The Bob Newhart Show, when the pilot walks through the closed but unlocked front door of the apartment
Ah yes, I remember that show. Bill Daily played the airline pilot neighbor -- Howard something, maybe Borden.
You've got a couple of different issues.
I would think that a resolution difference of 1360:760 as compared to 1920x1080 would be quite noticeable, however, the image is very satisfactory in terms of detail. Is that to be expected?
1360:760 and 1920:1080 are both 16:9 ratios. The native resolution of the Samsung 52" is 1920x1080, the native resoluton of the Gateway you say is 1920x1200. Not all that different. And, don't forget you are scaling the images.
As far as viewing the HD media. There are differences, but once you get into HD resolutions, you really need a larger screen to notice them -- the smaller the screen, the harder it will be for the eye to resolve the detail. And, you need to view it from a close enough distance. Generally about 1.5 times the diagonal measurement of the screen. With your 52" TV, for example, the difference between 1080p and 720p is perceptible if you view from a distance of about 6.5 feet or so. But,it's a subtle difference. Further away you would be hard pressed to see any difference. You'll notice a bigger difference between 1080i and 720p because of the difference between interlaced and progressive. So, yes, that is to be expected.
...despite the fact that the highest resolution at 16:9 aspect ratio that my wife's HP can muster is 1360:760, the image fills the screen of our 52-inch Samsung HDTV. Is the explanation that the 24-inch Gateway has a fixed native resolution of 1920x1200, while the Samsung is a multiscan TV that is capable of a variety of resolutions? (When I boot up her computer, I do see 1360:760 pop up brielfy at the corner of the screen.) The reason for the question is that I would expect the 1360:760 image to not go to the edges of the screen.
Are you sure the Gateway has a native resolution of 1920x1200 and that you have set the screen resolution to 1360x760? If the Gateway native resolution is 1920x1200 that is approximately 14:9. If set at that native resolution, you would expect to see some black space at the top and bottom if the 16:9 video image is scaled to fit the width of the screen -- which you do. Would you do me a favor and check the screen resolution setting for the Gateway. In Windows 7, right click on the desktop and select "screen resolution" from the popup menu. If you don't see a screen resolution menu item, select personalize, then display, then adjust resolution. You should always set an LCD computer monitor to the native resolution for the highest quality image. Also,If you are not using the native resolution, if the setting is not in the same ratio as the native resolution, you would expect to see a distorted image -- squares would appear to be rectangles and circles ovals. I suspect that you are set at the native resoluton.
Keep in mind that your image is also being scaled by the viewing software on the pc. DVD players and the TV may also be doing some scaling depending on their settings as Bobby points out.
