Intel 4500 on Sony 1080p HDTV, how to get full screen?

I've connected my HP DM3 through HDMI to my Sony 1080p TV.

The image is too small, there are black borders around the image. I've used scaling to stretch the image but that doesn't look good.

What do I do?

 

Try change the refresh rate in Windows to 59Hz, though that was probably just lucky for me.

Also, do you have another PC with HDMI that doesn't experience the same issue? If not, then check menu options in your TV for 1:1 pixel output.

 

Thanks for the tip. 59Hz didn't change it. Nor did 24, 25 or 60.

Can't find any setting on the TV.

 

How about making a custom resolution? I thought if a Bluray player gets displayed full screen, why wouldn't a PC?

If I know how to set the right values maybe it would be fixed?

 

What's the max resolution you're currently getting on the TV?

 

1920*1080.

So far every custom resolution seems to be refused.

 

looks like a driver problem.. try uninstalling ur drivers and reinstall it...

 

Yes you were right Sean. I did a clean install and reinstalled the latest driver. Now it's running full screen.

Strange thing is that the image still doesn't look crisp.

 

Well, the display uses every single pixel for text and minor details, so it won't look crisp until you're a proper distance away from the screen. Also, how does the 4500HD hold up playing 1080p movies?

 

It's fine. Generally only depends on your CPU for decoding video. However, if you're using DXVA, it is also fine (though you must use the Microsoft DXVA decoder from Windows 7).

 

Actually it looks crisper when I move closer.

Movies look excellent. Intel 4500 plays everything smooth (mkv, H264, wmv etc), except the heaviest Youtube 1080.

Because I wasn't completely satisfied with the crispness of text I went to my local TV shop. I connected my laptop to another Sony, Samsung and a Samsung LED TV. None of them delivered the same crisp letters as a good monitor does. I was quite surprised.

 

Phil, try connect via VGA. On some TVs it can scale better than HDMI.

 

Yes I was dying to do that... but in a 'blind' move I gave away all my VGA cables.

I thought I would never need them again

Will try to get one.

 

On my TV, HDMI has a sharpness setting, but I could never find the middle position.
For VGA, it just magically scales perfectly (though there is some flickering/interference compared to HDMI which is of course perfectly clean and VGA seems to have a kind of green tinge :/).

First, I got a HDMI cable, but it didn't fit properly (overscan - though I figured it out a couple of months later), so I got a cheap VGA cable which had some flickering horizontal lines, and then I got a better VGA cable, which seems the same in terms of level of interference, though I have my TV and laptop (both grounded) hooked up to power points on opposite sides of the house which has produced less interference.

/rant

wait, it was a rant?

 

I will try a VGA cable. Last time on my previous TV I used a so called professional cable. It was very thick and shielded. The image wasn't that sharp.

Later on a tried a very cheap and thin HP VGA cable that came with a monitor. It gave a much better image.

 

The black borders are caused by overscan I'm pretty sure...there should be settings on your TV to correct them. Does analog connections now have overscan!?

 

Me? My VGA input is pixel for pixel (I checked in Microsoft Paint by scribbling a bit with the black single pixel thick 'pencil' - if it's off, the lines turn a little bit grey).

My TV is a cheap one which doesn't have any settings for changing the position of the image for HDMI input, only VGA unfortunately.

I think I've got a white HP VGA cable from my friends P4 lying around somewhere.

 

Just found out that I still had the cheap HP VGA cable.

The letters do look crisper than with HDMI. It's not perfect but noticeably more readable from larger distance.

I expect a better video card would deliver even better pq through VGA.