Confused ~ HDMI and VGA

zappahey

S0litaire wrote: »

You might see that the bottom sides and top are off the edge of the screen, this is to be expected in TV's used as a monitor.

If this happens then the TV isn't set up properly.

There should be a setting such as just scan, full or original which will prevent the TV from trying to resize the picture.

terry2

Maydot wrote: »

I would love to take the tv back just because DH was so badly advised but I don't think it would be easy as we don't have the original packaging, and it would literally be our word against theirs. It has turned out to be an expensive mistake.

How long ago was it bought?

Just go back to the shop and say that it is unfit for purpose and so you want a refund - as it is not a full HD display which is what was needed. If they say no, remind them that the sale of goods act requires THEM to supply equipment that is fit for purpose.

This is not a question of your word against theirs. As I recall, in the case of a dispute between a customer and a vendor, the law puts the customer in a favourable position.

Just contact the supplier and see what they say, you have nothing to lose.

Bradfield

I have two 32 inch TV's that I use as monitors. One is about ten years old and the other four years old. Surprised to hear that a new model is not up to it.

Have you tried different cables? I bought a couple of cheap vga cables off ebay a few years ago and they were seriously inferior. Gave me the kind of picture that you are now describing.

almillar

Maydot - I think you had the TV set up OK with the aspect ratio at 'Full'. TVs hide them all different places...

Maydot

Thanks again all for taking the time to reply.

My old "monitor" (that I am using again) is in fact one of the first flat screen 27" LG tv's - about 7 or 8 years old, that I started using when we upgraded our telly recently. Its connected up using a dvi cable and the picture is sharp and clear (although not hd).

DH only got me the new one as he wanted me to be able to utilize the hd connection on my gpu. I could connect up the new tv using a vga cable but the picture was still horrible when playing games (blurry and out of focus) and icons and text were far too big on desktop at the res I needed to use to make them clear.

As suggested, I think I will contact customer support for the store that he bought it from. He wouldn't have bought it if he hadn't been advised that it would allow me to use it as a full hd monitor. He is really upset about it and says he feels like an idiot but he was only going on what he was being told.

"Buyer Beware" I suppose, but if a store assistant takes it upon themself to give advice then it should at least be correct!

UPDATE: well maybe I need to move this over to the consumer rights section but maybe someone techie here can explain first if I have a "case". I decided to research the tv and possible alternatives.

This is the tv: http://www.tesco.com/direct/toshiba-321333b-32-inch-full-hd-1080p-led-tvdvd-combi-with-freeview/245-2492.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=245-2492
It's advertised as "Full HD" but, in fact the picture res is 1366x768 - surely this is false advertising and would explain why I can't get a true HD picture.

Wanted to ask some techie advice on this before I go wading in to cs - I like to have my facts straight first!

Another update: Actually that isn't the tv (same model but that has a dvd built in) this is mine http://www.tesco.com/direct/toshiba-32w1333b-32-inch-hd-ready-led-tv-with-freeview/466-2963.prd?skuId=466-2963&fromRV=true and it is advertised as HD ready. Just more confused now

almillar

HD Ready just means at least 720 lines horizontally, at at least 1 HDMI port.
Full HD Ready means 1080P and at least 1 HDMI port.
If you remove the word 'Ready' it should really mean that there's an HD tuner inside, ie Freeview HD or Freesat HD. This is rarely obeyed though!
That first TV, then, is completely falsely advertised. Bad Tesco!
Instead of the marketing guff that can be misused and misunderstood as we've just seen, look for the resolution. As I say, 1920x1080 is what you want.
If it's from Tesco, they should be pretty good with CS. Take it back, explain that it's not suitable and that you want to swap it for another TV. If they know they're still going to sell a TV they'll be kinder. Having no box will make it difficult, no receipt very difficult. And don't buy a Technika!

Maydot

almillar wrote: »

HD Ready just means at least 720 lines horizontally, at at least 1 HDMI port.
Full HD Ready means 1080P and at least 1 HDMI port.
If you remove the word 'Ready' it should really mean that there's an HD tuner inside, ie Freeview HD or Freesat HD. This is rarely obeyed though!
That first TV, then, is completely falsely advertised. Bad Tesco!
Instead of the marketing guff that can be misused and misunderstood as we've just seen, look for the resolution. As I say, 1920x1080 is what you want.
If it's from Tesco, they should be pretty good with CS. Take it back, explain that it's not suitable and that you want to swap it for another TV. If they know they're still going to sell a TV they'll be kinder. Having no box will make it difficult, no receipt very difficult. And don't buy a Technika!

Thanks so much for the advice and yes!....bad tesco

I think I'll give cs a call first and see what sort of a reaction I get. We do have the receipt fortunately. I'm so annoyed we threw the box away - it just coincided with a "tip run" and once we knew it was working we didn't think we'd need to take it back.

Oh well- lesson learned - and I promise not to buy a Technika!

fenlander_uk

I've been using a Sony HD-ready TV attached to a media PC for years. The TV is 720p; the media PC outputs at 1360x768 and is connected via the VGA socket with a separate cable for the audio. It also works using HDMI, but as I drive my music system from the PC, using this setup gives me better connection options.

The picture quality is superb. In fact, IMHO there is little to be gained by using full HD resolution on a 32" TV. Using the VGA connection is fine at 1360x768 and that is your TV's limit, anyway. The only drawback is the need to use a separate audio connection. If the picture is wrongly sized when using VGA, it's probably because the output resolution of the PC is set too high.

Reviewers of this TV on Amazon report good results when used with a Xbox, and one says 'This product though not being used as a television but as for a computer screen I find it an excellent choice'.

Alias_Omega

We use an Acer Revo 3610 connected to the Tv via HDMI, running XBMC as the media player as its child friendly.

We have used it with a Samsung Series 3 42" Plasma (720p) and currently with a Samsung Series 5 40" LED (1080).

Both times, its been clear without any issues... so your tv is not the norm.

almillar

fenlander, if you've got a 720p screen, you should have your computer set to 1280x720. Having it set to 1360x768 just means your computer is wasting effort putting out all those extra pixels, then the picture gets scaled down to 720p, reducing quality. You want a pixel to pixel image, so you should output at the display's native resolution. I've got no problem with VGA BTW.