Strange image distortion, Macbook pro 2010 to HDTV

I searched with Google, all kinds of forums, found no answer to this problem.

I recently got a new macbook air, and decided to make my old Macbook pro 2010 a (fancy) streamer for watching movies.

I connected the Mac to an HDTV (Philips 37PFL5405) via VGA adapter.

Now - every image on that screen (either a picture, a movie, anything) undergoes a peculiar effect - the images distort as if they become a topographic map.

That is - instead of smooth gradients there are suddenly stripes .

This is not a resolution issue. Images looks crisp (albeit with this strange effect), text looks great, just that any image undergoes this strange transformation.

(I tried different resolution settings just in case).

Also it does not matter if I mirror the image on the Mac screen or not.

Upgrading to OS X Maverics did not help.

There is NO such issue if I connect my new Macbook air to the same HDTV with the same VGA adapter.

I attach an example - the image as seen on the HDTV. Picture was taken with a camera. The effect I'm describing can clearly be seen on the upper left side - as if it was constructed by painting parallel stripes. Zooming in (on screen, making the image larger) does not change the picture (this effect does not disappear). The same image on the macbook screen looks smooth (no such stripes) - see below.

This effect is mainly pronounced on wide smooth regions of a given image. On regions with a lot of details it can hardly be seen (such as in the lower right side).

I'm completely baffled. Any ideas would be appreciated.

For comparison - the same image on the Macbook screen. Taken with the same camera. It looks darker and there is a brighter area on the left side due to light conditions in the room.

However - everything is smooth - no stripes, no "topographical map" effect.