ECN Forum Forums Technical Discussion Re: Computers and the Internet Internet TV

I'm experimenting with internet TV and having some minor problems:

I have a laptop connected to the TV.
The video is connected with a VGA cable.
I'm getting sound with PC stereo speakers plugged into the headphone jack of the laptop. I think with the proper cord I can go from the headphone jack to the TV to use the TV sound system.

The main issue I'm having is getting full-screen video. It's about a 48" TV. I'm getting a 24" picture of the desktop on the TV, and it won't stay on full-screen on the laptop, so I'm ending up with about 16" on the TV.

Is this a Control Panel setting that would make the video larger?

You can try to increase the screen size on the PC side. (right click on a blank space on the desktop, select "properties" then "settings") You will be limited by the maximum bits your video card supports (video memory size). Pull the slider over as far to the right as it goes and give that a try.

You might also try setting the TV as the "primary" monitor, so that the laptop screen is not used. Some video cards can't push full resolution on two monitors at once.

How to do that would depend on the make of the card, and the version of the drivers installed. Those settings are in all kinds of crazy places.

Hi Dave,
What laptop are you using to do this?

Hi Mike,

I have an HP. I talked with a friend who said you can't go full-size on a TV through a laptop. Technically I suppose you could if you had the right video card. We're just using our desktop PC with a larger monitor. It works well.

How's it going with you Mike??? It's getting warmer here!