[EdwardianOne]

I can easily use my LCD TV as an external monitor, however, the display on the screen shows a 4:3 aspect ratio, which means that there are two bars down either side of the TV when I use it in this way. Does anyone know if there is a way to change the output on the PC so that it is displayed in widescreen on the TV? I can "stretch" the picture, but this ends up with a distorted viewing experience.

[Chris Simon]

Are you connecting it via a PC-style VGA or DVI lead, or via composite/s-video? And does your PC's graphics card allow you to set independant desktops/resolutions for each monitor or do you get the same cloned display on both monitors?

Basically, if composite/s-video, you can't get a true widescreen resolution on the TV. Some graphics cards, older NVIDIA ones it seems, allow you to do it by creating an anamorphic picture, but getting it to do this seems a black art. My brand new NVIDIA card will allow a widescreen resolution to be set on the TV output but it still gives a 4:3 picture which scrolls when you move the mouse to either side.

If you're connecting via VGA or DVI, then Windows should allow you to set a widescreen resolution (either from Display Properties or from your graphics card driver), but if you're using cloned displays then both monitors have to be the same resolution. Go into Display Properties - do you see two monitors? Highlight the one that represents the TV - is the box that says "Extend my desktop onto this monitor" ticked?

The way I've got round it for my "media" PC is that I'm using media centre software that allows you to set an aspect ratio for each video file. I set the TV to wide/16:9, so the Windows desktop is artificially stretched, but video files will play in their proper aspect ratio, i.e. in true 16:9 or 4:3 with black bars either side, without distortion.

[EdwardianOne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Simon

Are you connecting it via a PC-style VGA or DVI lead, or via composite/s-video? And does your PC's graphics card allow you to set independant desktops/resolutions for each monitor or do you get the same cloned display on both monitors?

Basically, if composite/s-video, you can't get a true widescreen resolution on the TV. Some graphics cards, older NVIDIA ones it seems, allow you to do it by creating an anamorphic picture, but getting it to do this seems a black art. My brand new NVIDIA card will allow a widescreen resolution to be set on the TV output but it still gives a 4:3 picture which scrolls when you move the mouse to either side.

If you're connecting via VGA or DVI, then Windows should allow you to set a widescreen resolution (either from Display Properties or from your graphics card driver), but if you're using cloned displays then both monitors have to be the same resolution. Go into Display Properties - do you see two monitors? Highlight the one that represents the TV - is the box that says "Extend my desktop onto this monitor" ticked?

The way I've got round it for my "media" PC is that I'm using media centre software that allows you to set an aspect ratio for each video file. I set the TV to wide/16:9, so the Windows desktop is artificially stretched, but video files will play in their proper aspect ratio, i.e. in true 16:9 or 4:3 with black bars either side, without distortion.

Thanks for this Chris, it's very helpful indeed. I'm going to need to try a few of your suggestions, and will post my findings when I've tried them out.

Thanks once again.

[Chris Simon]

Yeah - let us know exactly how you're connecting up and what Windows and your graphics card driver allows you to do, and what you're seeing in the dialog boxes.