Can incorrect resolution damage a display?

Q.My 11-year-old son uses a 32-inch Sony Bravia LCD as his computer monitor. He plays a lot of games. Some of them automatically reset the resolution. The manual states that the resolution must be supported by the television. Otherwise, the television could be damaged. So, I'm worried that the games will break the TV. Can you help us?

A.That sounds like a nice television! I understand your concern.

Many people wonder if they can use their TV as a monitor. The answer is yes. I have information about this in a recent buying guide at Komando.com. Click here to read all about it.

I've seen warnings that the wrong resolution can damage an LCD panel. However, I have yet to find proof of this. I haven't even seen a suggestion about how such damage could occur.

LCD panels have a native resolution. That means there are a fixed number of pixels in the display. This is different from CRT monitors. CRT monitors can alter the number of pixels that are displayed.

Since LCDs have a fixed number of pixels, everything you view on the display will be shown with the same number of pixels. But, to get the best picture, set your computer to the television's native resolution.

The television's native resolution may not be available, depending on your video card. In that case, use another resolution that looks good. When the television receives the signal, it will scale the picture.

If the output resolution is lower than the television's native resolution, the TV uses interpolation. It adds pixels, guessing what color they should be based on surrounding pixels. Or, it may group several pixels together to represent one pixel.

On the other hand, your computer could provide too high a resolution. Again, the monitor scales the image, discarding extra pixel information. So, you won't break your television trying to force it to display too many pixels.

That said, there is the possibility that a refresh rate could break the television. You can change the refresh rate much the same as you change the resolution. The refresh refers to how often the image is redrawn. For example, a 60Hz refresh rate redraws the image 60 times per second. (Want to know more about the refresh rate? Read my tip.)

In many cases, a television will tell the computer what refresh rates it supports. Also, Windows will hide unsupported refresh rates.

But, some televisions can't properly communicate with the computer. So, you could inadvertently set an unsupported refresh rate.

I would consult the instruction manual. It should give you a recommended refresh rate; I'll wager it is 60Hz. Make sure your refresh rate does not exceed this. It will give you the best picture—and help you avoid damaging the monitor.

If games are changing the display settings, check the games' options. You should be able to specify display settings. Set the resolution and refresh rate to the recommendation in the television's manual. The game should save the settings. Each time the game is opened, it will load your settings.

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