Laptop VGA output limitations XPS M1210?

Recently purchased a 1080p LCD TV, tried to output 1080p from the VGA port on the M1210. No dice, it only goes to 1600x1200.

I tried power strip ect... no luck, saw something refering to a lock. Thought maybe it was the LCD monitor driver. I then tried my desktop PC with lower end card, and voila I was able to get 1080p. Why can't I output this rez with my laptop?

 

Anyone else try this?

 

Are you extending your desktop to your tv or are you disabling your laptops display all together and only using the tv.

 

u need to provide more details. all you said is that "it doesn't work"

 

on the inspirons, the VGA output is limited to 1280x1024. just a note.

 

Not extending the laptop screen, using it as either primary or secondary. Tried outputting 1080p and the lcd shows 1600x1200. In the case that I've seen 1080 it doesn't display properly.

Was able to do this with my desktop PC with a lower spec card. I couldn't find any documentation on resolution output limit.

Also noticed with powerstrip that the monitor is "limited" to 1600x1200. Wonder why it does this with my laptop but not with the desktop PC.

 

I have the same problem, and it's extremely annoying.

 

First off, most monitors I've seen (TVs) if you read the book, they'll say max 1600X1200 despite it being a 1080p/i monitor. Is this true? No. Are they douchebags for doing this? yes.. Are they doing this because pirated material is easily obtained onto a computer (opposed to burning to disc) and the MPAA has their hand in everybody's pocket? yes...

Anyways my monitor, a 1080p monitor told my laptop (when hooking it up) that all it supported was 1600X1200. These monitors are vesa compatible and send a signal to the machine that it's all this display supports even if it's a downright lie. (which is was and you'll see how it was as you read)

Anyways Windows/Video drivers by default follow the DDC information. So in order to use a custom resolution you need to (from what I know and yes I would like to know an alternative) create a custom video driver for the TV by using power strip. When I was customizing the driver I told it to say that the monitor supported 1920X1200 even though it wasn't true, that way I'd be guaranteed 1920X1080. (And in this specific case it worked, results can vary and if doing this doesn't work then you should, in the driver, specify the desired resolution. However I choose slightly above it to rule out any weird variations of 1920X1080 not being supported or some other nonsense..)

I loaded the video driver just so that there was even an OPTION to use above 1600X1200 in windows. (FYI attempting to use custom resolutions in powerstrip or anything else past what the display driver/Windows thinks is max screen resolution will result in nothing happening)

I then right clicked on the power strip icon on the task bar --> hovered over to display profiles --> selected configure --> a window pops up --> I select the monitor via the up/down arrows/scroll bar (it's in its own box, will have name of video card), --> made sure it was at 60hz, selected the desired screen resolution which is 1920X1080 --> hit apply.

Note: the monitor should already be attached to the machine, keep an eye on the screen, you may or may not get picture at this point, if you do, great, but if you don't, there are still things to change anyways. Even if you do get picture, it's likely that the following settings will need to be adjusted because it'll look screwed up anyways. Oh and BTW, this next step may seem redundant but in my experience it wasn't.

So I --> selected "Advanced timings" --> "Custom Resolutions" --> 1920X1080p 60hz (make sure you selected the right one, they're all very similar) --> "Add new resolution" --> close --> make sure realtime adjustment is ticked --> checked to make sure that "active pixels" under "horizontal geometry" is at 1920 and the "active pixels" under "vertical geometry" is at 1080 --> I then under "horizontal geometry" adjusted the scan rate above and below its initial value until I got a picture. I did find however that the vertical scan rate was directly proprotional to the horizontal scan rate, something to keep in mind. Once I got a picture by adjusting the horizontal scan rate, I had nothing else I needed to do from then on except hit ok and then I saved the profile.

Also I thought I should let you know that I did get a picture before when I was fiddling with the video driver alone (no real advanced timings thing) and while I was able to get picture, it wasn't in wide screen and I saw video corruption at the bottom of the picture.

