Control UHD/4K Monitors Remotely with TeamViewer

Esther
Esther Posts: 4,052 Former Community Manager
edited April 2023 in Blog

header_TeamViewer_UHD_Monitors.png

Monitors with ultra high definition get more and more common. Learn everything you need to know when controlling them remotely.

The market for monitors has been highly competitive for a long time.

Brands try to overtrump each other with the latest technologies for the best possible experience and no matter if it’s simply ginormous screens, curved TVs, or 3D – there’s always a new innovation around the corner.

However, there is one truly classic aspect of improvements, when talking about monitors.

And – who would have thought – I’m talking about screen resolution.

While other technologies, such as 3D, weren’t completely adapted by the consumers and, as a result, don’t sell too well, better screen resolutions are almost guaranteed to be adapted sooner or later.

Well, ultra high definition (UHD), also referred to as 4K, is the youngest generation of screen resolution standards with 3840 x 2160 pixels, which is four times higher than full HD.

And from the looks of it, UHD is here to stay. The market share of UHD monitors is expected to rise to one third by 2019.

For remote supporters, that means there will eventually be occasions when you’ll connect to a UHD monitor to fix a customer’s problems.

Here are some things that are good to know for that occasion.

Working with Differing Screen Resolutions in TeamViewer

The high resolution of UHD monitors is not only a feast for the eye, but also comes with some challenges.

With TeamViewer versions 10 and above, you’ll be able to remotely control UHD monitors.

No special setup or changes are required.But if you’re not in possession of a UHD monitor

yourself, the remote screen might not be displayed ideally.

However, there’s an easy way to fix that.

Learn About the Remote Screen’s Resolution

You can check out the remote screen’s resolution in the Connection Info.

  1. Establish a connection to the remote device as usual.
  2. Once the session has started, go to Actions and click Connection Info in the remote control window.

Find_Monitor_Specifications_InConnection.png

--> The connection info dialogue box will open.

Find_Monitor_Specifications_fitted.png

 

Screen Scaling in TeamViewer

By default, TeamViewer will scale the transmitted screen to match your own screen. But you can also choose other scaling options.

  1. In the remote control window, go to View and click Screen resolution.
  2. Choose between Optimal screen resolution, or other screen resolutions.

VIEW.jpg

 

You can also choose between Best fit, Original or Scaled on the right side of the toolbar.

Here is an overview of the different scaling options and what they mean: 

Monitor_Scaling.png

Keeping Pace with the Hardware

As you probably know, TeamViewer is designed to control a broad variety of operating systems and devices and that variety will only grow in the future.

So no matter what the monitors of the future will be capable of, TeamViewer will keep the pace.

What are your predictions about the next big step monitors will take? Your deductions are welcome in the comment section below!

Former Community Manager

Comments


  • That is great for remoting 1 on 1, but there aren't any features to help presentations from a 4K display.  It would be great if you could select a portion of your display to broadcast from (such as a quarter of the 4K screen which would be a pefrect 1920 x 1080)

    Please see my post https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/TeamViewer-13/Present-window-only-with-no-borders/m-p/24404#M31 for more information on what is experienced presenting from a 4K display)

  • Yes @Mordalo I have the exact same problem. I've just got a new 4K monitor and Team Viewer doesn't work very well anymore. The 'Full Screen' option isn't bad but it literally takes up the whole screen meaning the local Taskbar is no longer available - not very productive! There needs to be a better option.

    I think it's much more likely the developer/IT support is going to have the larger res screen rather than the customer the other end. So it's this way it needs to work.

    James

     

  • Question to the group --  I remotely connect with my iPad into my 4K laptop and everything works well.  But when I get into the office, my laptop's screen is shrunk by at least 25% (black bars on both sides) and I cannot reset/refresh this back to normal.   Does anyone know a way of getting my screen size back to normal without rebooting?

    Thanks!
              Jim

  • Torbins
    Torbins Posts: 1

    @Esther wrote:

    You can also choose between Best fit, Original or Scaled on the right side of the toolbar.

    Here is an overview of the different scaling options and what they mean: 

    Monitor_Scaling.png


    This is not enough for HiDPI screen, because there very important factor is bluriness of the image. Ususally users want image to be exactly 0.5x, 1x or 2x of the original, to avoid blure. But TeamViewer has no option for that.

    Another problem: connecting to Mac with retina screen. It usually looks like nonretina and also suffers from blurines. This happens even on local network connections, where bandtwidth and delays are not an issue.

  • Davester
    Davester Posts: 4

    Plus 1 on what @Torbins said above ^

  • +1 +1 +1 Please support view remote computer from dual monitors that each have 2560x1440 resolution which would likely be a 2560*2 x 1440= 5120x1440.  I don't know since I've never got it to work.  The PC i'm remoting into doesn't have monitors but teamviewer thinks the max is 2048x12xx something. gosh frustrating.

  • Mordalo
    Mordalo Posts: 2

    Still no resolution after almost a year and a half?

  • Jerr
    Jerr Posts: 1
    edited December 2021

    Any update on this?

    Is it still not possible to increase resolution on the client side?

  • milleniumaire
    milleniumaire Posts: 7 ✭✭
    edited August 2022

    Like many Remote Control applications, TeamViewer fails when it comes to accessing machines with different resolution screens. For example, my desktop has a 4K monitor with a very high resolution of 3840 x 1600. My laptop only has a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

    So, when I use TeamViewer to remote control my laptop, I get a window covering about a quarter of my 4K monitor, whereas what I would like to do is to extend the resolution of my laptop window to fit my 4K monitor. Note: This is NOT scaling as I don't simply want the pixels to increase in size, I want to have MORE pixels available through the TeamViewer remote control window for my laptop.

    It's looking likely that the only way I will be able to achieve this is to purchase some good quality (expensive) KVM hardware so that I can share my monitor, keyboard and mouse etc. between my desktop and laptop. I would much prefer to do this with software, so come on TeamViewer developers, have a look at Microsoft's Remote Desktop and replicate how it allows the remote machine to utilise the local machine monitors full resolution.

  • Johnandrew
    Johnandrew Posts: 1

    UHD monitors are becoming more and more common, and this trend is expected to continue in the future. As a remote supporter, you may eventually need to connect to a UHD monitor to fix a customer's problem.

    If you're not in possession of a UHD monitor yourself, the remote screen might not be displayed ideally. However, there's an easy way to fix that.

    First, you can check out the remote screen's resolution in the Connection Info. Once you know the resolution, you can choose the appropriate scaling option in TeamViewer.

    By default, TeamViewer will scale the transmitted screen to match your own screen. But you can also choose between Optimal screen resolution or other screen resolutions. You can also choose between Best fit, Original or Scaled on the right side of the toolbar.

    Regard: Cracktopc