I would like to get my PC’s image on both the monitor and on my HDTV. I just got a VGA splitter and a 50 ft cable. When I plug both the monitor and the TV to the splitter, I get a dim picture on the TV and nothing on the monitor. I know the monitor is receiving a signal because it doesn’t display a test graphic or “no signal” message. If I plug either in separately, I get a perfect picture on either. So how do I get the image on the PC at the same time as the TV?
Since the splitting is being done after the signal leaves the PC, I can’t imagine it’s a computer setting that needs changed. Is the TV overpowering the monitor somehow? How do I fix that?
Your video card is only putting so much “oomph” into sending the analog signal through the VGA cable. Unless the VGA splitter is powered and has integrated circuitry, all it’s doing is trying to divide that flow into two streams, which means each will have half as much “oomph”.
Your monitor might not like such a weak signal, and might decide to just display nothing. The TV is dim because they’re set up to display anything you throw at them, regardless of strength or quality.
What you need is either a better video card, one with multiple video outputs, or a second video card (one going to TV, the other to monitor).
In my experience, having two video cards can be rather messy, so getting a better card is the better bet. I don’t know what kind of inputs your TV has, but what you’re looking for is either one with 2 DVI outputs, or one with 1 DVI and 1 HDMI/S-Video/Composite (something TV friendly) output.
Then, within the video card’s software you’ll be able to tell it whether to stretch the display across both screens or mirror them (sounds like you want to mirror).
(Even if you don’t have a DVI monitor or somehow are stuck with VGA, the video card will come with at least one DVI-to-VGA adapter so you can plug in your monitor via the DVI output of the vid card)
In my experience, S-video out quality on low-end cards is quite often dodgy, especially with LCD panels - fuzzy text, misaligned display, etc.
Does your pc also have onboard graphics? If so, it might be possible to have both video adapters active at the same time (usually enabled in BIOS). FYI, this is usually only viable if the onboard graphics are also nVidia, so the same driver can handle adapter duties.
Of course, YMMV depending on the chipset and driver version. I’ve done it successfully on a couple pc’s, and had it not work on a couple older pc’s.
Why not just use the component then? Or DVI/HDMI would be even better if that turns out to be an option.
Even if you get the dimness issue sorted with your splitter idea, your monitor and TV probably have different aspect ratios and native resolutions so driving them with the same signal will result in one looking squished. Using a different output for each display is the normal way of doing things.
S-video only carries a 480i signal at best, it won’t look good on an HD display regardless of the quality of the output card. S-video is only a small step up from composite (the single yellow plug).
