When the HDMI cable is in, problem

I'm really enjoying my new Envy 3D, very happy with the product. Just waiting (and waiting) for a bios upgrade to use WIDI, and then I'll be happy completely.

I bought the HP TV Wireless connect, which I am also very happy with, worked instantly, no problems at all, and I'll use the HDMI adaptor until the WIDI is enabled... *cough*

The only thing I have an issue with is the picture quality going to the TV... or so I thought it was just the TV. The quality, even in HD, is great. Apart from watching moving scenes, indeed anything that's not a steady camera shot... which is about 95%.....!

First I thought it was the HP Connect, then I thought it was my TV, then I thought of trying an HDMI cable direct to TV. But what I am discovering is that the picture is also bad on the laptop screen (ie whenever any HDMI product is plugged in; wireless adaptor or cable).

The picture, even on the laptop, looks like it has a horizontal issue, with the picture "slicing up" in places... it's not really really bad, but it's really not good enough either and distracts you from a good viewing experience.

But here's the thing. At first I saw it on the TV, but now I realised it's also on the laptop screen whenever the HDMI 'out' is being used (because when you plug in the HDMI it changes the setup)... when I remove the cable/adaptor, the Windows desktop goes bac to your settings (I am assuming 1080p, res. etc) and the problem disappears... plug anything back into the HDMI, and back it comes, 9/10 times it seems, sometimes the horizontal "splitting" in the picture is worse than other times.

I've played a lot with the Catalyst Control Center, sometimes I think I have cracked it, sometimes it comes back, so obviously not. To be honest I am not sure what settings to try, or in combination with other settings. HP thinks its a frame rate issue but I fear they never understood my issue.

Any ideas? I tried the very latest CCC update too. And it also happens with "any" format of video/sd or hd (it seems).

Cheers :hi2:

 

Perhaps it's changing the resolution being sent to the HDMI port. Or you're in mirror mode with dual monitor setup. Try hitting Fn+F4 or set to external only when plugged in to HDMI.

I have my notebook configured so that when HDMI is plugged in, the notebook display is disabled. Also closing the lid when plugged in will disable to notebook screen and only output to HDMI. But you have to change the settings in power management options to do nothing when lid is closed. This setting will simply turn the screen off when lid is closed and output to external if external detected. Then with only the the external active, you can adjust the resolution to match the resolution of the TV which would most likely be 1920 x 1080.

 

Great... seems your advice did the trick. Can't believe I never thought of all this, just getting too muddled up with all the other options.

One other q... how do you configure your notebook to disable display when inserting HDMI cable?

Cheers

 

Not sure exactly how it would be done with an ATI GPU since I only have Nvidia and Intel. But with the control software for either of those, you would set the external to monitor 1(Main display) and then default to monitor 1. After which you would uncheck monitor 2(LCD display).

If you can't do that, the next best thing is to do the lid close trick. It should always hold the resolution setting for the external TV.