Switchres X Tutorial

[Biglee]

Hi Guys and Girls,

Can anyone tell me the where abouts of a good step by step tutorial for SwitchRes X? I have a Intel Mac Mini and a Philips 32PF9731 LCD TV.

I have connected it up via DVI-HDMI and have a problem with the image being cropped when i set the resolution to 1280 x 720. The picture displays beautifully but unfortunately i cannot see the menu bar and the dock is ever so slightly cropped.

I have been looking at SwitchRes X and i think the utility will make the necessary changes but i haven't got a clue where to start from within the App. Its probably not helpful that i have only just bought the Mac and have never used one before.

So any help would be gratefully received.

BigLee

[fedward]

0. All of this is easier to do if you have a portable Mac, since you can configure the external display while viewing everything on the built-in display. You can do it with only the external display (your big TV, that is), but it's tedious.

1. Get the proper cable to connect your Mac to the display (VGI, DVI, or DVI->HDMI, depending on your display's inputs; if you're using a portable Mac with only mini-DVI you'll need the adapter *and* a cable).

2. Connect the display and turn on the Mac. Launch the SwitchResX Control application (if all you're doing is setting up a custom configuration, you don't need the preference pane and thus don't need APE either).

3. In the SwitchResX Control application, select the display you want to configure in the "Settings of:" menu (if it isn't selected already) and click the "Display" tab. Then click the "Export DDC" button and select a location to save the file.

4. Using the text editor of your choice (TextEdit works, or you may have a preference for something else) open that file you just exported. You should see at least one Monitor Description Block (mine has two, labeled Descriptor #0 and Descriptor #1). This should give you a starting point. Mine looks like this:


Descriptor #0 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1920 x 540 @ 60Hz
H. Active...............1920 pixels
H. Blanking.............280 pixels
V. Active...............540 lines
V. Blanking.............22 lines
HSync Offset............88 pixels
HSync Pulse Width.......44 pixels
VSync Offset............2 lines
VSync Pulse Width.......5 lines
Pixel Clock.............74.25MHz
Horizontal freq.........33.75kHz
Vertical freq...........60.05Hz
H Image Size............16mm
V Image Size............9mm
H Border................0 pixels
V Border................0 lines
Interlaced
Sync: Digital separate with
* Positive vertical polarity
* Positive horizontal polarity


Note that the Mode is described as 1920 x 540 @ 60Hz, interlaced. It's actually 1920 x 1080, interlaced. I'm not sure why the vertical resolution is half what it should be there, but that's an important detail to note. If yours looks like it's half what it should be, you'll have to double it below. Use your common sense here.

The next step depends on what problem you need to solve. If you have a picture and you just need to adjust its position and/or size, you have the easier task and these instructions can help you. If you don't have a picture at all, the values provided by your display are invalid, and you'll have to do some research to find valid values (I can't help you find them). Search and/or ask on this forum, and also try Google.

5. Click on the "Custom" tab in the SwitchResX Control app. Click the "+" button to create a new resolution. Select "Custom" in the menu at the top (as opposed to "Scaled"). Start by entering the values in the Monitor Description Block you exported and opened in a text editor. The thing to realize as you get started is that all the numbers interact with each other, and as you change one value the application will recalculate the others if they're affected by the change. At a given resolution, the number of horizontal pixels and the number of vertical lines in each box always have to add to the same totals, and you can get those values by adding the "Active" and "Blanking" values in the Monitor Timing Block. To stick with my display, the horizontal pixel values must add up to 2200 (1920 (H. Active) + 280 (H. Blanking)), and the vertical line values must add up to 1124 (2 * (540 (V. Active) + 22 (V. Blanking))). The horizontal and vertical scan rates are calculated using those total values and the pixel clock value.

This is a very important concept to understand. With a constant pixel clock value and constant totals of Active + Blanking in both axes, the scan rates should also remain constant. If you have changed your active, porch, or sync width values and the scan rates don't add up, you won't get any picture. To use my display as an example again:


Pixel Clock 74.25 Mhz, Interlaced

Horizontal Vertical
Active: 1920 pixels 1080 lines
Frt. porch: 88 pixels 4 lines
Sync width: 44 pixels 10 lines
Back porch: 148 pixels 30 lines
Scan rate: 33.75 kHz 60.05 Hz


Note that 1920 + 88 + 44 + 148 = 2200, and 1080 + 4 + 10 + 30 = 1124.

