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Scifience · Dec 27, 2005, 09:31 PM

I just purchased a Sony KLV-S23A10, and I figured (since the TV has a VGA-in) that I could hook up my 15" PowerBook (backlit keyboard, 1.5GHz).

However, I can't for the life of me figure out how to get my PowerBook to correctly output 720p video. It doesn't show up as an option in the resolution selection, and I tried both DisplayConfigX and SwitchResX. Both output garbled video when set to 1280x720 (black and white, distorted, etc. for SwitchResX, and with a gray striped garbled bar across the bottom third of the image for DisplayConfigX).

There has to be an easier way, doesn't there? My PC does it just fine with no trouble whatsoever.

ibook_steve · Dec 27, 2005, 10:00 PM

Well, you don't say what resolutions do work, if any. And according to the TV's manual on Sony's web site (I always RTFM), it supports 1280x768 for video from a PC, not 1280x720. The Powerbook should detect what resolutions are available to it and show them in the Displays preferences or in the Displays menu. Let us know what resolutions and refresh rates actually do work and appear in the preferences.

Steve

Scifience · Dec 28, 2005, 09:43 AM

1280x768, 1024x768, 800x600 all work. I just would prefer not to use them to avoid any unnecessary image stretching.

ibook_steve · Dec 28, 2005, 02:47 PM

Stretching in which direction? Native resolutions shouldn't stretch. Does the TV have to be in 16:9 mode or something?

Steve

Scifience · Dec 28, 2005, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

Stretching in which direction? Native resolutions shouldn't stretch. Does the TV have to be in 16:9 mode or something?

Steve

It contracts vertically (only 720px on the TV, not 768) and stretches horizontally (since the horizontal dimension gets shrunken when the vertical one is squished).

The native resolution is 1280x720 (720p).

ibook_steve · Dec 28, 2005, 05:30 PM

Then I'm not sure how the PC could be doing this correctly. 1280x720 is 720p resolution but the native resolution of your TV is 1280x768 according to the manual. Like I asked before, do you have to put this TV in a 16:9 aspect ratio for it to work correctly?

Steve

Scifience · Dec 28, 2005, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

Then I'm not sure how the PC could be doing this correctly. 1280x720 is 720p resolution but the native resolution of your TV is 1280x768 according to the manual. Like I asked before, do you have to put this TV in a 16:9 aspect ratio for it to work correctly?

Steve

AFAIK, it is set by default in 16:9 aspect ratio.

gbarill · Dec 29, 2005, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by Scifience

AFAIK, it is set by default in 16:9 aspect ratio.

i work in a tv store (we sell mainly sony's) and i've tried out of curiosity to hook my tibook up to this TV, and i've never been able to get it to go to the native resolution. as far as i could find when i looked it up on the internet, people were complaining about sony's lack of drivers for this TV. i know I couldn't find any.

i know i'm not really helping to solve your problem but it seems sony's drivers for this TV are lacking

ibook_steve · Dec 29, 2005, 02:22 PM

It's not really drivers. I think it's just the resolutions it supports. If 720p is 1280x720, why does it not support this resolution for VGA? Why does it support a resolution that is bigger than the screen itself: 1280x768 requiring picture scaling? It doesn't make sense.

Steve

mduell · Dec 30, 2005, 12:28 AM

I've noticed some HDTVs will only accept 4:3 resolutions over VGA; I'm not sure why they create these limitations for VGA.

power142 · Dec 30, 2005, 04:02 PM

Yeah, some HDTVs sure are picky about what they accept on the PC input. Have you tried the HDMI input? You should be able to use this with a DVI->HDMI adapter or cable, and you may have better luck with your Sony that way.

Apfhex · Dec 30, 2005, 04:15 PM

My Sony HDTV will only display HD (720p) resolutions over HDMI or Component inputs. Others are limited to smaller resolutions. I don't think mine has VGA input though, so I couldn't say.