HDMI to EDTV

[TheTemest]

Does a TV have to be an HDTV in order for it to recognize an HDMI input? After all these years I wanted to try and watch Netflix over my Panasonic Vierra and it's an EDTV (720p). The TV will not recognize my laptop connected by a 3' HDMI cable. I have done all the necessary configurations on the laptop.

 

[ssddx]

edtv refers to the older 480/576 p/i televisions.
hdtv refers to 720/1080 p/i televisions generally.

sure, you should be able to display on both 720p and 1080p televisions.

since it is a laptop, the first thing to make sure you are doing correctly is to make sure you are outputting over the hdmi line. typically you would use your quick keys to swap your external display / projector mode (fn+f5 on many laptops). if the resolutions are different (laptop and tv) i'd suggest "extended" instead of "duplicate" since your tv may not be able to downscale the image if you output 1080p. then, in your monitor / multi monitor settings check that this second monitor (tv) is showing up as 1280x720.

tvs can be very touchy when they arent receiving input resolutions they were not designed for. i'd make sure at first that you're feeding it a 720p signal and that you have your laptop set to the correct output mode first then work from there.

 

[TheTemest]

Thanks so much for your reply. I will double check the settings you prescribe. I do know that I tried both Extending and Duplicating the display with the same result.
Copyng the instructions from the O/M regarding setting aspect ratio is below. In seeing this I do have a felling the that inputs I have tried have not been either 1080 or 720. I cannot receive HD from Netflix as it causes the streaming to become choppy after 3 minutes, so I have the "basic" or "low end" plan from Netflix.
•Press button to cycle through the aspect modes.
•480i (4:3), 480i (16:9), 480p (4:3), 480p (16:9) :
•FULL, JUST, 4:3 or ZOOM1080p / 1080i / 720p : FULL, H-FILL, JUST, 4:3 or ZOOM.

I think I'm fighting alosing battle trying to watch Netflix.

 

[hang-the-9]

If you are getting lag from the HD stream, you need to check into your web connection, unless you are using a slow computer.

Try a different HDMI port on the TV, I have one TV where only 2 of the 3 HDMI ports work. If the TV has a VGA port you can also use that, although you may want to route the audio as well form the laptop to either the TV input or to a set of speakers.

 

[ssddx]

how did we go from talking about making a laptop work with a tv to netflix and streaming lag?

what matters is the resolution of the signal you are sending to the tv (your desktop resolution). everything else will automatically be adjusted by your pc to work on that resolution.

oh and you may need to change the input on the tv... though since you knew about the rest i assume you've done this already. if your tv has any 120hz/motionflow disable them. if it has a pc connection port, use it.

 

[americanaudiophile]

Check the manual of your TV for the native resolution of the screen. It may not be 1280 x 720.
Set the TV as the 2nd display and set the resolution to that number or lower. As has been said try a different input and a different cable too,

 

[TheTemest]

Thanks to all for the replies. Appreciated. Here's some further information:
Screen resolution of my laptop is 1366x768 and the native resolution for the TV is 852x480. Based on your comments I set the resolution on my laptop to 800x600 (the lowest it would go) to as closely match that of the TV.

I attached the HDMI cable from my laptop to the only HDMI port on my Panasonc TV. Just my desktop is displayed on the laptop. In Display, my computer recognizes Panasonic TV as display 2. However, when checking the inputs on the TV it shows that only a VCR and DVD are attached. The HDMI input is grayed out (does not recognize the laptop signal). I tinkered with the display settings (Extended. Duplicate, etc) and to no avail the TV just will not recognize the laptop as being attached.

 

[hang-the-9]

Thanks to all for the replies. Appreciated. Here's some further information:
Screen resolution of my laptop is 1366x768 and the native resolution for the TV is 852x480. Based on your comments I set the resolution on my laptop to 800x600 (the lowest it would go) to as closely match that of the TV.

I attached the HDMI cable from my laptop to the only HDMI port on my Panasonc TV. Just my desktop is displayed on the laptop. In Display, my computer recognizes Panasonic TV as display 2. However, when checking the inputs on the TV it shows that only a VCR and DVD are attached. The HDMI input is grayed out (does not recognize the laptop signal). I tinkered with the display settings (Extended. Duplicate, etc) and to no avail the TV just will not recognize the laptop as being attached.

852x480 is not 720p like you said in the first post, you were right that it's an EDTV but not that it was 720p. I would not run a computer attachment to that, text and images will have poor quality. Older sets do not work with all HDMI inputs. I had an older tube 1080i Sony set that would not work with HDMI from a newer DVD player, I'd get audio but no video. Try using a different input (VGA maybe if the laptop and TV have that).

 

[TheTemest]

I'll pass for now until I uprgade the computer and TV. Thanks.