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zac_twidale

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Output to TV display

I want to be able to display a VB form on a TV display.

I am running XP and can get output to a TV, but it is very blurry unless it is a video file.  (Don't understand this at all, but presume video files must be handled differently.)

I'm guessing that the solution involves using the the Video Control or MSVidCtl, but haven't been able to make much sense of the documentation.
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Mikal613
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sorry nothing found
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checoo

i have an application part of which is displayed on TV, and its working without any hassels...what is problem you are facing..elaborate on that
What will the VB Form do on TV Screen???
Just static Display, How will users interact
If users are going to interact on PC and the display is to be Relayed on TV you can use some Screen capture program to create Video on the fly and send them to the TV Display???

The problem you have here is that the resoulution on the TV (measured in lines) are not even close to the monitors resolution (measured in pixels).

The reason why the video looks OK on the TV as you displays it, is because it looks really crappy on the computer! :) The video was intended for TV and not for the computer.

Sorry to say, that the same thing goes for displaying stuff from the screen to the TV. VB.NET Forms was designed for the monitor, thats why they doesn't look good on TV.

So. What should you do?!? Increase the monitor resolution. 800x600 or even bigger. Thats the only way to get a good picture on the TV from a computer, unless its a HDTV.

Another 'free' tip... Be careful about what colors you use on your form. Some colors tend to 'bleed' (getting mixed with the adj. colors) when they are displayed on the TV.
for best resolution use 640 x 480 and you need to have really big font size.
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ASKER

The nature of the program I'm writing is timing software.  The TV is being used as a scoreboard.  So there is NO interaction with the form displayed on the TV.  The interaction happens on the PC, displaying a completely different interface.

I think arif_eqbal is on the right track with some sort of screen capture creating video and relaying to the TV.  This is sort of what I am trying to do.  The Video Control talks about displaying a bitmap in a fixed screen position over the top of a video stream, but I haven't even managed to get that to work.

Windows Media Player (and others) are a good example of what I am trying to do.  When I set the TV up as a clone, my desktop and any windows are virtually unreadable on the TV.  But when I play a video file, it suddenly becomes crystal clear.  It also takes over the TV display.  The PC display still shows the skin, and player controls in a window, but it displays the video data full screen on the TV.  This is what I want to achieve.

I am certain that it is more than just a resolution issue.  I have noticed that playing DVDs through the computer (which WERE designed for TV display) that it displays the video data fine, but the menus are very blurry.

Powerpoint is another example of a program that seems to modify its output for a TV display.  I have run presentations on a TV monitor and they run fine.  But they are unreadable to work on until you go to show presentation.

Somehow, the output from some programs seems to be modified to suit the TV.  How do I achieve this?
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checoo

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Answer wasn't particularly helpful, but checoo was the only one who made any even slightly relevant comments.