T43p + 40" 1080p HDTV = 100% CPU...

[-nick]

I had high hopes, but plugging a VGA cord between the computer and TV to play video on the larger screen just isn't happening. Playing full screen video only results in flashes of the video frame-by-frame. Video will play smoothly, but only if I shrink the size of the video window considerably. I looked at CPU usage during this test and it was pegged at 100%. I also have the RAM maxed out at 2Gb.

Is it just the CPU that is the limiting factor? Is the video card likely not up to the task either? I was hoping to use the laptop to stream Netflix onto the tv.

On a related topic, I do notice that in general video comes out more pixelated and worse-looking on the laptop. This includes watching DVDs. Any thoughts on this?

Cheers!

[zern]

I have a T43 that I use to pipe video to a TV now and then. Usually through the S-video port.

The T43 has a native resolution of 1400x1050. 1.5Gb RAM.

I have found that I need to reduce the resolution to 1024x768 or 800x600 for best frame rate performance. And also turn off the laptop LCD. This way the video circuitry can dedicate its full resources to the TV output. The CPU is usually almost 100% when playing back video this way.

Video normally plays smoothly on the LCD (without any external displays hooked up). Even when the screen is set to 1400x1050 and playing a DVD scaled up to full screen. I would have thought if my T43 can do it, your T43p must be able to better it!

Hope this helps.

[mpcook]

I also have managed both a T43 Intel GPU and a T43p to drive a TV, in that case, it was an older non HD TV. This was using S Video. I recently tried my X60s on an HD TV and it worked ok, although not HD, I cannot remember the resolution, it was higher than 1024x768 though.

I would suggest trying it with an S video cable. I had to play around a bit to get the T43's working wiht the TV but there are postings on here about how, if you search for them. I think I had to boot with the TV connected to get it to see the TV.

Mike

[-nick]

I poked around some more - it turns out that lower resolution actually looks quite impressive. There are some glitches here and there, but it is very watchable. This is on a 10mbit connection and at 720p or 460p video.

The HDTV only seems to recognize a handful of different resolutions when it is connected via VGA, regardless of what I set the screen resolution to in Catalyst Center. Full screen video at 1024x768 looks the best and smoothest. The other resolutions that the TV is recognizing are: 1280x1024, 1400x1050, and 1920x1080. Not sure if this is the TV's fault, or the CCC software.

Unfortunately, the 1024x768 picture isn't using up all of the TV real estate, but it doesn't lose too much.

Still, it's great progress! I will say that you could easily use a 1080p HDTV as an enormous monitor as long as you're not working with motion. This picture is stunningly crisp. The little T43p seems to be very capable!