6a. Adjust the values to fit your display (heh). This is the trial-and-error portion of the task, and is also slightly counterintuitive. You can get an idea of the adjustments you need to make if you use DisplayConfigX to display an "Image Size Test" (in the "Test Screen" tab). It'd make life easier if that were built into SwitchResX, but anyway:

If you need to shrink the visible area, decrease the Active value and increase the front or back porch values by the same amount. If you need to increase it, do the opposite. It helps to work incrementally (say, by multiples of 8) and save and test your work as you go along. Note that you may not actually need to restart the computer: I found that I could just unplug the HDMI cable from the back of my display and plug it back in, and the new settings would take effect. Remember to click "OK" (and not "Cancel") in the Timing Parameters window, then "Apply" in the main window, before you do this, or before you reboot. Otherwise your changes will be lost.

The porch values are counterintuitive. The horizontal "front porch" is the right edge of the screen (not the left as you might expect); the vertical "front porch" is the bottom edge of the screen. To move the image to the right, decrease the horizontal front porch and increase the horizontal back porch; to move it to the left increase the front porch and decrease the back porch. To move the image up, increase the vertical front porch and decrease the back porch, to move it down, decrease the front porch and increase the back porch. Again, it helps to save and restart or disconnect/reconnect the display to test these adjustments. The "Quick change" buttons in the bottom right-hand corner of the Timing Parameters window will adjust the porches for you, but note that in older versions the buttons were reversed (down means up and left means right, if you catch my drift). That's been fixed in version 3.7.6, apparently.

Also, remember as you adjust porch values that you shouldn't ever need to change the sync width.

6b. You know how I said you might not need to restart the computer? That's not actually 100% true for some displays. When I boot my computer with the display connected, the image is shifted to one side. If I subsequently change resolutions in software or disconnect and reconnect the display, the image will shift back. I got around this problem by first coming up with a configuration that was properly aligned after such a switch. After I had that I rebooted and estimated how far the image was shifted to one side. I then adjusted the porch values, saved, rebooted, and tested again. I now have two configurations, one for "fresh boot" that's adjusted for that sideways shift, and one I can use if I've changed the resolution for some reason. After all that, my default settings are now:


Pixel Clock 74.25 Mhz, Interlaced

Horizontal Vertical
Active: 1834 pixels 1024 lines
Frt. porch: 120 pixels 40 lines
Sync width: 44 pixels 10 lines
Back porch: 202 pixels 50 lines
Scan rate: 33.75 kHz 60.05 Hz


Again, 1834 + 120 + 44 + 202 = 2200, and 1024 + 40 + 10 + 50 = 1124. The Pixel Clock and both scan rates are the same as I found in the DDC.

Note also that if you have the same sideways shift problem, your two resolutions can't be identical (the system won't know which one to select). I made mine different by two pixels of horizontal resolution, which turns out to be rounded off in practice anyway (so one's 1832 x 1024, and the other's 1834 x 1024, with porch values adjusted accordingly, but they both look the same).

At this point you should be able to align your desktop to your display by iterating through these steps, applying your changes, and either disconnecting and reconnecting the display or rebooting.

7. If ever you go horribly wrong and go from having a misaligned picture to having no picture at all, you'll have to delete the override installed by SwitchResX. Boot the computer into Safe Mode, launch the SwitchResX Control app again, and click the "Factory settings" button, then the "Apply" button, and reboot.

And as a preemptive strike: no, I probably don't own your display and don't know the numbers for it offhand, and my consulting rate is $45/hr (really!). :cool:

[BSteely]

Awesome post Fedward. Way to go.

[dancinbear]

Nice tutorial, fedward. I'm looking forward to trying it out. And only $45/hr? That's cheap! You in the Milwaukee, WI area? ;)

[sheldonmclean]

Thanks for the tutorial.
I'm curious if this can work for non-interlaced resolutions?
(1280 x 720 as a starting point)
When I experiment with this, the custom resolutions aren't available after a restart.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
--Sheldon.

[fedward]

I'm curious if this can work for non-interlaced resolutions?
(1280 x 720)
When I experiment with this, the custom resolutions aren't available after a restart.


It will work for any interlaced or non-interlaced resolution supported by your display. It just so happens that the primary resolution for mine is 1080i (the second descriptor on mine is for 720p).

I'm guessing that your custom resolutions are out of range for your display. It really helps to start with a known-working configuration, such as the values you'd get if you export the DDC. If you're just guessing on values you're likely to guess wrong.

