Poor video quality (on external monitors) in Windows 10, please advise.

[JWhit18]

Hello, I am currently experiencing a problem with poor video quality on Windows Media Player and Netflix streaming on my Alienware M17 R3 that came with Windows 10 Pro installed on it. It "seems" like the refresh rate is off, there is some screen tearing (as though V-sync is not working) and slight blur along with some sporadic slowdown. I never had this issue with my Windows 7 machine. All in all it acts as though it is skipping some frames. Games run fine on this monitor (even in 4K at 60 FPS).

I have an Intel i7 6820HK processor and a Nvidia 980M dedicated GPU. The external monitor being used is a 50 inch Vizeo Ultra HDTV.

All drivers are updated (for monitors, GPU's, and display adapters).

The problem only occurs when I have the laptop switched fully to an external monitor (second screen only) and it is not there when the computer is set to "PC Screen Only", "Duplicate", or "Extend".

I noticed that the Intel HD Graphics icon disappears from my system tray when I switch to "second screen only" but its there on all the other settings and I suspect that somehow the answer to my problem lies therein... Also, on previous operating systems I have had the option to set Windows Media Player to run from the Nvidia or dedicated GPU and now it runs solely off the internal (Intel) GPU...

I have tested the HDMI cable thoroughly and even though its a 15 foot cable the transfer and refresh rates are fine and as i said, video games (even in 4K) run with extraordinary quality on this machine. It seems to be isolated to .AVI.mp4 files on WMP and Netflix streaming (yes, silverlight is updated).

I would also like to ask if there is anyway to adjust the settings (v-sync, etc) for Windows Media Player in the Intel GPU menu?

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Also, could this also be some form of DRM protection? Just curious but is there some form of DRM protection that the Intel Graphics Processor decodes where the Nvidia GPU does not? I am most likely making blind assumptions but I just cannot wrap myself around video playback quality degrading when switching from dual monitors to a single external monitor.

[idata]

Hi Snarkyfork81,

It is important to mention that we sell our Intel chipsets and processors to third party manufacturers and they design their own computers with their own features, settings, and capabilities since your computer has hybrid graphics, it could be possible when you select only one display, it disables Intel® HD graphics. We haven't seen this issue, I found this forum on Dell* communities that could help you:http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19679750 http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19679750 Yes, it is a way to enable and disable Vertical Synchronization here are the steps:http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/graphics-drivers/000005552.html http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/graphics-drivers/000005552.html Regards,Hellen.

[idata]

Hi Snarkyfork81,

I would like to know if the information provided helps you. Regards,Hellen.