HDMI on my TV (Solved well almost but as far as I can go)

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I have had an HD TV for a couple of years now, a Panasonic TX-32LXD80. Following the recent discussionns regarding Video in PTE I decided to buy an HDMI cable to see in my TV displayed a PTE HDMI picture better than through the VGA connection. After a couple of frustrating hours I have been unable to get my TV to display my PC screen or sound. I have read the info in (PC Display) tried various settings, read the info on the Nvidea graphics card, tried various instructions, swapped the connections on the TV from HDMI/1 to /2 & back again, swapped the TV reception to PC & back again, and nothing the TV screen remains blank. On checking the TV manual I found a section in the "how to use menu functions" set up menu 1 of 3 "PC Set Up, which is just above Tuner Programming, although in the printed manual, doesn't show on the on TV menu. I even tried up-dateing the current TV software, but I'm using the current version.

Any help gratefully received.

Yachtsman1

[nobeefstu]

Eric,

What is your pc video card make & model # ? (the full model # and not just the core model)

The only thing that comes to mind at the moment is for you to verify the HDTV video source/inputs are set to use the HDMI port on the HDTV. You should be able to set these from the HDTV menu. Since you say you cannot see the HDTV menu ... you may also need to switch/select the various display modes/video modes available from the remote control.

You will also most likely need to check/change the screen resolution (from pc display settings) that the HDTV supports.

How to Connect PC to HDMI TV eHow.com

http://www.ehow.com/how_4457043_connect-pc-hdmi-tv.html

[Ken Cox]

on my panasonic

i push input on the remote and select which hdmi is connected -- 1,2 or games port

ken

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I spent another frustrating hour last night trying to get my PC picture on the TV.

Nobeefstu, the video card is a Nvidea Ge Force220 and has the HDMI port as well as various other in/output ports. I went through the instructions for the card for connecting to an HD TV once more, and also my adustments for the display in control panel display. I also tried every combination of setting on the TV including all the aspect ratios & AV settings available. The link you left is practically identical to the Nvidea help section which I had already gone through.

I have a suspicion it is something to do with the resolution, my TV guide gives 1366x768, however, the maximumum I can raise the width to is 1280 x 1024 which is my monitor size, I can reduce it but not expand it any further. When I try to custom set this size in the Nvidea card, I get a message to the effect "this card does not support that setting". Another thought was the fact I am using 64bit, could that have a bearing?. The other possibility is the cable, which is 5 metres long, and isn't passing sound or picture.

I have now emailed the builder as the machine is still under warranty to ask if he has any idea why there is this problem.

Ken my remote has the usual buttons, the two inputs are TV & AV which open menus to select a number of options, below them are the Aspect, VIERA link, OPTION, & SD Card, then all the usual numerical keys, TText, 4 colours for on screen actions, plus a flip up section for the Panasonic DMR-EX88EB recorder which also has two HDMI connections, one for the Viera link to the TV & one other. I also have a separate remote for the recorder. The recorder manual does not mention PC connection.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1

[Ken Cox]

my tv is 37"

https://panasonic.ca/english/audiovideo/lcd/tcl32_37s1.asp

remote is

http://www.remotecontrolwarehouse.com/PANASONIC/N2QAYB000321.html

top left =power

button below right = input

my selctions are

tv

component

hdmi 1

hdmi 2

hdmi 3

video 1

video 2

pc

[Ken Cox]

my tv is 37"

https://panasonic.ca.../tcl32_37s1.asp

remote is

http://www.remotecon...QAYB000321.html

top left =power

button below right = input

my selctions are

tv

component

hdmi 1

hdmi 2

hdmi 3

video 1

video 2

pc

[nobeefstu]

Eric,

Since you seemed to have checked all the basics and still no HDMI video/sound ... Its wise to consult your tech about the issue.

* Ive checked your eariler post on your pc equipment:

Motherboard - ASRock (by ASUS), G41MH-GE socket-775. Four DDR2 DIMM slots.

Features - 1333FSB, 6 x USB2.0, Gigabit 10/100/1000 LAN port, DVi, HDMI, 7.1 audio

Graphics - Discrete graphics card, 1 Gb Nvidia Geforce GT 220 (PCI-Express x16) by XFX

I have read cases where sometimes an originally on-board graphic display is replaced with an add-in graphic card ... the pc motherboard bios/setup needs some reconfiguration where the HDMI is concerned. This may not be your case ... however a review of the motherboard bios/setup would be a good start point. Next would be to check video driver updates and motherboard bios updates to see if they specifically address any HDMI problems/issues. Hopefully your issue is some simple overlooked setting and does not go to this extreme technical route.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Thanks guys, there is no rush in finding the cure, but it would be nice to be able to use the TV picture & sound from my PC. My builder won't surface until Monday so i'll see what he has to say. When I've finished this post I will try one more action which I have picked up which entails switching off the PC & TV, disconnecting the PC monitor, switching on the TV, setting it to HDMI, then switching on the PC with the monitor disconnected. BTW the monitor is connected via the mini sub D vga socket & has no HDMI connection, so I can't test the cable that way.

