Vista Tutorial - Having some display issues...

I'm a noob... I'll admit it.
First of all the specs:
Gateway GM5664 desktop computer running Vista Home Premium 32bit.
AMD Phenom 9600 quad core processor
BluRay/HDDVD player
ATI Radeon HD 3650 1gb graphics card (which I just upgraded to...)
46" Samsung 1080p LCD HDTV (yeah, I know, using a TV as a monitor, maybe that's the issue...)
Resolution is set at 1920x1080
I have updated the drivers to ATI's newest available...

My display issues are as follows. Basically, my display seems to be pixellated on the login screen. At the vista login screen I can see blocks where it transitions from blue to green... The display doesn't look very "crisp" or "clear" like it does on my IBM laptop (set at 1400x1050) with a 64mb graphics card. Say in Firefox along my bookmarks toolbar, there is some haloing around the text. Also, some text seems blocky instead of smooth, even though cleartype is enabled.
Anybody run into these issues or have a quick fix, or ANY fix? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Welcome AZSkier!

When I first got my machine the monitor seemed to display text with a blue-magenta halo (or artifact). As you can see from my system specs., I run a computer monitor and the haloing was a bit irritating. However, it's gone now. I'm not completely sure what I did to remove it - updating drivers or changing the connection from computer to monitor to DVI. I suspect it was the connection, which was just plain laziness on my behalf.

Anyway, I suspect your problem is a connection one, i.e. the quality of the connection. What options do you have for connecting computer to HDTV?

I'm pretty much a noob aswell, but I reckon a simple trouble-shoot would determine the problem. I would get hold of a 'real' monitor with DVI connection and see if anything changes.

PS: What does AZSkier stand for?

AZ is Arizona's state abbreviation (that's where I currently live) and I'm a skier, so gotta include that in my screen name
I haven't tried it on a regular DVI monitor yet, but DVI and HDMI are essentially the same sort of signal, so there shouldn't be any issue there... The video card has an S-Video out as well (with a component cable adapter) that I could hook up, but I've been using the DVI to HDMI adapter with an HDMI cable. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the graphics drivers a few times... nothing seems to be working. It was weird though because when I first installed the graphics card, it was absolutely gorgeous for about a week before it went to crap.

I think the problem is in your HDTV display settings. Look in your HDTV manual to see if you have the right settings and are using the right port connections on the TV. For instance, PC connections might only be supported on Video 1. PC and X Box connections could be on separate ports. You might have to use a lower resolution if your TV doesn't support PC resolutions high enough.

By the way, 1080p only works on HD movies if your set is configured for progressive scanning, hence the 'p'. It's possible progressive scanning is the issue.

I read through my manual and checked the FAQs and technical support on Samsung's website. My TV is supposed to be able to display at 1920x1080 just fine. It says to have it connected through the HDMI 1 connection (I have 3). Which it is... I've tried it on the other HDMI connections and still no luck.

I thought the 'skier' part was just that. Well, hello fellow skier!

It's weird that it worked for a week. I was connecting my monitor via the adapter thingy for a few weeks and was getting those halo/artifacts. Going direct (i.e. DVI) seemed to clear things up. Or maybe it was updating my driver?