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General discussion

LN40A650 and PC hook up

Feb 16, 2009 10:24PM PST

Everything works just fine except the TV does not support a resolution higher than 1024x768 pixels and I'd like to keep my PC monitor on a higher setting. Other than changing the resolution in control panel when I use the TV in conjunction with the PC, does anybody have a work around? Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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LN40A650 and PC hook up
Feb 17, 2009 12:18AM PST

Doesn't 1080p means the 1920

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LN40A650 and PC Hook Up
Feb 17, 2009 1:30AM PST

That's what I thought too, but if I set the monitor personalizattion preferences any higher than 1024x768 I lose the picture on the TV. The image (or what ever I'm doing) on the PC remains but an advisory appears on the TV that says Mode Not Supported. Right now I have the PC set higher and then go back and lower the resolution when I use the TV in conjunction with the PC monitor.

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Probably the cable
Feb 17, 2009 2:06AM PST

Generally problems with VGA connections and resolutions on Samsung TVs are due to VGA cables -- the TV is very picky about cables, and it's not obvious from looking at the cable or the packaging whether a given cable will work or not.

Your best bet is to go to a store with a very good return policy, explain your problem to the guy, and just buy a bunch of cables and try them until it works.

I've personally experienced this problem; on one cable, even though 1920x1080 showed up, it didn't work. On another cable, all I got was 1600x1200. And finally, on a third cable, it worked properly.

You can see this thread for some more info where some members have figured out what traits the cable has to have for it to work: http://forums.cnet.com/5208-13973_102-0.html?forumID=146&threadID=319407&messageID=2931226#2931226

If you have a multimeter, you can check out the cables you have as that thread suggests, otherwise you'll have to keep shooting in the dark. I wish Samsung would just include a VGA cable that works (it probably would cost them < $5 and save them from answering all these questions).

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Probably the cable
Feb 17, 2009 7:22AM PST

Thanks very, very much! Because of the locations of my PC and the TV, I had to use a 50' run but bought the best and heaviest cable I could find. I was told that the length of the cable may cause a slight loss of signal but when I got a perfect picture on the lower resolutions I thought the cable wasn't the p[roblem. I appreciate the info.

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Probably the Cable Follow-up
Feb 17, 2009 7:38AM PST

Found the following info on the Intel site after following the link on the other thread addressing similiar problems:

If you have a connected display using a VGA cable, check your monitor's supported resolution.
Some displays (especially TVs or HDTVs) support their large native resolution using only a digital DVI, HDMI, or DisplayPort* connector. These displays only support lower resolutions (such as 1024x76Cool when using an analog VGA connector.

Check the display's documentation (user guide or user manual) for the maximum resolution supported by each of the monitor's connectors. Some monitors refer to the VGA connector as a D-sub input.

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It's in the manual
Feb 17, 2009 10:40AM PST

If you look in the manual, in the section for PC display, you can see that 1920x1080 @ 60Hz is a supported resolution.

Funny that you mention a long cable, because that's what I first tried and it didn't work. I ended up switching to an HDMI cable instead for my desktop PC, and kept a short VGA cable around for when I wanted to connect a laptop.