HDMI cable for laptop to TV connection - picture problem - Acer

GNJ336

December 14, 2011 6:27:33 PM

Hi,

I've got an Acer Aspire 5738G laptop and a Sony EX3 32 TV. I recently bought a HDMI cable on Amazon in order to watch DVD's etc played on my laptop on the TV. As you can see from this link, it's got a lot of good reviews: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001R660DM

I find that the picture and sound quality I get is generally great, but every so often the picture changes into a sort of sepia mode, except rather than being in black and white, there are a lot of pink and yellow tones. Sometimes the normal picture cuts back in after a few seconds but most of the time it doesn't and I either have to (a) disconnect and reconnect the HDMI cable or (b) change channel to a different HDMI port on the TV and then return to the original channel to correct the problem. I switched from using the HDMI port on the side of the TV to one at the back, which seems to have improved things slightly, but the problem still remains.

Is there anything I can do about this, or is it a fault with the cable?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

P.S. Sorry if this thread is in the wrong category, but there wasn't a suitable sub-category under Graphics & Displays and it wouldn't let me submit this without selecting a sub-category.

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teleman56

December 14, 2011 7:49:48 PM

It sounds more like you have other operations going on in the laptop that may be taking away from it's ability to send over the HDMI.

- Make sure you have the latest drivers for the HDMI
- Make sure you have the latest video drivers
- Turn off Superfetch
- Turn off Indexing

Also, if you have a DVD player, make sure it isn't the movie disc itself, especially if a rental, as there can be issues with them, as I have experienced.

Another item would be to borrow a HDMI cable to see if that helps (at least that would rule out the cable as the issue).

Good luck and let us know.

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GNJ336

December 14, 2011 8:37:16 PM

Thanks for the quick reply.

How do I find out whether I've got the latest drivers? What are Superfetch and Indexing?

The DVD I'm watching is The Pacific and I've had the same problem with two separate discs now. I bought the box set, rather than rented it, and am watching it for the first time. As you suggest, I'll try to find someone with an HDMI cable to rule the cable out as the cause of the problem.

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teleman56

December 14, 2011 9:11:54 PM

Do you happen to have an other DVDs you can try? Video play can be a pain to isolate at times, so I am throwing a multitude of potential issues that can/could be a cause.

Also minimize the use of other running programs, as that can impact things as well.

As far as the latest drivers, if you have Nvidia, goto thier site, www.nvidia.com . If ATI, goto www.AMD.com and search for the model of vidio your system is using. As for the HDMI, that should be available on the www.acer.com site via their support section for your model laptop.

To disable Superfetch:

- Open Control Panel>Administration Tools>Services
- Scroll down to Superfetch and highlight it
- Right click on it and select Properties
- Click the Stop button
- Then, just above that you will see a line that says Startup Type. Change the setting to disabled.

To disable Indexing:

- Open Control Panel>Indexing Options
- Select Modify
- Go through the lists of folders and uncheck them (yes, it's a convoluted process).

Hopefully this will help

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GNJ336

December 14, 2011 9:25:58 PM

Thanks very much for the advice, teleman. Looks like I've got some work to do! I'll try your suggestions out over the next few days and post the results on here.

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GNJ336

February 22, 2012 9:42:22 PM

Hi teleman,

Just realised that I never did get round to posting my results on here!

I tried other DVD's but still had the same problem, so I installed the latest drivers at www.amd.com and disabled superfetch and indexing. Since I did that, the picture hasn't lost its colour once. The only (minor) problem now is that the sound occasionally dips in volume for 5-10 seconds before returning to normal!

Thanks very much for your advice - I can now watch DVD's on the TV via my laptop without having to disconnect and reconnect the HDMI cable every few minutes!

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