Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

I am using a G73 A1 connected to an external monitor via HDMI cable. External monitor is a Samsung 23” PX2370 monitor. Both screens are set at 1920x1080 which is their native resolution. Sometimes I feel like a crash test dummy. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it.



The scaling fix mentioned previously although sounds good does not fix the problem for me. I can scale up to full screen size but not to “0”. This eliminates the black band around the desktop image but does not cure the real problem? The image quality is terrible. Photos seem like the colors were limited to a lower setting. It is especially noticeable in the blurry, distorted text although picture quality is also bad.



I suspected the problem has something to do with the HDMI connection so I hooked up the included VGA to DVI cable. This made a “huge” improvement although the text is still a little blurry (soft), not as crisp as I expected for this expensive monitor. Photos look great. There is no longer a way to adjust the scaling in CCC but it now fills the screen. The Asus monitor is much more crisp. I would think this has something to do with the HDMI drivers?



I am surprised that I am the first to report this issue. I don’t like being the first. This is a great laptop and I have enjoyed using it but the trouble shooting and repairs have been a bit much. I hope one of you brilliant fellow users can come up with the fix?



"Update": Here is the fix I discovered:



The solution was in the monitor settings. Go into the Menu-Setup&Reset-PC/AV Mode=PC. That does the trick. It comes set to "AV" by default.

Reply 1 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolhandace I am using a G73 A1 connected to an external monitor via HDMI cable. External monitor is a Samsung 23 PX2370 monitor. Both screens are set at 1920x1080 which is their native resolution. Sometimes I feel like a crash test dummy. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. The scaling fix mentioned previously although sounds good does not fix the problem for me. I can scale up to full screen size but not to 0. This eliminates the black band around the desktop image but does not cure the real problem? The image quality is terrible. Photos seem like the colors were limited to a lower setting. It is especially noticeable in the blurry, distorted text although picture quality is also bad. I suspected the problem has something to do with the HDMI connection so I hooked up the included VGA to DVI cable. This made a huge improvement although the text is still a little blurry (soft), not as crisp as I expected for this expensive monitor. Photos look great. There is no longer a way to adjust the scaling in CCC but it now fills the screen. The Asus monitor is much more crisp. I would think this has something to do with the HDMI drivers? I am surprised that I am the first to report this issue. I dont like being the first. This is a great laptop and I have enjoyed using it but the trouble shooting and repairs have been a bit much. I hope one of you brilliant fellow users can come up with the fix?

Using the VGA port (Analog), is not recommended for use on a 1080p display. Are you sure your Samsung monitor is not 1920x1200? Since it auto-scales. Also, there's scaling settings on the monitor itself, which will allow you to turn it off properly if you so wish. (though I seriously don't think you should see black bars on the sides if your display is actually 1080p like the laptop). Also, it is best that you do not stretch the screen, it distorts all proportions, I just can't understand why people can't live with black bars on old games, etc etc.

Reply 2 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

I'm confused by what the issue is. HDMI should work fine with HDMI or DVI. 1080p is bog standard. It should look fine with no adjustments (aside from setting it to the native resolution the first time you connect it, if it isn't already). I'm using my N80nv on a 24" Dell monitor with that resolution right now.

Reply 3 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolhandace I am using a G73 A1 connected to an external monitor via HDMI cable. External monitor is a Samsung 23 PX2370 monitor. Both screens are set at 1920x1080 which is their native resolution. Sometimes I feel like a crash test dummy. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. The scaling fix mentioned previously although sounds good does not fix the problem for me. I can scale up to full screen size but not to 0. This eliminates the black band around the desktop image but does not cure the real problem? The image quality is terrible. Photos seem like the colors were limited to a lower setting. It is especially noticeable in the blurry, distorted text although picture quality is also bad. I suspected the problem has something to do with the HDMI connection so I hooked up the included VGA to DVI cable. This made a huge improvement although the text is still a little blurry (soft), not as crisp as I expected for this expensive monitor. Photos look great. There is no longer a way to adjust the scaling in CCC but it now fills the screen. The Asus monitor is much more crisp. I would think this has something to do with the HDMI drivers? I am surprised that I am the first to report this issue. I dont like being the first. This is a great laptop and I have enjoyed using it but the trouble shooting and repairs have been a bit much. I hope one of you brilliant fellow users can come up with the fix?

