Tv-out looks crappy.

[jeffslot]

HI guys,

I have tv-out on my computer. I've been using s-video to connect my pc to my TV. This works great for games / dvd's, but when actually using windows, it looks horrendous. Is there anything that can be done? Thanks.

Jeff S.

[bicostp]

I have the same problem. Since S-Video and Composite do not preserve pixel-for-pixel resolution, the text quality gets grainy and hard to read. On my HTPC, I have the menu bar text set to "large", and all other text is bigger and boldfaced. Sure it makes things look a bit odd, but it's far more legible.

First save your current setup as a theme (for the heck of it I'll call it "normal.theme".) Change most text sizes in the Display Properties window a couple points bigger than normal, and make them bold, and make any other changes you want to. (The text is a bit clearer if you turn off wallpaper) Once you get settings you can live with, save the theme as (again, for the sake of argument) "tv.theme".

[timmeh87]

your tv is probably only 640x480 so any resolution higher than that will look blurry.

[SpongeBuell]

Standard TV-out will NEVER look as good as a VGA output. The resolution is different, and the pixels on a tv are arranged differently. If I remember correctly, they are staggered like this:

Code: Select all

. . . . .
 . . . . 

Where a vga thing is more like this:

Code: Select all

. . . . . .
. . . . . .