Introduction
If your computer is configured to mirror the video, then your external or secondary display will show the same as your laptop display or primary display. This can result in an image that doesn’t properly fit on your secondary display. The instructions on this page will help to find the best video setting for your configuration.
Video Display Settings
Better video quality is achieved by choosing the option to extend the video area to your secondary display. Then you can click and drag running program windows to the secondary display.
For a Windows computer, you would right click on the desktop and choose Display Settings from the pop-up menu. This is where you can find the settings for your secondary display. Select Extend Displays.
Try some different screen resolution for the secondary display. This will help you find the best fit, and also the best clarity and size for fonts and icons.
Display Image Fit
If you do not have the ideal video resolution, your display may use one of the following methods of showing the video:
- PILLAR BOX – Black space on the left and right of the video. This is common if an old television 4:3 image is showing on a newer HD television with 16:9 wide dimensions.
- LETTER BOX — Black space at the top and bottom of the video. This is common when any cinematic theatrical wide-screen video is being viewed if it doesn’t perfectly fit in the display.
- ZOOM TO FILL — This is an adjustment that attempts to fill the computer display, but as a result, some of the original image is off the screen and not showing.
- STRETCH TO FILL — This all happens when the image resolution the display is receiving doesn’t perfectly match the optimal screen resolution. If the image is stretched to fill, then the image will be slightly distorted. This may happen to correct for pillar box or letter box by stretching the image to be taller or wider.
With a computer system, it is possible to choose from a list of different available display resolutions. Sometimes this requires a bit of experimenting with different settings until you find the right one.
