computer monitor interface question

[icemann427]

I purchased a computer tower running Windows 7 about a month ago and I have it connected to a 32 inch Vizio TV via HDMI for use as my monitor. Most of the time, I shut off the computer using the sleep mode instead of the full "shut down" mode, as it takes much less time to reawaken the computer instead of restarting it. When i do this, however, many times the TV doesn't read the computer's signal from the HDMI cable and I must force a computer shut down by cycling it's on/off toggle switch and restart the computer before the TV reads the signal.

This is somewhat frustrating and I'm wondering if there are any computer guru's out there that could enlighten me on how to remedy this.

Thank you!

[rnln]

Lot of time turning the computer on and off don't work for me. I had to unplug and plug the HDMI cable.

[masraum]

Have you tried changing the input source on the TV to something else and then back to HDMI? How about turning the TV off/on? Or pulling and reconnecting the cable as has been said?

[stomachmonkey]

Willing to bet the TV has VGA or even DVI input.

I'd go that route as they will provide a proper sync signal.

Do you turn the TV off when you put the computer to sleep?

Try different variations/timing of turning it on while waking the PC from sleep.

Or set different power save options like sleep the hard drives after X amount of inactivity but never sleep the display and just turn the TV of when you are done.

[icemann427]

Hi guys, thanks. It does have a VGA but not a DVI. I guess I could go the VGA route, but was hoping for a little better quality resolution with the HDMI. I do turn the TV off when I put the computer to sleep. Good advice from you both, though, I will try both of your ideas SM and Mas.

Thank you!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by icemann427

Hi guys, thanks. It does have a VGA but not a DVI. I guess I could go the VGA route, but was hoping for a little better quality resolution with the HDMI. I do turn the TV off when I put the computer to sleep. Good advice from you both, though, I will try both of your ideas SM and Mas.

Thank you!

I don't think that HDMI is going to offer more res than VGA unless it's a limitation of your TV. A VGA interface is capable of very high res.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by masraum

I don't think that HDMI is going to offer more res than VGA unless it's a limitation of your TV. A VGA interface is capable of very high res.

Masraum is correct.

VGA can look worse, as good, or better than HDMI depending on the mix of equipment.

But the differences in either direction from median should be negligible.

The only benefit of HDMI over VGA is you can use the TV's speakers without running a separate cable for sound.

Side bar: depending on the version of DVI it may or may not carry audio, older implementations do not carry sound.

About the only thing you may notice/have to deal with is tweaking the scaling as sometimes it's slightly off when using VGA/DVI vs HDMI.

[icemann427]

Thanks, guys! Yes, I'm using the TV's speakers. Nice to have such a great brain trust on here!

Thank you, again!

Geoff

[slodave]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Side bar: depending on the version of DVI it may or may not carry audio, older implementations do not carry sound..

Since when does DVI carry audio? ONly thing I have seen, is a cable that integrates a 1/8" audio plug on both ends.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by slodave

Since when does DVI carry audio? ONly thing I have seen, is a cable that integrates a 1/8" audio plug on both ends.

Sorry was not very clear and should have expanded.

HDMI is backwards compatible with DVI but DVI was not originally designed to pass audio.

Video card manufacturers have been building their cards to "output HDMI over DVI" by adding the audio component to their cards.

So if you have a card that supports it you would go DVI out with a DVI to HDMI adaptor then HDMI in to your display.

Apple added it to their laptops IIRC early 2011.

[lane912]

OK no one has mentioned the "handshake that happens between devices on a hdmi connection.
this handshake is copyright protection in that the source device is making sure that it is outputting to a display device, not a recording device. HTCP
DVI and HDMI will give you the same band width for digital signal quality-
this is the source of your problem-

[John Rogers]

The Sony TV I bought a few months ago (40 inch) has a HDMI - PC setup mode in addition to the regular HDMI - Broadcast/HD TV mode. The owners manual never mentioned this and I found it after looking around on "mpeg.org" and slowly walking through all the setup menus on the TV. Before setting to PC HDMI signal it did not wake up and bugged me a bunch. The NVIDIA card I bought had 4GB of memory with two HDMI, one DVI and a lowly PC 9 pin connections (just in case). I turn off the monitor manually when leaving and let the PC go to sleep and reverse when starting work. That seems to work better than using the auto TV shutdown and it wakes up quickly too.

[icemann427]

OK, I will look at that John. Thanks.

Lane...I hear you but is there something I can do about that or are you just telling me that is just the way it is?
Thanks!

[lane912]

Originally Posted by icemann427

OK, I will look at that John. Thanks.

Lane...I hear you but is there something I can do about that or are you just telling me that is just the way it is?
Thanks!

hdcp can be stripped out of the signal with pro level video switching gear-
the rest of us have to deal with it-

htcp was touted as a crack proof copyright protection protocall, but Confirmed: Intel says HDCP 'master key' crack is real -- Engadget