 260

 

[KDH]

I would imagine, since you're going for a mirror setup, that you're using a resolution that is unsupported by the TV on your monitor. Usually, TVs will only accept PC input in one of two resolutions (or resolution groups, to accommodate Operating Systems like Windows, which can't easily specify an arbitrary resolution). These are, of course, 1280x(720|768|800) and 1920x(1080|1200). If the resolution you use on your monitor doesn't match the first number in either of those followed by any of the numbers in the corresponding parentheses, then it's no wonder you're not getting any image.

Of course, there could also be something in your TVs settings that you need to enable/disable/change to get it to work, though I doubt that since you said it worked fine with your laptop.


I don't know if any of this will help, but it couldn't hurt to double check.

 

[Zetta_x]

Thanks very much for your response, I use 1920x1080 on my monitor so I don't think I will have conflicts with it.

I'm almost certain it's the ATI HD 5450 or the Catalyst Control Center (software end) that's having the problem. I may be able to output to the TV using DVI, but I do not have a long enough cord to reach and it may conflict with resolution settings. Not to mention I doubt DVI carries audio support =P

 

[shamiko_]

have u tried lowering the resolution being displayed on the tv monitor? sometimes it happens to me and my tv won't display it

 

[Zetta_x]

Hmm good suggestion, when I get home I'll let you know how it goes

 

[Originality]

I'm using a diff card (4870x2) but the TV as monitor does work...

It's not exactly fair to compare the top graphics card of the HD4 series (and a dual GPU one at that) to the lowest discreet graphics card of the HD5 series.

As for trying smaller resolutions... that might be a good idea. Take into account whether your HDTV has a 16:9 aspect ratio or 16:10. Computer displays (at least, widescreen ones) tend to be in 16:10 ratio, whilst HDTVs tend to be in 16:9. If you're trying to output into a ratio it doesn't support, that may explain it (although my experience is that they'll just cut off the left side and display anyway). I can't speak from experience here, since my HDTV supports all manner of resolutions and aspect ratios.

 

[shamiko_]

yourbit too technical for the Op to understand, as most new tv's auto ajust the screen anyway

 

[Deleted User]

Man, this thread makes me ;_;...I need to get a cheap HDMI cable so I can see if I can hook up my laptop to the projector in the movie room; now that might be fun ; ). I checked the projector and it has one HDMI slot. My laptop has a VG--HDMI adapter, so all I need now is the cord :sigh: at least the wifi is strong down here lol.

 

[Originality]

HDMI cables are cheap on Amazon (I payed £1.50 per), and lose no quality compared to the £50 HDMI cable I got for free with my LG TV Monitor.

There are rumours that they're going to release ethernet-based AV cables soon, since it can handle higher bandwidths over much longer distances without losing quality, unlike HDMI.

 

[moose3]

I got some cheap HDMI cables from meritline.com something like $6 for a 2-pack.

BTW, the DVI 'can' carry audio, my card (ati 4870x2) didn't have HDMI output, but DVI with a DVI to HDMI adapter and it still would output sound through it.

The question is really has the card been outfitted with an audio processor to use the DVI for sound output as well.

 

[Zetta_x]

Hmm that's interesting. I never really used DVI before until I got this computer. However, I would be using a DVI to VGA adapter from computer to TV. If in fact DVI does carry sound, the TV input of VGA may not accept it.

So far no success with changing resolutions around X_X

 

[Originality]

DVI is basically the same as HDMI, which is why you get DVI->HDMI cables (not just adaptors). It's also why the HD4 series, for the most part, didn't bother with HDMI outputs and only included DVI->HDMI adaptors as standard. The HD5 series has HDMI and DisplayPort as standard, some just sticking with mini-DP and adaptors for everything.

VGA only does video and cannot carry an audio stream. Most HDTVs should have an audio-in jack somewhere though, specifically for use with VGA. If you can find that, you can just use a mini-jackmini-jack cable. Or use speakers.

 

[Zetta_x]

Cool, thanks for the information!

Any good recommendation of sources for a cheap 10 foot VGA cable?

 

[shamiko_]

Cool, thanks for the information!

Any good recommendation of sources for a cheap 10 foot VGA cable?

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