TV better than my current monitor?

[lowcountrysmoke]

Hey guys. Ever since my last build I have had to use my sweet Gateway2000 vivtron monitor from the 90's. It actually has been better then i thought, although the screen is tiny. I am currently able to get 1024x768 resolution which kinda blows. I still don't have the funds for a nice "real" gaming monitor, but I do have this toshiba 22'' 720p hdmi tv laying around. Would using tv with hdmi be an upgrade from my vga 90's monitor? Now i know this is only 720p so i wouldnt expect great resolution but how would it compare to my current monitor? The screen size would be soo much better. Thanks

 

[clarkjd]

Your TV should be able to display 1280x720, so that would be a wider picture than your 1024x786 monitor. Now, the individual pixels might be larger on the TV, so it might not appear as sharp as your monitor, but I would go ahead and use the TV for gaming..

You didn't mention what graphics card you are using, but unless it is really low-powered it should be able to handle 1280x720.

Good Luck!




Edited for typo

 

[lowcountrysmoke]

I use a msi 7870 which is way more than enough

 

[clarkjd]

I use a msi 7870 which is way more than enough

That should handle anything up to 1080P on high or ultra settings. You should be good to go.

 

[lowcountrysmoke]

Ok, so I hooked up my tv with the hdmi and i am having problems getting my pc to display in normal boot. I am currently in safe mode typing this and whenever i try to boot up normally the tv just remains black. If i shut it all off and restart computer i get the flash screen and then can either f8 into safe mode or it reamins black after that. Even if i try to get into bios during flash screen it beeps then wont display bios. I re-installed my graphics card drivers just to make sure and same thing happens. What could be wrong? It seems to me that it is a driver problem or there is a vga option still locked on my computer but idk. I looked through bios using my old vga monitor and everything looks right. Im completely lost...can anyone help me?

*note: I did disable my gpu driver in device manager and enabled my onboard cpu graphics and was able to boot up just fine. Only when i disable onboard and enable my gpu does the screen not display...

 

[clarkjd]

You do have the TV connected to the graphics card and not the motherboard? Also you have selected the correct video input on the TV?

 

[lowcountrysmoke]

Yes, it is plugged into my graphics card and i have input set to hdmi and even scrolled through the others just to make sure. The thing is, it works in safe mode and works with onboard graphics..so it's nothing with the settings.

 

[lowcountrysmoke]

Would disabling the multi monitor display in the bios do anything??

 

[Paperdoc]

I've noticed that, as a new system starts up at first, one of the "devices" it detects and wants a driver for is the display device. In this case that's your TV. Especially with the good GPU you have, it may be trying to figure that out and find a driver for it, and failing.

Since you can get it to work in Safe Mode with the TV connected to your GPU, use that set-up. Go into Start ... Control Panel ... System, choose the Hardware tab and the Device Manager box. Look for Monitors and I suspect you will find a Caution note there. OR you may just find a caution note that there is an unidentified device in the system. Somehow you need to install in Windows a generic device driver for a Monitor fed from an HDMI signal at the 1280x720p resolution. I suspect one thing the system really wants to know is the max this display device can tolerate - H and V resolutions, P or I, refresh rate mainly - so the GPU does not allow you to try something impossible.