JT! Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Got it working, but I'm still having a couple of issues. My wallpaper has a black boarder around it, and I can't seem to get it to fill the TV even though when I open a window to max it fills the entire screen, and I can't seem to change it without changing the wallpaper on both. Also, I'd like to make text, buttons etc bigger on the TV only. How can I do that? Is there a program that I would be better of using rather than windows default stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Try http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/zbar/ - that gives you some wallpaper options. Its the best free program I could find that stretches your task bar across both monitors, and it also has some dual monitor wallpaper settings too. Not sure about getting the text/buttons etc bigger on your TV, except for lowering the resolution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 I use Ultramon, it seems to work perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted July 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Yeah my mine issue is icons/text being too small on the TV. Do either Ultramon or what you suggested Tom have something that'll fix that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 as far as my googling tells me, you could:increase the DPI (would apply to both monitors)Increase the font size (this is a windows 7 option in the display settings, again would apply to both monitors)decrease the resolution on your TV (everything would appear bigger, but if you decrease it too much and you're watching HD videos, then you will lose some of that HDness) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted July 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Yeah really the setup is for me watching netflix and youtube videos while I have my laptop screen for facebook/TF etc. Generally it's not too much of a big deal, I just open up whatever I want to watch and drag it across to the TV. But it would be nice to be able to see the menus etc without having to lean forward and quint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Yeah Windows dual monitors is a bit limiting. I used Ultramon when I had my TV hooked up to my PC, it definite has the ability to set different wallpapers, and probably icon size (not sure on that though). Plus you can set hotkeys to enable / disable the second monitor which is useful for when you just want to work on the PC (TV off) and don't want to be able to 'lose' windows on the other monitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted July 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Ultramon is great, but I see no options to increase fonts/icons etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 No, fonts/icons are set on the desktop, not per display. You could drop the resolution but that'll make everything look shit. Multi-monitor only works well with matching monitors IMO. Had various setups over the years, currently on 3x28", tis perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted July 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Three 28"s?! Jesus. Yeah the setup I have now is just temporary really. It's great for throwing up a vid on netflix / youtube. But ultimately I'm going to have a desk so I'll be sat up close to it most of the time. I also have a laptop with no HDMI which is a pain in the arse too. What's the highest resolution that can be transferred with a VGA cable anyway? Can it handle full 1920x1080? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 (edited) What's the highest resolution that can be transferred with a VGA cable anyway? Can it handle full 1920x1080? Mine never had an issue with it, in fact it worked better than the HDMI did, because the HDMI keeps screwing with settings on the TV in annoying ways, I only use it because I get the sound and picture though one cable, so it's much better for moving my laptop around the room. I find a 1920x1080 22" TV works perfectly with my laptop with it's 1366x768 15", both on full resolution you end up with all the icon sizes matching nicely. I think my issues with the HDMI are the TV's fault, rather than the computers. Basically if the TV's set on 16:9 aspect ratio, then you end up with the edge of the picture being off the screen, so there's a boarder like area you can't see, about the same size as the bar at the top of windows. I thiiinkk this is deliberate, as with media player open it happens to cut off the boarder perfectly without putting it in full screen, but if I want to use it as a monitor, not for watching films and stuff then I have to change the TV's aspect ration setting to 'Just Scan' Which just sets it like you'd expect it to be for a monitor. The trouble is I can't seem to find how to change what's default, so it keeps defaulting back to the setting with the boarder cut off. Edited July 12, 2012 by RobinJI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted July 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 (edited) Yeah my VGA cable has a sound cable all in one. VGA keeps falling out though. Need to upgrade the laptop at some point. Leads me to another question though, if my laptop's full resolution is 1366x768, does that mean that's the highest resolution my laptop can create, or just output to the screen? How can I tell what the highest resolution is so I know how far I can drop the res down on the tv? Edited July 12, 2012 by JT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 My laptops full screen resolution's 1366x768 too, and it's got no problem running the TV on 1080 through VGA or HDMI, it's only about a year old though, and has a HDMI output, so could be prepared for it intentionally or something. I'm not so clued up on this sort of stuff, I just know mine works! I guess you'd just have to go to 'Screen Resolution' in control panel to see what you can set it to. Just have a play with the settings until you're happy with it, that's all I've done. (Other people probably have better ideas/advice, I'm not particularly amazing with this sort of stuff!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted July 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 My laptop is over 2 years old now, bought it just before HDMI was standard. Screen res allows me to put my laptop up to1366x768, and the tv to 1920x1080. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 (edited) Three 28"s?! Jesus. Yep, same setup as God. Nah I had one, then they started coming up on ebay for cheap, so bought another two. Mainly used for work stuff, not gaming believe it or not. Did have two more smaller monitors as well at one point, but it kinda sucked. Edited July 13, 2012 by Muel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 So, new laptop, with HDMI, but when I use the TV as a second monitor, everythything is horrible. 1. The contrast is crazy high. 2. When i fullscreen youtube vids, the vid doesn't fit on the screen and i'm missing an inch all the way around. 3. Text and general quality is terrible, it's as if i'm looking an an old CTR TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Have you tried using the VGA instead? What GPU does the new laptop have? Got the latest drivers for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) Comparing the VGA on the tv though this laptop and the old laptop it's pretty much the same. Comparing the vga to the HDMI on this laptop it's a million miles better. Colours are pretty much spot on and the text is much clearer. AMD Radeon graphics card 7670m. Went though device manager and it said I have the 'best' already installed. Edited October 23, 2012 by JT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Well, having the sharpness turned down to 0 really helps. It's certainly not perfect, but i think it's as good as it's going to get, same quality as i'm used to from the old setup with the old laptop with the vga cable. Although I think it should be better, after all the tv has a higher res than the laptop screen. Contrast / colours are now sorted too. Still have the issue with the output being too big for the tv though. Changing res to the next lowest has the opposite problem (a black boarder). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinJI Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 My TV's default settings for the HDMI was pretty poor too, and it did the same with the image not fitting in, the solution on mine's to change the aspect ratio from '16:9' to 'Just Scan'. (That's on an LG TV). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I don't have that option Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted October 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 (edited) Pretty much fixed now. Downloaded AMD Catalyst Software Suite, don't get why this didn't come with the laptop to begin with. This allowed me to pretty much move the screen a few pixels at a time. Text is still a little off, but it's good enough. Edited October 24, 2012 by JT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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