I've bought a brand new TV (Celcus 22" Full HD 1080p slim LED) from Sainsbury's and have decided to link it to my old Advent netbook 4213 to watch iPlayer and Sky Go etc. It's linked via VGA to VGA.

But I've got two problems...

The first is that although I can see my laptop background on both screens, if I open up a google page for instance it'll only show on my laptop and not on the TV...that is until I drag the page over to the telly screen. It's effectively become a dual screen.

The other problem is that the screen on the telly has rotated 90 degrees for some reason, whereas the laptop is the correct angle.

Other than that when I dragged the google page over to the TV screen and played a Sky Go channel the picture quality was perfect...just need to stand on my head to see it!!

So any advice (and please don't make it too technical) would be greatly appreciated.

what operating system are you using

It's Windows XP.

After a little bit of trial and error I've sussed it. Great pic too!

Get a modern pc with Hdmi. Vga isn't modern and isn't plug n play. With my Toshiba and current model Sony laptop u simply plug the Hdmi in and your pc screen is instantly duplicated on the tv - complete with audio.
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Hardly cost effective - buying a new PC when all you need is a VGA lead and an audio lead.

VGA is just as good a picture as HDMI - although what resolutions it supports depend on both your TV and computer.

In some cases VGA won't support 1080 resolution, where HDMI will.

Actually I have one problem which may have been covered in the last couple of posts.

The issue is that there's a black bar at the top and bottom of the picture on the TV. I've seen mentions of the Catalyst Control Center on various other sites, but it's something I can't find on my netbook.

Is the problem because my netbook's a few years old? I've tried changing the resolution just to see if it helped but it's not.

So is there something I could do?

Everything else works perfectly.

A netbook probably isn't a good choice, it's more a 'toy' than a computer, and unlikely to have the required options.

You might check settings on your TV though?, you might be able to alter the aspect ratio to make it fit - on an old Bush/Vestel I used for a while as a test TV you could press a button and it automatically adjusted to the incoming VGA signal, it worked really well.

If you've got the option of HDMI?, that might be better as well - but I presume the Netbook doesn't have it?.

The netbook is a few years old so had my doubts.

If I can change the aspect ration on the telly still haven't found what to do but will have another look.

Not sure about the HDMI either so will have a look at that, too.

Cheers

I think there's an overscan option in the catalyst software (not sure if it applies to VGA connections though) otherwise try changing the PC resolution to match your TV's if the netbook allows.Also don't have dual screen working (netbook and TV) - find the way to make just the TV work, usually by pressing a FN (function) key with another key on the netbook.

Isn't Catalyst software specific to one video card manufacturer only?.

Yes ATI, or AMD depending on what they are calling themselves these days

http://www.amd.com/uk/products/techn.../catalyst.aspx

Quite correct and I misread the OP where he said he'd read about catalyst software but can't find it on his netbook. (No doubt due to the fact his netbook doesn't have an AMD/Ati graphics card!)

Most netbooks will have an intel graphics chip I guess and that means limited graphics options in the software.

Since I last posted I bought a Toshiba laptop. Certainly not a top quality one but better spec than my old netbook. Can't remember the specifics of the new laptop but that's not necessarily key to my next question.

I've linked the laptop up to the TV with HDMI and adjusted resolution and refresh rates, but while watching on Sky Go I can see the picture judder slightly from time to time.

I've tried everything I can think of with my very limited knowledge but it's not really improving matters. My computer doesn't let me enable GPU acceleration on the Sky Go optimisation tool.

I've had a look at the graphics info for my machine and it seems a very basic Intel(r) HD Graphics. So would a better card solve any of my problems?

You may struggle to change the graphics set-up on the laptop. It might not be a separate card but a chipset integrated onto the motherboard so unchangeable (unless you change the motherboard in it's entirety obviously).

What video settings are you using? ie resolution and frame rate? It might be the telly struggling to cope with the signal it's getting. Though in theory HDMI should negotiate all of that.

When I switch to the HDMI source is says the recommended resolution is 1920 x 1080p, but that seems to oversize the view of the desktop and Sky Go screen on my TV. So I've dropped it down to 1366 x 768 and that fits nicely. I've also changed the refresh and it's now 50hz.

It's just annoying because if there's a long shot the picture looks clean and crisp. But when it pans or there's a close-up there's a considerable difference.

What is the native resolution of the display panel of the TV? That is probably the best resolution to use. That way the TV isn't doing any processing to resize the images to fit the screen.

Your OP says it's Full HD which implies 1920x1080 1366x768 would suggest HD Ready.It may make no difference at all of course but generally it is better to match resolution of the video signal to the resolution of the display.

Erm not sure how I find native resolution? Is that likely to be 1920 x 1080?

It says so in your first post - Full HD 1080P.

Check the settings on your TV, there may be some specific ones for using it with a PC.

It should be given in the specifications. For example

http://celcustv.co.uk/products/LED22167FHD

In the "Tech Specs" it's listed as Screen Resolution, in this case 1920x1080. Not sure if that is the telly you've got?

His first post said it's 'Full HD' which guarantees it's 1920x1080.

Post 17

Yes that's the telly I've got and when I check properties to adjust resolution it says 1920 x 1080 is the recommended size. I have been using that but still get juddering when the camera pans or there's a close-up for example.

The problem is when I use that resolution the taskbar at the bottom of the screen is barely visible.

Actually change that about the taskbar because I've just changed it back to 1920 and it hasn't made the taskbar disappear like it had the past couple of days. Still get the stutter and judder on pictures, though.

I've now got the settings on 1920 x 1080 and 60p and the picture is probably better with less judders. Some of it might be my mind thinking the picture's juddering but I still get the impression it's happening, although to a lesser extent.