I've attached a couple of screen shots from the TV manual. Pan2 show the menu with the missing PC setting at the top, however I believe this is for setting colours etc not connectability.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[cjdnzl]

Thanks guys, there is no rush in finding the cure, but it would be nice to be able to use the TV picture & sound from my PC. My builder won't surface until Monday so i'll see what he has to say. When I've finished this post I will try one more action which I have picked up which entails switching off the PC & TV, disconnecting the PC monitor, switching on the TV, setting it to HDMI, then switching on the PC with the monitor disconnected. BTW the monitor is connected via the mini sub D vga socket & has no HDMI connection, so I can't test the cable that way.

I've attached a couple of screen shots from the TV manual. Pan2 show the menu with the missing PC setting at the top, however I believe this is for setting colours etc not connectability.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

Eric,

Have you tried removing the computer monitor, or if a laptop disabling the monitor - Fn-F8 on my Dell? I run a 1920x1080 monitor on my lappy whose screen is 1680x1050 but the laptop will not deliver 1920x1080 until I disable the on-board monitor, and then it automatically switches to 1920x1080 for the external monitor. If I re-enable the laptop screen it immediately drops back to 1680x1050.

Good luck,

Colin

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Colin. Yes done that, If you read the section of my reply you attached to your reply, I tried that yesterday without success. Thanks for trying. Had to do that on my LT to get PTE 6 to run smoothly.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[Barry Beckham]

Eric.

It won't be long now I can just tell your gearing up, to swap over to making widescreen slide shows.

Would that be a New Years Resolution A wide screen resolution.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Eric.

It won't be long now I can just tell your gearing up, to swap over to making widescreen slide shows.

Would that be a New Years Resolution A wide screen resolution.

barry

I'd rather stick needles in my eyes.

Yachtsman1.

[Ken Cox]

BARRY/ERIC

you should never say never

i just hope before go beyond that Eric will see the errors of his ways and admit it and Barry does not climb all over him

i still believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny

Merry Xmas to all

ken

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I had made an appointment to visit my builder to let him run his eyes over my problem. Since my last post, I have downloaded the latest driver for the video card, verified the 5 mtr lead's integrity by substituting the lead between the recorder & & TV, which meant moving the PC across the room as the lead was only 1.5mtrs.

As I lay on my back surveying the mass of wires & sockets I realised the HDMI lead was plugged into a different HDMI board than the VGA lead, I removed it from what I assume is the mother board & plugged it into the GE FORCE GT220 & bingo, we have a picture on the TV from the PC HDMI connection.

However, the picture is too large for the TV so I still have some fiddling around with either the TV or the PC, but now I know it isn't the PC or the TV I can proceed at my leisure.

Thanks to those who tried to help.

Yachtsman1.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Well after twiddling the TV & PC res's I still can't get all the PC picture on the TV screen, it disappears top & bottom & both sides, however the exe files show at the res they were made 1024x768 or 1280x1024 with a black band either side and the picture quality is a vast improvement over the PC monitor.

Another problem, no sound through the HDMI to the TV, I've left the monitor speakers plugged in, whether it's that I'm unsure

Yachtsman1.

[Barry Beckham]

I have no expereience of HDMI and TV, but is this method similer to creating a dvd. For an exe file we normally tick the fixed size of slide option, but for a DVD you need to untick it. Try that, but you will have a black area left and right of course. You will have to live with that while your still with 4:3 or 5:4 format.

[nobeefstu]

Eric,

As I lay on my back surveying the mass of wires & sockets I realised the HDMI lead was plugged into a different HDMI board than the VGA lead, I removed it from what I assume is the mother board & plugged it into the GE FORCE GT220 & bingo, we have a picture on the TV from the PC HDMI connection.

Keep in mind that when installing/using a discrete video card (added on) ... it will disable the onboard integrated video chip/module that originally came on the pc. This will also disable the rear ouput(s) connections that relate to the onboard integrated video for display. When using a discrete video card ... you must also now start using the discrete cards own rear video ouput(s) and not the pc boards video ouput connections. You usually have no options to use both integrated and discrete video/connections for video out at the same time. Some pc board bios settings offer the user some manual configrations.

Heres two starter links from Nvidia to help you understand/sort your HDMi Audio out issue. As it states ... "Sending audio from your PC to your HDTV is not as straightforward as sending video. The method you select will likely depend on the graphics card model your PC has."

