HDMI problem with CW27FX

I just got this laptop from BB. I pretty much wiped all the bloatware off of the computer. It's been years since I've seen this much garbage on a new system. This computer ran slower than a five-year-old Dell when I took it out of the box.

Anyways, when I try to stream a video (say, from Hulu) and watch it fullscreen over HDMI to my HDTV -- everything is fine -- until I close the lid, then the video starts stuttering pretty badly. I've changed the performance settings in three places so that closing the lid should have no effect: power management, advanced power management (the tree structure), and the device manager. I'm not sure if it's the processor slowing down or the Wi-Fi - but I've got the settings tuned to performance for both. It seems like when I close the lid, there's still a performance hit going on somewhere.

This laptop sounded like a great deal hardware-wise, but it has some issues... I think the integration with the i5 was rushed; the thing is a massive battery hog even surfing the web, and the amount of power management settings are confusing and conflicting.

Thanks,
G

 

I have an update to this issue -- I've narrowed it down to my wireless going extremely slow once I close the lid. This is even with all the proper performance options set. (At least that I can find)

Unfortunately, it appears that you have to fully close the lid to get true 1080P over HDMI.

Anyone else's wireless go slow once you close the lid? It's easy to see by going to speedtest.net.

Thanks

 

Nope, can't say my wireless slows down. I still get my full 10mb/s speed with lid closed. But the stuttering, I believe is a driver issue, as I also experience it, and cannot get rid of it. I just press the "Display Off" button and leave the lid open.

 

Well, from my tests, the stuttering is actually caused by a lagging wireless connection once the lid is fully closed. I can also leave the lid open and turn the display off, but you don't get true 1080P over HDMI that way. It doesn't switch to true 1080P until the lid is completely closed. While the lid is open, it actually upconverts from the native lcd resolution to 1080P -- not quite the same thing.

I consider this a major driver issue.

Thanks,
GR

 

Do you disable the built-in LCD and just use HDMI out? I haven't tried that yet. But my tv is a Samsung Plasma with a 720p panel, so I can't really help with 1080p, although it shouldn't be any different in theory.

 

I have a feeling this is a problem with any external display that has a resolution different from the resolution of the native lcd. Unless the lid is completely closed, then its actually upconverting or downconverting to the resolution of the external monitor. This translates to a slight loss in quality and makes text a bit harder to read. Most people won't notice or care, but since I do HD video editing, it's a bit of a pain that I can't display at true 1080P and also have full wireless connectivity.

Thanks,
GR

 

I think I've confirmed what you just said also! I use an external monitor via VGA cable, and I run it at it's native resolution. I've never noticed it until just now when I've tried to play a video on that display. It's set to 1280x1024 and stutters when playing back video... of any kind might I add. I'm looking into modding some nVidia drivers of a much later version than the one Sony provides us... I'll keep you posted on my progress..

 

Well, we might be talking about two different issues. It depends if you streamed the video or ran it locally.

I can run a high bit-rate video (25 mb/s) locally, with the lid closed, without issue. It's only when I bring the wifi into the issue and try to stream the video that I begin to have problems. Heck, I can tell the wireless is slower with the lid closed just by surfing the web.

I can now confirm this issue happens with an external monitor as well as my HDTV, so I'm pretty sure it happens with any external monitor once you close the lid -- which you have to do to truly put out the native resolution of your external monitor/HDTV, not just some upconverted or downconverted version of it. Without closing the lid, the loss of clarity on my external monitor was even worse than on my HDTV - definitely discernible.

I'm about ready to contact Sony on this one...it's a bit of a deal-breaker for me, since I really wanted to use this laptop's HDMI with external displays.

Thanks,
GR

 

I have done a complete reinstall of Windows 7 as per the CW clean install thread and I can verify that the problem of slow wifi with closed lid still exists. I'm confident that many other users on this board have this problem, they just haven't ran across it yet...

Thanks,
GR

 

Okay, this isn't just a needy bump...I have some info that my help some people...

I spoke with Sony today, and they said that

1. The wireless card goes into power savings mode when you close the lid, regardless of performance settings. So, don't be closing the lid if you plan to do a large download.

2. Use FN + F7 and choose "Projector Only" and you can COMPLETELY turn off the laptop display and connect to an external monitor at native resolution. Using this method, you can keep the lid open and still retain full wifi speeds. Note that this is different from simply pressing the "Display Off" button.

3. Wifi speeds also start to deteriorate when the lid is partially closed. This may have to do with antenna placement. Moral of the story -- if you need full wifi speeds, keep the lid around 90 degrees open.

Not a perfect solution, but a decent enough work-around. Now, I need to tackle this whole battery drain/indicator issue.

Thanks,
GR

 

The WiFi issues must be a driver issue with the 27FX only. My machine doesn't exhibit any slowdown at all whether the lid be open or closed, with the external display connected or not. I've actually tested on a friends 17FX and his doesn't either. Which wireless card do you have? Atheros or Intel? If yours in Atheros, then you need to roll back to the originally supplied WiFi driver from Microsoft. It allows you to disable the "Dynamic MIMO Power Saving" that activates when the OS calls for a lower power state, essentially keeping the card on high-power even with the lid closed.

 

I've also noticed my wifi slows down greatly with the lid of my Vaio TZ closed rather than open (from 1 megabyte a second to 200kb/s). Macbook owners have also complained of this through searching with Google. Their hypothesis is because the wifi antenna is located in the screen's bezel (as does the Vaio TZ) and when the lid is upright, the antenna gets the best reception.