Why does text look so Horrible on my HD monitor?

I just bought a 1080p 22" Samsung Syncmaster 2333HD (connected via HDMI) and the picture and video quality is great but the text quality is absolutely horrible. This monitor has a built in HD TV tuner.

Even as I type now all the text in this text box as well as in the browser toolbar and start menu, etc looks weird - like it all has a white outline around it that makes it jagged and hard to read. It hurts my eyes just to look at it.

I am running my PC in the suggested native resolution of 1920x1080, so what's the problem?

Is this one of the unavoidable downsides of using a HD monitor? Is there a solution to the problem?

Laura

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 311

Is this an HDTV you're using as a monitor? If so, what model is it? – Michael Todd – 2010-05-30T03:35:20.163

4To follow up on Michael's comment, if they are HDTVs they you need to turn off deblocking and disabling the "sharp" filter on your TV. My Sony had a sharpening filter that destroyed the font smoothing effect applied to text and made it look bad. – ta.speot.is – 2010-05-30T05:07:53.840

4Samsung? Throw it out. >.> | Try calibrating Win 7's Cleartype. | Also if there is a HDMI on the Display, use THAT. If not, use DVI. But please do NOT use VGA(d-sub). – Apache – 2010-05-30T07:15:24.497

@Shiki I am using HDMI though I don't think I am rich enough to through away the monitor just yet. – Laura – 2010-05-30T14:20:14.400

A screenshot would help, I think. – Sasha Chedygov – 2010-12-20T04:58:31.390

Answers

I'm using Samsung P2370HD on HDMI connection. The text was really bad when I first started using the HDMI connection (R6850HD), Even lowering the sharpness doesn't make it as it should be. After one day of googling, I found the solution is very simple and that is you just need to rename the HDMI connection name to PC from your Monitor Setup. You can do it from your Samsung remote controller as following:

Press the "Source" button.
Highlight the HDMI input.
Press "Tools" -> Edit Name -> And then simply using the scrolling (up & down keys on ur remote), select "PC" or "DVI PC" for your HDMI. And voila you have crystal clear text just as on DVI.

But remember that if you select DVI PC, you will not get sound through HDMI cable. Select "PC" and you will have both sound & video, and clear text.

Umar Tahir

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 509

Thanks a lot! This solved it in my SyncMaster P2270HN. The option was in Menu -> Input -> Edit Name. Changed to PC and the picture and scaling were fixed. – Fabio Gomes – 2014-08-20T02:23:46.197

Oh my god. I've had this monitor for three or so years now and was just dealing with the horribly washed-out colors of the DisplayPort->VGA connection. I had no idea I could fix everything with this. A thousand thanks. – Chris – 2014-10-20T23:12:30.120

Tested this solution and can verify that this works for Samsung TV Model LT27D390. – Rob – 2015-02-13T10:08:26.303

Worked great on my UE55F8000 connected to my PC via HDMI. Fonts were horrible before, now it's perfect. Thanks! – Claudio Mezzasalma – 2015-03-09T11:03:41.900

This doesn't work for my Syncmaster 2333HD HDTV – user400654 – 2015-12-10T02:44:24.450

This works for a Samsung Syncmaster HDTV. Amazing that just changing the name fixes everything. You sir are a gentleman and a scholar. – Deses – 2016-04-04T20:26:27.350

Thank you so much for this. I've had my Samsung TV for maybe 8 years and I just thought the issue was unfixable. Decided to try and Google it again now that I've built a new Pc and am using it as a monitor. Works like a charm, all the internet points. – s1h4d0w – 2016-06-30T20:58:13.273

This works for fitting the image to the screen and removes the 'fit' option designed for video - thanks for that. It still looks ropey though. How can I tell if my panel is limited to 1360x768? It says 1080p and I can put it on that it just looks bad on computer output. – niico – 2016-10-31T17:30:55.170

2The same helped for the Samsung B2330HD, with slightly different menu options: MENU -> SETUP&RESET -> PC/AV Mode -> PC. – Ralf – 2013-10-24T07:23:25.643

I've got a Samsung SyncMaster S27B350, which worked fine with my desktop, but when i connected my laptop to the second HDMI, the fonts were terrible. The advice about changing the name of the input worked for me. Menu::Source List::Edit Name::HDMI2::PC And everything looked better. I notice this also changes Menu:Mode from "Standard" to "Entertain". Thanks all! – None – 2014-02-05T22:24:20.020

2So glad I found this, I've got a Samsung UE32F5000, I'd forgot about HDMI issues like this so it was annoying. I set it to DVI PC and it looks great now, talk about hiding a setting. I use separate speakers so the audio part is not an issue for me so I didn't test that. This also meant that I didn't need to use 'Smart Fit' for the picture size, it got 16:9 and didn't cause the overscan problem. Thanks. – Kioshiki – 2014-02-17T20:21:11.123

Just set up a Samsung B2330HD on a HP DV7 laptop with an HDMI out. Text looked bad until I went in and LOWERED the sharpness from 55 to 10. Text looks much better now.

