I hooked my pc to my hdtv and all i see is my desktop

robertprince

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Aug 24, 2009
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Hello, you folks-smarter-than-me,

I have a Windows Vista 64-bit with a GeForce gs250 1 Gb graphics card. Quad processor 2.6 GHz, 8 GB RAM. I just hooked it up through one of the two DVI outputs (the other goes to my Acer 23" monitor) to my Mitsubishi rear projection 1080P HDTV. I used a DVI/HDMI adapter and a 10 foot HDMI-HDMI cable. I have a lovely picture of the desktop on my TV, but none of the windows that I can see open on the Acer show up on the TV, only the desktop. I looked at the NVidea control panel but saw nothing that seemed to be of help.

Anybody out there know what I can do to use my TV as my monitor (sometimes)? Would it help if I disconnected the Acer?

Thanks in advance for the help.
 

smokinu

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May 30, 2008
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You are going to have to look at your display prefrences and extend or have the duplicate screen on both the tv and the laptop. If you use duplicate then whatever you see happenign ont he laptop screen you will also see on the TV. If you have extended on then you may only see the desktop background on one of the screens. See if you can drag a picture or file or something from one screen to the other.

Also alot of tv's have a setting that you can set for to use it as a monitor. I think this only affects the color saturation or whatever but check that out as well.
 

scudst0rm

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Feb 17, 2008
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^agreed

You most likely have it set to extended desktop. Try moving your mouse past the right (or left) side of your acer monitor, it should pop up on the TV. Go to your nvidia control panel and set your secondary display to be "cloned"