[discobay]

I am having trouble viewing the screen from my notebook on a connected plasma tv. I have a vga cable connected from the tv's "pc" port and the notebook's external monitor port. I have directed the signal to go the external monitor port but the tv doesn't detect anything on the "pc" port. Any idea what could be wrong?

[KnowItAll]

Discobay : assume an LCD works on that port?

Do you see any flicker? Perhaps refresh rates or the resolution is not setup correctly?

[discobay]

I don't have access to an LCD monitor. I will take it into the office tomorrow and try it there.
No flicker at all. The notebook's refresh rate is set to 60Hz which is the tv's recommended setting from its manual.
I don't have access to my VAIO manual so I can't check if I have missed anything. I've emailed Sony but they may not reply.

[climber07]

Some notebooks have a software switch for the external monitor. It could be in the control panel or even as one of the function keys. For example on a Dell Inspiron Notebook the Fn (function) + F8 key will switch between CRT/LCD. Hope that helps.

[discobay]

Thanks I did that ... it's Fn + F7 on the VAIO. Can't think if there is anything else.

[audiodesign]

How old is the notebook? Never graphics cards should have a white colored DVI port as well as a VGA, which would keep the signal purely digital to the plasma. If your tv only has HDMI, you can get a DVI to HDMI adapter. Same thing, just DVI doesn't carry an audio signal.

[sylvesterjay]

My connection to my LCD works, but the image on the tv screen is much darker than on the notebook. Night scenes have almost no detail. Anyone know how that can be overcome? I have boosted the brightness on the laptop but that didn't seem to work.

[discobay]

I bought it last December. I think it's a driver issue. I plugged it to a less than new plasma and it worked right off. The Samsung that I have is a new model and may require updated drivers for my graphics adapter. I'm searching for them now.

[marcuslai]

my 2 cents :

if your samsung PTV is 42", make sure ur vaio is not attempting to output the max 1360x768 resolution. only the 50" model supports that.

in any case, connect the samsung plasma as 2nd display, but set it to a low resolution, 800x600 works on just about any tv.

if it still doesn't work, its a problem with the tv / its PC input port.

if lower resolutions work fine, then the display timing settings are screwed up for 1360x768. use powerstrip http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm
to change them. you need to match more than just the vertical refresh rate of 60 Hz -- also the horizontal frequency of 47.7, and the two polarities of +/+ (according to the manual at http://www.samsung.com/hk/support/pr...smadisplay.sec)

[discobay]

You are a wealth of information!
I have tried that but still no luck. The best scenario I get is this:
notebook connected to tv
restart windows and hit 'source' button on tv until it lets you switch to 'pc' mode
windows login appears but nothing shows on the tv
after a minute or two 'check signal' appears on the tv
whatever i do on in windows makes no difference