Marcus Cole

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 181

if lowering sharpness helps - I would guess you aren't displaying at the proper resolution. Zero sharpness should look best at the correct res. – niico – 2016-10-31T17:32:31.660

1Thank you! My new Samsung TV that I use for my game pc when from horrible to awesome with lowered sharpness! – alkemann – 2012-08-05T15:54:50.947

2Sharpness and other 'enhancement' features should be shut off entirely so the screen only shows what the graphics card is sending it, and no extra data it invents. – mikebabcock – 2012-10-02T03:08:50.340

Making the sharpness too low makes all the text blurred. I suggest changing the PC/AV Mode first. – Ralf – 2013-10-24T07:26:27.507

Is your PC running Windows XP? If so, do you have ClearType turned on? Does it look fine on a normal monitor?

On Windows XP, ClearType is off by default.

On Windows 7 and Vista, ClearType is turned on by default.

You can also try the Microsoft ClearType Tuner

ClearType (on Wikipedia)
HOW TO: Use ClearType to Enhance Screen Fonts in Windows XP

spong

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 1 929

I checked and cleartype is enabled. – Laura – 2010-05-30T06:30:24.173

@Laura - Have you tried to turn ClearType off to see if that's an improvement? – Nifle – 2010-05-30T09:24:29.690

@Nifle Yes but it makes it worse. – Laura – 2010-05-30T14:19:02.810

Try out the VGA or DVI outputs on another regular monitor, see if the problem is still there. That way you can rule out the PC and video card, and it will narrow the issue down to the monitor and it's setting. – spong – 2010-05-30T14:57:05.817

I also experienced jagged text with a Samsung B2230HD. I was able to get decent video as follows:

With remote, hit Menu
Picture > (hit the right arrow)
Backlight 12
Brightness 50
Sharpness 0 (* important)
Color 50
Advanced > (a submenu of Picture)
Black tone off
Color Space auto
Edge Ehancement off
< to Picture menu
Picture Options > (a submenu of Picture)
Color tone cool
Size Screen Fit (* important; fixes loss of pixels on right edge due to overscan)
< to Picture menu
return

This is with an HP laptop running ubuntu 11.10, but I expect similar results for other hardware/OSes.

Reece

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 343

I have a Samsung SyncMaster B2330 connected via HDMI. The font issue had been driving me nuts. After fiddling with the controls, I achieved the most impact by changing the "PC/AV Mode" from "AV" to "PC".

Menu > Setup & Reset > PC/AV Mode > PC

user162537

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 31

Try setting the MagicBright setting to Internet or Text.

Also, turn ClearType back on if you left it off and tune it with the online tuner (or the powertoy).

Finally, from the manual for your monitor:

Q: Image is not clear. Picture is blurred.
A: Run Frequency Coarse and Fine tuning.
A: Turn on again after removing all accessories(video extension cable, etc.)
A: Set resolution and frequency to the recommended ranges.

Synetech

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 63 242

Had the same problem - I had used the monitor over DVI for a year or so when I got a new video card and wanted to switch to HDMI. Suddenly text looked like garbage.

The solution - go into "setup" and turn on power-saving. You'll notice the image gets darker, several of the HDMI options will be greyed out, but the text is crystal clear again. Then go in picture settings and adjust the brightness/backlight/contract levels and you'll be set.

scott

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 11

For my widescreen 23" LG monitor, the solution was to disable the «Super Resolution+» feature in monitor's settings.

Roman Cheplyaka

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 351

One of solution quoted here worked for me: I had to go in my LCD srcreen menu (Samsung SyncMaster 2333HD), select HDMI source, and use "tool" to rename the source as something else (PC in my case) so that the LCD does not think the source is a HDTV. Then it adjusted very properly without more issues. Note that this operation would be impossible without the remote controlto browse through the menu.

AgnesLP

Posted 2010-05-30T03:24:48.207

Reputation: 11

1Can you provide the source? – Excellll – 2014-10-06T19:16:14.447