playing on a big TV, games look pixelated

[FelixPrime]

so before even steam comming with big picture, i've been playing my controller compatible games on my sony TV.. yes its bigger, yes i get to lay back in the couch, but here is my biggest drawback on playing on my TV.. games get pixelated..

its like everytime i run a game, a pixel filter turns on or something.. i know that its a problem because if i alt tab from a game to my desktop, the desktop (and everyting on my screen) also looks pixelated for a milisecond, then the screen refreshes a bit, and back to 1080p HD goodness.. but the moment i alt tab to the game again, it gets all pixelated again..

its playable, yes, and after playing for 1 hour u dont even notice it until i get back to my pc monitor and see the difference..

it happens in all games (borderlands, crysis, far cry 2, nfs the run, starcraft 2, any game i have ever tried to run on my TV)

i dont know where the problem is, can anyone help?

p.s.
my pc specs are on my profile so if u need to ask, its there.. also, im using a 30' 1.4a HDMI cable to connect my PC to my TV.. and my TV is a Sony Bravia EX4 40"

thanks again, cheers..

[Kenny32673]

This may be a stupid question but have you set the resolutions in each of the games options to 1920x1080?

Many games when first run won't automatically set themselves to your default resolution and will start at their own pre-designated default such as 800x600 or whatever.

Or if you have a monitor that you also play on that isn't HD the games may still be set at that monitors resolution.

[bargain]

The game must run at a 16:9 aspect ratio (as Monkey said, 1920x1080 is the most common one), any other ratio and the quality will decrease greatly.

[FelixPrime]

Originally posted by MonkeySeeker:

This may be a stupid question but have you set the resolutions in each of the games options to 1920x1080?

Many games when first run won't automatically set themselves to your default resolution and will start at their own pre-designated default such as 800x600 or whatever.

Or if you have a monitor that you also play on that isn't HD the games may still be set at that monitors resolution.

its not a stupid question..

and yes, i checked the resolution of games i play while on the TV, it is at 1920x1080 (which is also the resolution of my TV)

oddly thou, when i play on windowed mode on any games mentioned, game looks crisp HD again so i know my TV and HDMI cable can handle the graphics.. then when i return to fullscreenmode, here comes the pixels again..

something about when i switch to full screen that changes in the settings somewhere and i donw know where and why..

anyone having the same issue, or better yet, anyone with a resolution to this issue?

[Awptimus Prime]

Just wondering what size your tv is? If you have a 30" tv with 1920x1080 and say a 50" with 1920x1080 the 50" will look more pixelated because it has the same amount of pixels on a larger surface area. It's litterally the same effect you would get if you took a magnifying glass to ur normal computer monitor as it allows you to see the pixels in the blown up image of the magnifying glass. Just like you would see the pixels in the blownup image of the of a larger tv/monitor. I might be wrong about your issue but I'm pretty sure that it's just as I have explained here. I use a 46" plasma and the only way I can solve the problem is by cranking up my AA and other graphics options that effect the smoothness of the games edges.

[Awptimus Prime]

Just want to add I have the same gfx card set up as you. 560''s in sli.

[Kenny32673]

Given that they don't look pixellated in windowed mode I don't think it's a display size issue. Plus it would depend on how close to the screen he was sat.

[Awptimus Prime]

Just wondering what game(s) are you trying to play and what is ur AA set to in these individual game's video options? The reason it wouldn't look pixilated in window mode is because the image for the game in windowed mode is a smaller image in compairison to your fullscreen tv size so the edges are smaller and therefore harder for your eyes to see the pixels that make up the images. Don't know if this is making sense to you, but I can garuntee that this is your issue. Take for example a monitor with say 800X600 resolution on a 15" monitor, you wont notice the pixelation as much as you would if you tried using 800x600 resolution on your big screen tv. Know what I'm saying? The only way to fix the issue would be to increase the amount of pixels on the larger image so the pixelation effect is not seen because there is litterally more pixels to smooth out the image. You have to increase you anti-analizing and antioscopic filtering, mine is always set to 16x and it solved my pixelation issue.

[Awptimus Prime]

Seeing as you have the same gfx card set up I do it is definetly possible for you to fix your issue, unless it's because of something going on inside your tv itself. Your the first person I have met who uses a sony bravia tv so perhaps the problem is the tv itself. However I stress you take what I'm saying into consideration before getting a new tv for a monitor as I know the effect of pixelation I am explaining to you does in fact happen as the monitor/tv size increases but the resolution remains the same. Hope you figure it out.

