Can a low resolution HD-DVD laptop run HD-DVD at 1080p?

If your laptop and TV have HDMI it should look great.

I don't think the max resolution of the laptop matters for output because it should refer to the screen. Thus, if the laptop can play HD-DVDs it should be able to output them at 1080p. As for whether the laptop can play the HD-DVDs, if it is a preconfigured laptop (from dell, toshiba, etc.) and comes with an HD-DVD drive, it SHOULD be able to properly play them (and therefore output them at 1080p). Finally, just for specs, to play HD-DVDs you need a dual core processor (usually something like a core 2 duo, though not necessarily the top of the line one) and a good video card (I'm not sure about models for laptop video cards so I can't be more specific here). Good luck.

Core 2 Duo 1.5 Ghz and 8600M GT. I think it should be good enough. Now for some reason when I put my TV at 1280 x 720, the whole screen doesn't fit perfectly, so I go to some option that says adjust screen and size, but it isn't there(help says it should be there). So I try to download nVIDIA's new driver, but it doesn't let oyu download it for most laptops, only from the laptop company itself. I go to acer's download section and the driver they offer from nvidia is the same one I already have, so I don't knwo what to do.

I don't know if you have the setting or know this, but 720p is actually 1366 x 720 which is why 1280 x 720 won't fit. SO if you can get your laptop to output at that resolution you should be ok. If not, you will need new drivers and I don't know how to help you with that.

The 1280 x 800 should be the max your laptop screen can display and NOT your graphics card. If you hook your laptop to a monitor with a higher resolution limit, then your graphics card on the laptop should display up to either its own limit or the monitors limit.

Remember, 1080p resolution is 1920 x 1080. So when you hook up your laptop to your big screen (assuming it is truly 1080p), first thing you should do is change your screen resolution to that. Else, it will either stretch the screen or give you the black box ring.

By definition 720p is 1280x720 and 1080P 1920x1080. These are HDTV braodcast standards and define the format of the broadcast frame.

Computer display standards are different an do not map to the broadcast standards. See http://www.millertech.com/specs/computer_display_standa... for the definitions. Note the wxga is 1366x768.

You are most likely sending a 1368x768 frame to a 1280x720 display and the display is not able to display the extra data. If you can change your tv to the same resolution as your card or to have the display downscale id should display all the information. If that is not possible then you need to select a resolution on your display card that is in the window of the display (if you cannot find the 720 driver).

Somewhat related question....

When a 640x480 video file is played full screen (1024x768- my native), the pixels are very visible.

My question is, if I play a 1080p video clip and fit it to my screen resolution, what happens to the picture quality? Does it lose sharpness and detail?

Yes