Push Higher Resolution with HDMI over VGA?

[patzelt1982]

I have a mid-2009 mbp. I have an old RCA Scenium L16WD14 TV I inherited.

My vga connection maxes out at 1024X768 on a 26in TV!!

Would I get a higher resolution with an HDMI connection?

The VGA response rate is already a little slow. How will that affect movies and the like with HDMI in the event I can push a higher resolution?


-thanks!

[mkrishnan]

HDMI supports higher resolutions than VGA, yes, but VGA supports higher resolutions than 1024x768 already. What kind of television is this? Is it a 1080p TV that's actually capable of displaying a higher resolution? The physical size of the TV doesn't really have anything to do with how high a resolution it supports. Just because it's a 26" TV doesn't mean that it can do the same resolution as a high-res 26" monitor.

[MisterMe]

Originally Posted by patzelt1982

I have a mid-2009 mbp. I have an old RCA Scenium L16WD14 TV I inherited.

My vga connection maxes out at 1024X768 on a 26in TV!!

Would I get a higher resolution with an HDMI connection?

The VGA response rate is already a little slow. How will that affect movies and the like with HDMI in the event I can push a higher resolution?


-thanks!

You gave the wrong model number for your TV. You have the Scenium L26WD14. The native resolution of your set is 1366 x 768. This is WXGA. You made your set sound like surplus inventory from 1978. It is actually a very nice LCD HDTV set. I like it better than my 26" Samsung.

Native resolution is an important issue if you are using the set as a computer monitor. It is not if you are using it as a TV set. TV sets have scalers that scale content to fit the resolution of the set. If you gave additional information about what you want to do with your TV, then you could get more specific information.

[patzelt1982]

MisterMe you are correct about the model number.

Although the TV is from 2006, it supports HDMI which I thought was unique for a TV of that age. It says in the user manual here (http://www.retrevo.com/support/RCA-L.../918bh438/t/2/) that vga only supports the 1024 by 768 I mentioned earlier.

Uses: Neuroimaging, Watching videos, Photo Editing, Web browsing.

My main use is for my work with brain imaging. Secondly I would say web browsing (nytimes.....etc). Third videos and photos.

When reading text the resolution makes it very unclear. Will HDMI slow it down for videos?

[mkrishnan]

HDMI is not terribly uncommon for televisions from 2006 -- my TV from 2006 also has an HDMI port (and I use it). I too, from your post, thought you were talking about a pre-high-def television (and I googled the incorrect model number, and, naturally, didn't find anything).

So, I would recommend switching to HDMI, and trying to run the TV at the native resolution, which MisterMe indicated. A higher resolution has a slight load on the computer, yes, but it should be negligible, and at native resolution, the image will be a lot clearer, although given that this is a TV and not a computer display, it'll always be a little less sharp than a display, simply because it has a low pixel pitch.

When you plug in via HDMI, you may or may not get the 1366x768 resolution automatically. If you don't, you'll have to explore a program like SwitchResX or DisplayConfigX to fix that (I had to do this with my Mac and my 720p TV, and I have to do it with my Windows box and that TV as well). My TV was slightly different, however, in that it was able to display native resolution on both VGA and HDMI.