help needed w/ external hd tv resolutions

hi everyone,
i purchased a samsung 32'' 1080p tv (model ln32c530) to use as an external monitor and i wasn't sure what resolution/settings to use to optimize my first person shooting gaming. as you all know, the native resolution of the m11x is 1366x768. in contract, the native resolution of this samsung tv is 1920 x 1080.

what exactly should i do to maximize performance yet still allow me to enjoy an undistorted gaming experience on a larger screen? i know this laptop is only 720p capable but does that mean my tv will have to scale it or something? and if it upscales to 1080p, won't that decrease performance or look weird? is there any way i can just make the 720p image JUST PLAIN BIGGER? thanks in advance!

p.s. still in my first week with the r1 i got on black friday and i'm loving it. stably overclocked the gpu to 550/1320/850

-adrian

 

also, to maximize performance and aesthetics, should i choose to use the tv as an extension of the laptop monitor or as an identical output?

 

I'd be interested in hearing some answers to this, I have an m11x r2 on order but will be connecting to a Panasonic plasma.

 

Make TV main or only output, or from what I have heard, there will be a performance hit on the M11x R2. Whatever resolution you pick will fill up the TV screen (if the stretch option is selcted), whether it be 1366x768, 720p, or 1080p.

 

Have you plugged your M11x HDMI into your 32" Full HD-TV at 1920x1080 yet?

It should be fine and doesn't 'scale' as it's 1:1.

You may find the edges are cropped a bit though.

HDMI on the M11x can accommodate a screen size of 1920x1080 without problems.

Gaming at Full HD screen size may not produce the FPS and/or the game may not support Full-HD screen sizes anyway. DVDs or even Blu-ray are not a problem, I've had the M11x running two DVDs in full-HD at the same time without any problems.

Without fixed dimension scaling, my 40" Sony HD TV (1360x768) upscaled to 1920x1080 in standard mode does slightly crop the edges. In native 720p it is size perfect though.

In the screen resolution - > advance setting -> list all modes there is normally a setting to truely map your Monitor/TV screen size.
At least that's the case with a SONY TV which Microsoft knows about.

Within the Nvidia control panel, I am able to fine tune the screen size so that it matches the TV perfectly. Big friendly green arrows map the four corners of the TV at your given size screen requirement.

It's only a HD TV (1360x768) I have, so the resolution is not top-dog but at 1920x1080 scaled correctly I'm thinking it looks pretty good.
Video wise anyway. Played Avatar DVD up-scaled to 1080p with Nvidia scaling to match all four corners perfectly. Looks pretty buff.

Used as a monitor at 1080 its not so flash, but it is only a native 720p monitor and at 720p it's OK. Given it's a 40" monitor it just looks like the M11x screen, just four times bigger.

My 1920x1200 24" IPS Full-HD monitor(s) is pixel perfect via HDMI on an M11x. But one expects that.

Used a Panasonic 50" Full-HD plasma and it was way cool for gaming. Again it did crop the edges using standard settings, but guessing it's sorted via the use of list all modes in advance settings. Failing that, you can manually size the screen with Nvidia.

It's all go down on the farm.

 

1920x1080 is 16:9 and though 1366x768 isn't exactly 16:9 it's very close. So any stretching the internal TV hardware performs will not noticeably distort the image. You will not get a performance hit with any upscaling.

Also, if you have a DVD/blu-ray player attached to this TV, you may want to consider plugging the laptop into that and allowing the DVD player to upscale to the TV. The upscaling circuitry in modern players is usually better than the TV's, so your image quality should improve. Some TVs have great upscaling though, so best to try both and compare.

 

True.

Oddly on my Sony TV 720p means 1360x768 and 1080i means 1824x1004 to correctly match screen size.

It's a good point about the DVD/Blu-ray player doing the up-scaling. I hadn't thought of that. Mind you most DVD players (or at least the one I have) only have component, RF or composite video input. You've got a keeper if one has a DVD player with HDMI input AND HDMI output. Haven't checked what most Blu-ray players have.

 

I own an Alienware M11x R2, and a Sharp 32" 1080p HDTV. Here is what I do:

- Windows desktop resolution is set to native 1920x1080 res (1080p)
- I attempt to set gaming resolution to 1920x1080 res (1080p). If the game runs poorly, then I set it to 1280x720 (720p) for decent framerates.

I would highly recommend that you stick with either 1920x1080 (1080p) or 1280x720 (720p) res when going to an HDTV. The video scaler in your HDTV was specifically designed to handle resolutions like 1920x1080 (1080p) or 1280x720 (720p). It was not specifically designed to handle resolutions like 1366x768. Your HDTV *may* handle those resolutions just fine, or it may not, depending on the quality of the video scaler in your HDTV. But it is *guaranteed* to handle a resolution like 720p.

 

thanks everyone so much for all the replies