[Awptimus Prime]

Or when your in windowed mode is it bassically fullscreen with the x on top of the screen? If thats the case them you may indeed have some kind of bug affecting the image.

[Kenny32673]

That's what I figured he meant when he mentioned Windowed mode. Also OT but do you know you can edit your posts?

[Awptimus Prime]

I know there has been issues with some games falling back to defult resolutions when in full screen even tho in the options it says it's a higher resolution. In this case you would have to edit the launcher for the game and change the default resolution there and it should fix it. You would have to google how to do it in respect to what ever game is giving you the problem. Just want to say the odds of it being every game with this issue is unrealistic. One more thing, is your desktop resolution in windows 1920x1080? Could be that if ur default desktop resolution is causing aa conflict with the resolution you are trying to set in the game ur playing.

[Awptimus Prime]

Yeah I know, but it rarely crosses my mind. Lol.

[FelixPrime]

ok, here.. im sure the TV can handle it.. gameplay looks crisp and vibrant in 1920x1080 HD goodness when im running on windowed mode (to answer Awptimus' question; yes, fullscreen with the x and the window border on the top of the screen) ♥♥♥♥ hits the fan when i 'alt+enter' to go into fullscreen mode, even the most basic of gamers can tell that the games significantly looks pixelated..

i've seen this in all games i tried on my TVusing the same cable and set-up mentioned above; SC2, CoD:MW3, Crysis, Crysis 2, Borderlands, Batman AA, Dead Space, Limbo, Tron Evolution, and Minecraft - yes, you can tell when minecraft looks pixelated more than it should, its that bad..

and yes, i checked the resolution of those mentioned games, they were all 1920x1080.. and to be safe, i even switched it to the lowest resolution, applied changes, set resolutiuon back to 1920x1080, applied changes again.. still looks as pixelated as it was to begin with..

i would try to take a screenshot of it tom, not sure how i will, but i will try.. can't do it now, have work early tom.. fraps or windows' snipping tool? idk, i will try both..

[Awptimus Prime]

Have you tried editing the launcher? Right click the game and go to properties, under the general tab you will see a button "SET LAUNCH OPTIONS" click on that. Then search google for how to set custom resolutions for the game your wanting to fix. Then ad the 1920x1080 fullscreen resolution there and try again. This should fix your problem, just make sure you do it exactly as it says as the wrong launch commands can totally screw it and make it unplayable/unlaunchable. The only reason I can think of as to why this is happening to all your games is that for some reason the games do not reconize the native resolution of your tv for what ever reason so the game wont load it, even if it shows up in the gfx menu for the game. I see that it's a common problem for the crysis series and it seems obvious it is the same for the rest of your games. I can pretty much promise that if you take the time to find out how to edit the launcher for each of these games giving you the problem that you will be enjoying fullscreen hd gaming in no time! Hope this works, I'm sure it will. Goodluck let us know if it works! :)

[FelixPrime]

Originally posted by Awptimus Prime:

Have you tried editing the launcher? Right click the game and go to properties, under the general tab you will see a button "SET LAUNCH OPTIONS" click on that. Then search google for how to set custom resolutions for the game your wanting to fix. Then ad the 1920x1080 fullscreen resolution there and try again. This should fix your problem, just make sure you do it exactly as it says as the wrong launch commands can totally screw it and make it unplayable/unlaunchable. The only reason I can think of as to why this is happening to all your games is that for some reason the games do not reconize the native resolution of your tv for what ever reason so the game wont load it, even if it shows up in the gfx menu for the game. I see that it's a common problem for the crysis series and it seems obvious it is the same for the rest of your games. I can pretty much promise that if you take the time to find out how to edit the launcher for each other these games giving you the problem that you will be enjoying fullscreen hd gaming in no time! Hope this works, I'm sure it will. Goodluck let us know if it works! :)

ok, so u mentioend something that might screw up the entire game.. so what if i did womething or coppied something wrong, and i save it.. can i revert the changes i made?

also, do you have any particular set launch options for any games that i mentioned?

p.s.
my crysis is on origin, but i mad a shortcut for it to launch through steam.. so, should i do that change on origin?