Another thing to keep in mind (in the event the above doesn't work for what ever reasons) I was using an ATI mobility radeon with omega drivers, under the driver properties --> displays --> monitor --> then attributes --> I DID happen to deselect "Use DDC Information". Though I believe that these had little to no effect on the outcome of getting the display to work. Also I did try "force 720p/force 1080i mode" under "troubleshoot" which is also under the monitors tab which is under displays in the graphic driver's properties but this resulted in other weird display anomolies and with it not helping anything I left them unchecked.


I hope this helps.

Oh and in case you're wondering, the only reason why I'm posting this is because I just did this earlier today and when I was searching for help on this issue, I stumbled upon this thread. When I finally figured it all out, I still had this page open and so I felt obligated to post a response in hope that others who stumbled upon this like I did would have a better chance at success.

Btw I was using VGA out, not DVI out, I have no idea if my results would have differed or not.

 

Are you kidding? You can't hook up a 19" LCD with 1440x900 to an 1520?

 

i have an inspiron 1720

and its currently connected to my hdtv via vga , my tv can only run 1024x768 in vga , but can run 480p,720p, 1080i hd modes , i used to have an xbox 360 running in 1080i via the component, and it worked perfect, i also have a wii connected in component at the moment running in the 480p

so can i connect my inspiron and run windows in 1080i on my big screen ?


i found this via google on an insiron 1720 review ..

Many of connections as well and with the dongle which you can order from dell you can connect to a surround sound receiver for 5.1 sound as well as up to 1080i through the component dongle. The only thing this laptop is longer for is a Dvi or an HDMI port so it could act as a full HD Blu-ray player for your tv.



is that component dongle what i need and anyone know the official dell name/part ? as i cant find it

 

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&sku=310-8272



is it this ??? im in the uk , can anyone find it on dell uk ? dell.com doesnt say international shipping on thye checkout ???

 

You cannot upscale to 1080p with that machine.

 

well if you had read it properly, youd of read that i want to put it in 1080i ,not P, and there are people saying they have done it.

 

vga does not upscale to 1080i either

 

Bah, that's not true of the 1720... I'm typing this on a 50" plasma hooked up to my new Inspiron via VGA, with resolution settings (256Mb nVidia 8600M GT) at 1366x768@60Hz, the panel's native res.

I didn't even have to fiddle with any adjustments. Plugged it in and the nVidia drivers and my panel took care of everything else, auto-sync'd right up.

I'm using my 1720 to play HD DVD's (360 add-on drive) and Blu-Ray's (internal drive) and they look excellent. If I had a 1080p panel, I'm sure the card would output to 1920x1080@60Hz. Now I just have to save up for that new HDTV...

 

what is it with you man ?? do you not ever read anything ?

i have already got it in vga, and asked about the component dongle to make it 1080i

 

- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

 

I can get up to 1600 x 1200 with my vga output, which sucks because I have a 42" 1080p LCD HDTV.

 

Whats the maximum resolution i can get out of the xps m1330 conected to an external monitor on vga?

 

How do you tell powerstrip to allow the monitor to accept higher resolutions? I can't find where these settings can be changed. From 1600x1200 to 1920x1200?

Mike

 

Figured how to adjust the monitor driver to accept a higher res. Set it to 1920x1200. Still no dice. The set doesn't want to recognize the 1080p output. Wonder why it works with the Desktop PC, but not my laptop.

 

I've had the same problem from the start. The Gforce card will not output any wide screen format. I've spent almost 5 hours on the phone with dell over 3 calls with no solution. What kills me is you can't even output the native screen rez that is widescreen. There are also output formats that exceed the 1920X1200.
I have tried this on 3 HDTV's and 2 monitors. If the screen supports 1280X1024 or 1280X768 if will display a image but rectangle on a wide screen. I've also updated drivers and all that to no avail. I was hoping to replace my desktop with the M1210 but I need it to work on my 24" dell screen.
I thought about getting a M1330 just for this reason. I assume the HDMI can do the widescreen rez's but it still has a crappy Gforce card so I'm not even considering it until I see it in action.
I also have a 3+ year old Dell 6500 with a 64meg ATI 300 card and it outputs to all the 3 TV's and 2 monitors with no problem at their native resolution.
I know I don't have a answer but I thought I would share my experience and would love it if some one could find a answer.