On my Samsung TV there's a setting for Dot by Dot or something like that. Also, there used to be overscan settings in the ATI Driver. But all of these usually are for resolving the display flowing beyond the edges of the screen. I think you are saying it is displaying the correct size but is of very poor quality even though you've verified the resolution is set to it's native size on 1920x1080. Is that correct?



Cheers,

Reply 4 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

There is a seeting CCC from ATI that you need to set.



Chasity and Mark s, should be able to help with this.

If I can find it I will repost.

Reply 5 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolhandace I am using a G73 A1 connected to an external monitor via HDMI cable. External monitor is a Samsung 23” PX2370 monitor. Both screens are set at 1920x1080 which is their native resolution. ... The image quality is terrible. Photos seem like the colors were limited to a lower setting. It is especially noticeable in the blurry, distorted text although picture quality is also bad.

Using the VGA port should NOT look better than when using DVI/HDMI.



I'm not sure how much of your issue is stretching-related, and how much is color-processing-related, so I would try the following...



Start with the HDMI link disconnected (Fn-F8 to LCD-only mode - it's ok if HDMI cable is connected).



On the external monitor:

Set Image Size to "Screen Fit"

Set PC/AV Mode to "AV" (you can try PC as well....don't know what the default is)

Turn off all color/blackness/enhancement stuff



Now with HDMI connection in place, use Fn-F8 (may need to press these more than once) to switch to HDMI+LCD mode...you should see an image on both monitors.



Go into CCC, Choose "Desktop and Displays", right-click the external monitor icon, choose "Configure...", and try these settings (Note: all these options may not be available for your external monitor. Also note that you may need to click the "Apply" button to try some settings that can't be set live, e.g. the pixel format)...



Attributes

Enable GPU Scaling: Off

Enable ITC Processing: Off



Color

Use Extended Display Identification Data (EDID): Try on or off...which looks better?



Scaling Options

Underscan/Overscan: 0%



Pixel Format

Color Pixel Format: Try YCbCr 4:4:4 or RGB 4:4:4...which looks better?

Reply 6 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

After being elevated to Samsung level 2 tech support they informed me that they are aware of an issue involving windows 7 and HDMI. This is apparently adversely affecting the video quality in some situations. They are working on a solution but cannot help me right now. While I was on hold I tried scalling up my screen size for the 20th try. Suddenly I was able to scale the monitor to 0 and suddenly the monitor came into focus. I dont think I did anything to fix it, I think it fixed itself.



Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, maybe one of them fixed it? Now I get crisp text and great photos. I am a little nervous about keeping the monitor in case it decides to flip out again. I do have the Best Buy 14 day trial. Have fun.

Reply 7 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

LOL sounds like "NOT an asus" problem



Good job figuring it out!

Reply 8 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolhandace While I was on hold I tried scalling up my screen size for the 20th try. Suddenly I was able to scale the monitor to 0 and suddenly the monitor came into focus. I dont think I did anything to fix it, I think it fixed itself.

Wow that's good phone support!



Cool you got it.



Also, if you're not using Catalyst 10.10+ I recommend upgrading. The HDMI support is much less flakey than earlier versions.

Reply 9 : Help G73 with External Monitor via HDMI

I had a similar problem with my Samsung P2370MS LCD display. The solution was - believe it or not - simply renaming my HDMI input to 'PC'. There is an OSD menu option that allows the HDMI input to be named from a selection of inputs such as "Cable", "DVD", "Set Top", "Game Console", "PC", etc. The manual simply describes this naming feature as a convenience mechanism, however, it does more as when 'PC' is selected, I guesse it knows the input is pixel accurate hence no post-processing is required and everything looks crips and sharp now.



The default seems to be setting the HDMI input to be DVD or some other source so it does all kinds of post-processing - i.e, enhancing color, noise reduction, etc, which tends to kill the sharpness and quality from the laptop.



After selecting HDMI as Source on my display, the menu setting is accessed from:



Input -> Edit Name



Hope this helps.