Solved Improper Screen Display

[Tony Row]

I purchased my Dell Win 7 Pro from Costco without a Display. I have hooked it up with a Vizio Model E221VA which can also be used as a television I assume since it has a cable jack in the back. The display is much wider than it is tall. The only problem is that when I open any window to largest size I cannot see the very top portion. I have to fish for it with my mouse and bring it down where it instantly gets smaller. On the desktop I cannot see the top half of any Icons sitting on the top row. I think somehow I have to make the shown screen smaller to become more square so I can view the entire screen. Can I make this happen with this Display? There is also a remote control that comes with the Vizio which has many settings that I've tried to no avail.

 

[Berton]

The display is much wider than it is tall

That is normal when using a wide-screen display whether TV or Computer. LCD Flat Panels usually work at a ratio of 16:9 or maybe 16:10 and computer video adapters can be adjusted for the best representation. On my 21.5" the resolution is set at 1440x900 but can go up to 1920x1080, it's a feature of the video card and the support of the resolution by the monitor. There's also buttons or a menu on the monitor for adjusting things, one is the auto fit to keep everything inside the 'frame' and yours may have something similar.

 

[AddRAM]

What is the resolution of the TV, what make and model is the video card in the pc, what cable are you using to connect the pc to the TV ?

 

[oscer1]

are you using the integrated graphics or did you purchase a separate video card. the TV specs says resolution is 1080p. so try setting it to 1980x1080

 

[Tony Row]

I want to first send my sincere appreciation and thanks for those that answer threads on this site. The replies to my problem ask what my graphics card and video resolution is. Under device Manager - Graphics Card I see "Display Adapters Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600". On the resolution, I made a re-start and noticed RGB 1920 x 1080 then 1024 x 768 then finally it finished with 1920 x 1080 on the upper right side of my screen. I set the video to RGB (remembering that from DOS days) with the remote and I do have small wheels on the right side of the display.

I have another problem with Windows 7 that has to do with the operating system rather than with hardware. I fired up my old XP machine to get away from that problem but found it to run painfully slow. The screen on that computer is also wider than tall but the display was formed into a square at center with wide bands on both sides dark and not used. For that reason I will most likely use my windows 7 display as is because I enjoy the extra information I can see on it as compared to my windows 7 computer at work that has a square display. I would rather pull the windows down at home than not need to do this at work but see less from a narrower display.

Since my other problem is software related, I will obey protocol and try a new thread regarding that problem. Thanks again for replies I received. I am very thankful of them.

 

[whs]

This is a problem with TVs called 'overscan'. Try different settings on your TV's aspect or zoom button (on the remote) and look whether there is an option to disable overscan (not all TVs have that option).

Another option would be to try a custom resolution on your PC. But that may not always work. Plus there may also be an option in your graphics driver to turn overscan off.

HD 101: Overscan and why all TVs do it

And here is a thread where you can learn more than you want to know:

10.10 - How do I fix overscan on my HDMI HDTV? - Ask Ubuntu