[sheldonmclean]

Thanks fedward.
I figured out that I need to have 'overscan' on, then shrink the active area.
(I had 'overscan off' and was trying to enlarge the active area and it would only go so far)

My next problem is that the front and back porch numbers for the left and right side seem to have no effect!
That is to say, it doesn't matter what numbers are there, the picture always is too far left or when I was doing the interlaced version, too far right.

Any thoughts about that?

Thanks,
--sdm.

[Doug_Eldred]

It would sure be nice to get an equivalent "intro/tutorial" to DisplayConfigX.

Doug

[mcbrems]

Thanks Fedward!!! The tutorial was solid.

I was having trouble with both SwitchResX and DisplayConfigX,
and then I followed your instructions, and now I am displaying
my Mac Mini desktop perfectly framed in my Sony 50A2000 SXRD.

I would like to add some pointers for anybody who is trying to
get SwitchResX to work with an overscanning SXRD.

I had read elsewhere that the best pixel dimensions for an
50A2000 to place the desktop perfectly within the frame is
1840 x 1020, and I can report that is accurate!

Make sure you print out the DDC Block report from SwitchResX
so you can refer to the values as you change them. (BTW -
my vertical resolution was reported correctly - not halved.)
I took the difference between my full 1920 horizontal display
area and my target 1840 display area, which was 80 pixels,
subtracted this from my active display area, and split the
difference between both my front and back vertical porch,
adding 40 to each. Then I did the same for my horizontal -
splitting the difference of 60 lines between my vertical front
and back porches - adding 30 lines to each, and subtracting
60 lines from the vertical display area.

I tried to do this manually at first, and then gave the automatic
adjustment arrows in the lower right corner a whack - and they
worked perfectly. The porches can be increased or decreased,
while the display area is kept in perfect proportion to them.
Also, in the version of SwitchResX I am using, the arrows were
not backwards, they worked properly if you remember that
the front porches are at bottom and at right (TVs scan from
the bottom to the top).

I tried also just unplugging the HDMI cable from my Mini, as
suggested, but it had no effect, so I restarted. Now here is
where I got confused the first few times - the Sony came back
up 1920x1080 - as if SwitchResX didn't commit the changes.
By chance, I opened the Display Control Panel in OSX
System Preferences, and lo and behold the new 1840x1020
option was listed there among the rest. I clicked it and that
was when the change was finally committed, and I was seeing
my menubar and full dock for the first time!

I noticed that my display area was still a smidge low, and so
I opened SRX, and this time used the translation arrows in the
upper right to raise the display area several lines (remember -
there are more than a thousand of them - so any changes less
than a few lines may not be that noticable.

During this time, I would sometimes use the OSX System Display
Control Panel to jump back to 1920 x 1080, and then snap it
back to the new 1840x1020 setting before it would "snap" to
the new settings.

Anyway - that's how it worked for me. I only was able to figure
this out with the help of the posts on this forum. Maybe somebody
will find my experience helpful.

Now - could somebody recommend the eyeTV Hybrid, Mini, or 500?
I gotta start capturing OTA HDTV!! WoooHoooo!!!!

McB :cool:

[jdonigan]

I love my EyeTV500s.

[Biglee]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write the tutorial. I have solved my issues, but i think lots of people will find it really useful.

[sheldonmclean]

Can anyone help? ...
I've got SwichresX and DisplayConfigX (registered) and have been working on my underscan/overscan troubles.
I figured out how everything works (that I need to anyways) in both programs.
I can change my active size and move the image up or down with the vertical front/back porches.

Now here is the problem:

Horizontal front/back porch values do nothing/zero/zilch/nada for me using either program.
I cannot move my image left or right!

My Mini is a intel core dou
My TV is a Hitachi 55" LCD rear projection.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
--sdm.

[Doug_Eldred]

Two thoughts, neither of which may help...

What connection are you using? I've seen some posts that claim that DVI/VGA works better than DVI/HDMI with respect to these custom setups.

Does the TV itself have any adjustments for size/centering? My plasma does, but only for the VGA input, and that's the one I'm using (because the HDMI is used by my DVD player).

Doug

[PliggerNease]

sweet

[sheldonmclean]

Hi Doug,

I'm using a DVI to HDMI cable. The TV has two HDMI, S-Video and a Coax inputs, but theres no VGA input.
I was looking for a sizing/postioning function on the tv, and it seems to only have a vertical adjustment (strange).

Thanks for the suggestions.
Any more?

--sdm.

