I'm using my spare flat panel television as a computer monitor in my bedroom of my London flat
because my main flat panel television is in the sitting room. However, it is only a 720p display which, no matter how I fiddle, simply will not display text without looking oddly sharp and rough. I find this mildly, yet persistently, annoying.

I am wearing the grey sock of the unimaginative.

Is there something on the 13th? I wouldn't know. I haven't been personally invited.
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:42, 2 replies, latest was 12 years ago)

Pixels are bigger in TVs than monitors
Nowt you can do about that.
(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:44, Reply)

he could lean a banjole next to the screen

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:45, Reply)

Depends how far away the TV is

(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:47, Reply)

Oh, fuck you, television manufacturers.
What about smart TVs? What's the point in being able to display the internet on your television if it's just going to look like shit graffiti?
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:46, Reply)

You're not meant to sit so close to a TV as you do to a monitor
so when viewed from a distance the pixels look the same size.
Try a 640x480 VGA projector close up, looks like an old 8-bit Atari.
(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:53, Reply)

It'll look like a shadow of your head, surely?

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:23, Reply)

Yeh there is
Adjust the resolution until the text looks nice and clear. This has the advantage of making you feel like you are using your PC in 2001
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:52, Reply)

Doesn't work.
All monitors have a native resolution and TVs can only display one.
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:54, Reply)

Well thats bollocks
I have a media center PC attached to 2 two TVs in my house and I can adjust the resolution in the control panel on both of them.
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:58, Reply)

It's not bollocks.
The displays may be able to accept different resolutions, but it can't display them. It up or downsizes it to fit to the screen. That is why when you watch SD television on your HD TV, it doesn't display as a tiny box in the centre.

What you might be seeing is the TV's interpretation of the graphics card output. It isn't being truly displayed in the way a monitor would.
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:02, Reply)

Well mine can
I do exactly what I said so I can read text more easily on my 42" TV change the resolution, text becomes bigger spread over more pixels and can be read more easily.
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:04, Reply)

No, it can't. Not if it's a television.
It is simply displaying the information the graphics card is sending to it. The graphics card is altering to whatever resolution you're asking for and the television is scaling that back to its one native resolution.

This is a pointless argument as TV and monitor resolutions aren't even the same thing. Point is, you're wrong.
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:06, Reply)

It can if you reroute the signal through a dedicated graphics card, hook that up to the TV through the HDMI input then take the controller and repeatadly ram it up your cock end until you shit out an episode of Eldorado

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:09, Reply)

OMG the internet is over. Nakers has become IT literate

(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:10, Reply)

I love it when people that have no idea what they're talking about
argue with those that do because "BUT MY EYES SAY IT LOOKS DIFFERENT"
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:11, Reply)

The only one making any sense in this tedious subthread is Nakers.
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:13, Reply)

Point is my TV has the ability to have more than one resolution
You claimed TV's can only display one. I am telling you mine can display more than one.
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:13, Reply)

And you are wrong.
You are wrong because you don't know what you're looking at.
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:15, Reply)

You're just upset because I can make text easier to read on my TV and you can't

( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:20, Reply)

I am annoyed because my television is shitty at interpolation.

( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:22, Reply)

i chnage my tv normal, vibrant, Hollywood day OR Hollywood night
I like it on normal
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:23, Reply)

Even my fisher price macbook pro has three resolutions to choose from

( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:02, Reply)

A macbook pro has a monitor attached to it, not a television.

( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:04, Reply)

Well my media centre PC has a a television attached to it and has about 20 options for screen res and they all look different
In fact the setup in media centre as if you are attached to a television and still gives you lots of options for resolution. My shitty 19" flatscreen can display more than one resolution.
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:07, Reply)

No, the computer graphics card has different options. Not your television.

( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:09, Reply)

Still makes the text easier to read frenchy

( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:23, Reply)

If you run the right resolution and you can see the pixels, you're too close
If you run a different resolution all you'll do is blur it, and probably ruin your eyes into the bargain.
(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:57, Reply)

he's already a speccy four eyes

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 14:59, Reply)

What are you people on about?
My gran has her PC on 800x600 because shes nearly blind, its makes it massive but not blurry.
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:01, Reply)

Depends on how close she is
and if she's nearly blind she won't see the blurring anyway.
(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:06, Reply)

I just set my mac to the lowest res.
and I am sat about a foot away and it didn't blur.
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:08, Reply)

If it's a flat panel screen, it has a native resolution.
This is the ONLY resolution that displays a true image. Every single other resolution is fiddled with by the GPU in a process called interpolation. This resizes the output to the native res of the monitor. It stretches it, or shrinks it. This can make the display look blurry.

If yours doesn't, you either have a very good GPU, or really shitty eyes.
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:14, Reply)

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB
Very good for a laptop thanks.
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:29, Reply)

As above, your Mac monitor is not a TV.
It will display any suitable resolution you choose, but it'll do it by grouping/dithering pixels to suit. This may make text appear blurred, depending on the native and set resolutions.
Whatever you set doesn't change the number of pixels shown, it just forces the electronics to do something clever to try and make them match up.
(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:15, Reply)

I hate users.

( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:15, Reply)

I hate this subject particularly
Most users don't want to know about the relationship between resolution and size, so when they get a bigger monitor, they complain everything's too small, reduce the res, then complain cos they can't get any more on screen than they could before!
(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:20, Reply)

Well, we should get around to PJ's house
because apparently he's got a magical television that works in a completely different way to all others on Earth. We could make millions!
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:21, Reply)

He has 5 of them AKTCHERLLY

(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:23, Reply)

No, thats just in my shed
And they are monitors
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:24, Reply)

I got a Retina MBP, and it pisses me off that I can't pick a 'resolution', only a slider with 'smaller' to 'bigger'.
And when I take screenshots, they're naturally double the size, but its annoying as none of my punters have one.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:36, Reply)

Thats because the Retina has a native resolution of 2880×1800 which makes all the text look tiny
So they have scaling. You get the benefit of Retina at any scaling, no other display/computer can do that. This is also the best interim solution considering the non-retina design of almost all software and websites.
( Peej, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 16:04, Reply)

Yup, deffo. Doesn't make it non annoying though as someone who has to think in pixels =)

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 16:36, Reply)

I've got a my living room telly connected to a computer
it's 720p and the resolution is absolutely spot on. Mind you, it's connected through an AV amp.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:41, Reply)

The amp doesn't affect the video.
Now, please excuse me whilst I go and rage-hang myself.
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:43, Reply)

I didn't particularly think it did
I was just providing extra information. But the 720p part of your issue is clearly some kind of red herring, cos it doesn't cause me a problem.

Are you going through a VGA input or an HDMI/DVI?
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:45, Reply)

you make it sound like he needs to go to the STD clinic

( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:47, Reply)

well, obvs.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:48, Reply)

but that would imply he gets some
and, really, if you'd met him...
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:51, Reply)

Shut up, I'm a stone cold fox.

( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:52, Reply)

It's a rendering issue
it's not a red herring. You'll have different hardware, firmware and probably software to me. It's probably not comparable.

I'm going through a DVI output on the GPU, to an HDMI in on the television.
( Kroney, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 15:50, Reply)

yes, I realise that
I thought you were saying it was a problem with 720p TVs and computers full stop, not just a random issue associated with the combination of stuff you have.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 25 Jun 2013, 16:40, Reply)