Crappy TV help.

[ati]

I have this crappy tv i want to turn into a htpc monitor. My problem is that the screen picture isn't aligned and the text is pretty blurry. Is there any fix to this? I am running a 640x480 res on it through a composite video out on my laptop. Video looks fine on it though. So even if i cant use it for computing it would be ok, I just want the video aligned so i can watch properly.

Here is the taskbar
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v446/micrors4racer/DSC01332.jpg

The start menu, yes it really is that blurry haha.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v446/micrors4racer/DSC01333.jpg

The misaligned right side.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v446/micrors4racer/DSC01338.jpg

[Jon]

You should be able to adjust the screen settings within the video driver properties. Normally when going TV-out, you have the vertical, horizontal, etc. settings that are adjustable.

The text is going to be blurry on a regular TV regardless of what you do. The resolution is just too low to be able to keep it clear enough. You could try increasing the font size if it's unreadable.

[Evilsizer]

i know my tv can handle 800x600... try that res and see if it will work.

[ati]

Ok, I will try different drivers ot see because these drivers dont have any control panel settings or utilities. About the font size, How would i do that so all the fonts in windows it self get bigger?

[Blackstar]

The problem why the desktop screen is over the boarder is due to the TV's overscan. You need a video driver control panel that you can shut it off so you can resize it to get the desktop frame in the boarders of the tv's 'safe' viewing area.

See, video on CRT type TV's are actually displayed beyond the physical size of the tv's edge because the tube is in fact, larger. This gives the illusion of better edge definition.


If you just plan on watching video output on it, I would keep the overscan on.

Also set the refresh rate to 60 (your TV's native). Going to a higher rez than, 720x480, 640x486, or 640x480 will just make the video quality worse. The TV can't actually reproduce those resolutions and it just going to try and squish all that information into the same frame size.

As for the font size, type, etc, you may have to do some experimentation to see what looks best. ATI and nVidia both have driver control panels to adjust TV video output settings.

- Blackstar

[nvidiaOCmaster]

Ive been doing this latley too m8.Increase your font size to 96DPI and decrease your res to around 800X600. I ran my standard TV @ 1024X786 and I cant see a DAMN thing, but when I go to 800X600 I can see great.

If your trying to get an HTPC, just use clone display with your monitor and TV.

BTW, What wires are you using.

[ati]

I am using composite. The computer is a old Tecra 8100 with composite video out my problem is that it uses S3 Graphics so I am trying to find the drivers that come with the graphics control panel like our nvidia and ati's do. I am also installing windows media center on it so i will see what happens.

[ati]

Ok, Well I guess media center doesn't like my graphics card it says it isnt supported. And i cant seem to get the graphics's control panel. I do have another system here with an integrated graphics card can i just get a VGA to RCA cable then run that?

[nvidiaOCmaster]

Probably. Ive seen VGA to component, so they probably make VGA to RCA.