W520 DisplayPort -> HDMI Problem?

Is anyone else having issues getting this to work with their tv? I bought a cable that is male displayport to male hdmi, it works on two of the tvs in my house, but not the other two...

Any tips are appreciated

 

I doubt many have even tried that. 2 out of 4 isn't bad for starters. Are you using Optimus, NVIDIA dGPU only or what?

 

Optimus, ill try dedicated oh both sides and see what happens... I doubt it will work though. 2 out of 4 isnt good, especially when the tv i want to use it with doesnt work.

What would you do, take back the laptop? I'm kinda annoyed as part of the reason i was looking foward to this laptop was i could watch some dvds though my computer to my tv

 

If it works with 2 of them, I don't think it's a problem with the laptop. If anything, it is a problem with the other 2 TV's or the adapter not being compatible with everything.

I personally don't use TV's much even though I have a 47" LCD sitting in the living room, nor do I have any experience with DP (only seen pictures of it, haven't even seen one in real life) so I don't know what to do in this scenario. Though if I were to hazard a guess, I'd try another adapter.

 

No, still does not work Tried Optimus ,decided nvidia, decided intel

 

So apparently displayport runs at a lower voltage then HDMI and i need an "active" displayport to dvi adapter, then a dvi to hdmi adapter, then an hdmi cable. All this is going to cost over 100 easily

Apparently some tv's are picky about the voltage, even if its a slight differrence :-/

Edit: When I originally looked into the W520, it said it had an HDMI port according to the side photos. Only after ordering i noticed it was a DisplayPort and did not think anything of it (hey, ill just buy an adapter). Now im pissed off :-/ Will i have to pay for a restocking fee if i choose to return this thing?

 

Considering Lenovo erroneously published the picture with HDMI listed for the W520, I think you have a good case for a return if it's important to you.

 

Right It's a nice laptop, but I'm highly disappointed in the fact i cant integrate it with my primary TV easily. I really was thrown off by that misleading picture they had (kinda my fault for not looking deep into it). Im still wondering if its a bad cable or if i really need an active adapter to keep the voltages up between the two ports.

 

It's the weekend. I would probably try some cables (purchased where you can return them easily if needed). Decide on Monday.

 

As an update, I looked around further. I am going to try this:

HDTV connected to computer not receiving any signal - The Something Awful Forums

If you look at Alereons' post, he recommends to buy an active DisplayPort-> DVI, then DVI->HDMI. Someone on the forum already verified it worked for them. This costs $30, but this should be worth it as I have no problems with the ThinkPad otherwise.

 

I can confirm this doesn't work I now have video but no sound

Yes, I did change audio out to the tv, not the speakers or headphones. How are people doing this?

 

Is this new solution working with the same two TVs that worked before?

Don

 

Nope. Old solution works with the 2 TV's still, new solution has video on all TV's, but no sound. The video looks better with the new solution, as well. Its not all bad, I can just use headphones with the laptop while its on the tv, but still disappointing. I know this isn't Lenovo's problem, but still I'm not too happy

 

At least you've gained some consistency for your time and money. Are you setting the audio out within Windows 7? It's a long shot, I suppose, but perhaps the Fn + F6 functionality might provide better results:

Lenovo Support - ThinkVantage Communications Utility for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), XP - ThinkPad

Don

 

No luck. Tried installing the latest nvidia drivers on their site, the latest audio drivers, and what you suggested. I'm guessing you cant do sound from displayport -> dvi -> hdmi

 

Audio is lost when the signal swaps to DVI as that standard doesn't carry audio.

 

Great. So now i have two cables, Displayport -> HDMI and DisplayPort -> DVI -> HDMI, both dont work. I was under the assumption DVI supported audio

Digital Visual Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (take a look at the audio section).

So this means i have to buy another TV? I mean seriously, there has to be a solution here

 

The audio portion is very specific to special video cards and passing between dvi and hdmi, not dp and dvi. I only tried with 1 TV so far and my dp to hdmi cable worked. Ill try a friends TV this week.

 

Ah well. Can you link what you bought? I bought this:

Amazon.com: High Quality Black DisplayPort Male to HDMI Cable Male - 6 Feet / 2M: Electronics

The fact that it works on 2 TV's means it is a good cable, I think? I heard some older TV's (mine is 2+ years old) have difficultly with displayport -> hdmi

 

https://www.insight.com/search/ppp.web?materialId=54182-CTGO

 

So now im wondering if its a poor cable, or its really because the TV is picky Can anyone wager a guess?

 

Can you provide us with the brand/models of all four tvs and specify which are working and which aren't? You do have another costly option, get a widi streaming device. The w520 supports widi