How do I setup my NVIDIA based graphics card to work with my HDTV

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2593&p_created=1270025972&p_sid=hhA1-pjk&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_srch=1&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9Niw2JnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9aGRtaSBzb3VuZA!!&p_li=&p_topview=1

After installing a new Geforce graphics card with native HDMI audio or Displayport audio, my PCs onboard audio disappears.

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2543&p_created=1267781419&p_sid=hhA1-pjk&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_srch=1&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9Niw2JnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9aGRtaSBzb3VuZA!!&p_li=&p_topview=1

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I have no expereience of HDMI and TV, but is this method similer to creating a dvd. For an exe file we normally tick the fixed size of slide option, but for a DVD you need to untick it. Try that, but you will have a black area left and right of course. You will have to live with that while your still with 4:3 or 5:4 format.

Hi Barry

No it isn't that, the picture from an exe file shows at normal size as it was made, on the TV, it's the PC screen that is bigger shown on the TV & that exceeds the TV screen size, eg the desktop top & bottom info bars off screen & right & left sides also.

I have joined the NVidia forum & posed the question on there, but haven't had a reply yet. Reading through similar posts on there, someone had to reduce the screen res' down to 800x??? before the PC pic would fit into the TV rectangle.

Eric

Yachtsman1

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Nobeefstu

Just had another look at the sound set up & copied this from the NVidia instructions "GeForce 200 series (with exception of the GeForce G210, GeForce GT220 or GeForce GT240), it will likely have an internal two-pin S/PDIF input which can connect to your PC's internal S/PDIF output through a custom internal S/PDIF cable. If the graphics card receives a S/PDIF audio signal, the graphics card will pass the audio directly through the HDMI cable to your HDTV. For information on how to connect an S/PDIF cable from your sound controller to your graphics card, please click here" My card is the GT220, so it looks as though sound through the HDMI cable is out. I also looked at the re-size desktop view option & will give it a try & report back.

Thanks again

Eric

Yachtsman1

[nobeefstu]

Eric,

You may want to check your pc board specs data sheet to see if it able to use selectable HD Audio Out or AC 97 Audio. These setting are made from my Intel pc board bios. I will try to find an attachment to show bios setting.

The Intel board also has selectable outputs to other external connections depending on how they are setup during the build. See attachment.

* You may need to download a pdf data sheet on the ASUS/ASROCK board you have

[nobeefstu]

Eric,

Heres spec data and links on your ASRock Board G41MH-GE.

I have not throughly looked the data over but check the links and read its offered FAQ info.

Links:

ASRock Products G41MH-GE

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=G41MH-GE

(Download the board manual(s) from this page from upper left)

ASRock Support FAQ

http://www.asrock.com/support/faq.asp?c=Audio

-------------

New Note:

Also, Check any data sheet on your particular GT 220 model and find out if it has the sound chip on the video card to allow for HDMI audio passthrough. Please note all GT220 models and brands may have different features avail.

From what I see the GT220 also supports

Audio Input for HDMI - HDA, SPDIF

If your is anything like this GT 240 user and his sound needs ... it may be possible to easily solve by a simple pc board bios setting and then set your default Audio control panel setting.

Turn off GeForce GT 240 onboard sound - NVIDIA Forums

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=153955

His resolve was

I solved by changing the BIOS setting of "on board audio" from "auto" to "enabled". HDMI and on-board audio will coexist.

Then select the default output device from "Audio" menu of the control panel.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Nobbefstu

Had a play around with the re-size/position desktop controls this morning, unfortunately, they have no effect (cannot be adjusted), I thought it may be because I still had the VGA lead connected to the monitor, so I disconnected it but still nothing. I'm assuming it could be because my monitor hasn't got an HDMI socket, only VGA & composite?

Re the sound, I'm assuming you are suggesting I take the HDMI source from the Asus motherboard, would that not defeat the object of having the GT220 as the source of video.

It's no hardship having no sound from the HDMI TV as I have to have the PC on to play my Exe files and can use the PC speakers, which are better quality that the TV.

You suggestions re the bios are getting beyond my understanding, so I'll take a rain check on those.

So to sum up, I can now play my exe files through the HDMI lead to the TV, although the PC desktop picture is stretched beyond the TV screen size, the Exe's are correct & within the TV screen, which is acceptable.

The sound I can live with my PC speakers, so I will call the exersise complete, which is a bit like having an old age health problem, partial recovery is all you can expect.

Thanks to those who helped, I've learned a little & can now hold my end up with some tecnical jargon in a conversation, even if I'm not sure what I'm talking about.

Yachtsman1