My monitor is fuzzy and I can't find a solution to it

hhh111

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Mar 28, 2014
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Hi there, I'm running Windows 10 64 bit and am using a ViewSonic VX2453 monitor. I have had this monitor for quite a while and haven't had any issues. I currently have a second (but different brand and model) monitor which works perfectly fine.

The monitor itself is a little fuzzy. It's readable and I don't have any issues making anything out but it's got a slight blur. I made a quick photo to show what I see on monitor 1 (the one thats blurry) and monitor 2 (the one working properly) It seriously is that noticeable. (though it's more of a hazy, fuzzy look as opposed to a blur. Couldn't recreate it in software)

What I did that caused this:

I recently acquired a second HDMI cable as my monitor supports two inputs. I was going to hook up my macbook pro and just switch between my Windows desktop and macbook as needed.

As I plugged in my macbook, I noticed the picture was going past the display borders. The "overscan/underscan" feature was missing from the display settings, and the "Auto Adjust Image" feature is greyed out on my monitor settings. I found on the apple forums that the overscan/underscan feature doesn't show up on TV monitors, but this is a computer monitor and not a TV. I read the auto adjust image feature doesn't work on HDMI though I'm not sure if that's right as I definitely thought I've used the feature in the past and have only used HDMI with this monitor. Cannot confirm though.

I figured it was a mac issue, unplugged it and went back to my Windows machine.

All of a sudden my Windows machine is doing the same thing, it's past the display borders and Windows offers me no overscan/underscan feature. I checked in my AMD settings app and there was an underscan feature but after adjusting it to the proper scale, it is fuzzy as seen in the photo above. I have tried searching all over Google for a similar issue.

I changed no settings on my macbook, my windows machine, or my monitor. I simply plugged in an HDMI into the open slot on my monitor, plugged in my macbook, and everything changed. My windows desktop has been plugged into the same HDMI slot the entire time and was not removed whatsoever. (I did remove the HDMI from the monitor and my desktop in attempt to fix it after all of this had happened. Though re-plugging it in doesn't solve anything) I am usually very tech savvy, but this makes no sense to me. I have gone through every possible display setting I can think of on my macbook, my windows machine, and my monitor to try to fix this issue and I have had no luck.

Does anyone have an idea of what I can do?

This doesn't seem to be a GPU issue as my second monitor is plugged into my GPU as well and is clear as expected.
 

R_1

Expert
Ambassador
I noticed similar when I connect my TV via HDMI. but if I connect it through the VGA port, sharp and perfect.
I suspect it has something to do with HDCP or the HDMI cable.
do you have a spare cable to swap test with?
 

Dugimodo

Distinguished
Is the screen resolution set to the native resolution of the display? Also are you using the two monitors as extended desktop not cloning the display?


The TV issue is a separate one, they need to be set for a PC input or they look terrible because they are tuned for video by default not PC display.
 

hhh111

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Mar 28, 2014
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4,510


I can definitely try a different cable and report back asap, though it'll be sometime tomorrow most likely.



Yes, the screen resolution is set correctly at 1920 x 1080p. I am using the two monitors as extended, no clone or anything of the sort.
 

hhh111

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Mar 28, 2014
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4,510
I haven't got a chance to test with a new HDMI yet (ended up giving the one that I used back to my friend who let me borrow it)

I booted up a copy of Linux Mint via usb and the text was perfectly clear. The only problem was again it was overscanned past the monitor width. But it looked normal, so I don't believe this is an issue with the cable.

I'm so confused with this