[Doug_Eldred]

That IS a little strange. Sorry, I'm about out of ideas to try... With my DVI/VGA (or DVI/RGB, to use the TV's terminology) cable it appeared that 1366x768 was a few pixels off both horizontally and vertically, but much better than either the non-overscanned black bars or overscanned cropped menu bar and dock, and the TV let me adjust it a few pixels. I haven't gone back to see if SwitchResX could've done that, nor have I reconnected my DVI/HDMI to try that, since it's difficult to get to the HDMI jack on the TV given my TV setup.

Doug

[EROCK78]

Can anyone assist me with mine? Samsung HP-S4253.....

Monitor Description blocks:
---------------------------
Descriptor #0 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1280 x 720 @ 60Hz
H. Active...............1280 pixels
H. Blanking.............370 pixels
V. Active...............720 lines
V. Blanking.............30 lines
HSync Offset............110 pixels
HSync Pulse Width.......40 pixels
VSync Offset............5 lines
VSync Pulse Width.......5 lines
Pixel Clock.............74.25MHz
Horizontal freq.........45.00kHz
Vertical freq...........60.00Hz
H Image Size............1102mm
V Image Size............620mm
H Border................0 pixels
V Border................0 lines
Non-Interlaced
Sync: Digital separate with
* Positive vertical polarity
* Positive horizontal polarity

Descriptor #1 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1920 x 540 @ 60Hz
H. Active...............1920 pixels
H. Blanking.............280 pixels
V. Active...............540 lines
V. Blanking.............22 lines
HSync Offset............88 pixels
HSync Pulse Width.......44 pixels
VSync Offset............2 lines
VSync Pulse Width.......5 lines
Pixel Clock.............74.25MHz
Horizontal freq.........33.75kHz
Vertical freq...........60.05Hz
H Image Size............1102mm
V Image Size............620mm
H Border................0 pixels
V Border................0 lines
Interlaced
Sync: Digital separate with
* Positive vertical polarity
* Positive horizontal polarity

Descriptor #2 is Monitor limits:
Horizontal frequency range.......30-48 kHz
Vertical frequency range.........55-65 Hz
Maximum bandwidth unspecified

[MSUSpartan]

I have a Panny PT-44LCX65 and I am able to use DisplayConfigX to move the picture up/down and left/right so now that it is centered on the screen. However, overscan is still a huge problem.

Everytime I try to change the resolution however, from the native 1280x720, I get a black screen on the TV. Good thing I have a Macbook so it makes this process easier for me and I can experiment.

Does anyone have any idea why I can move the picture but not change its resolution? Here are the info from SwitchResX:


Monitor Description blocks:
---------------------------
Descriptor #0 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1280 x 720 @ 60Hz
H. Active...............1280 pixels
H. Blanking.............370 pixels
V. Active...............720 lines
V. Blanking.............30 lines
HSync Offset............110 pixels
HSync Pulse Width.......40 pixels
VSync Offset............5 lines
VSync Pulse Width.......5 lines
Pixel Clock.............74.25MHz
Horizontal freq.........45.00kHz
Vertical freq...........60.00Hz
H Image Size............1102mm
V Image Size............620mm
H Border................0 pixels
V Border................0 lines
Non-Interlaced
Sync: Digital separate with
* Positive vertical polarity
* Positive horizontal polarity

Descriptor #1 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1920 x 540 @ 60Hz
H. Active...............1920 pixels
H. Blanking.............280 pixels
V. Active...............540 lines
V. Blanking.............22 lines
HSync Offset............88 pixels
HSync Pulse Width.......44 pixels
VSync Offset............2 lines
VSync Pulse Width.......5 lines
Pixel Clock.............74.25MHz
Horizontal freq.........33.75kHz
Vertical freq...........60.05Hz
H Image Size............1102mm
V Image Size............620mm
H Border................0 pixels
V Border................0 lines
Interlaced
Sync: Digital separate with
* Positive vertical polarity
* Positive horizontal polarity

Descriptor #2 is Monitor name:
PANASONIC-MMD
Descriptor #3 is Monitor limits:
Horizontal frequency range.......15-46 kHz
Vertical frequency range.........59-61 Hz
Maximum bandwidth unspecified


Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated! Cheers

[dustboy]

This is all great and informative, but my cheezy plasma doesn't respond with this info. Any advice on where to start? I can't find any detailed specs anywhere. Don't say a new plasma, I'm in debt as it is.

[dustboy]

Ha..I answered my own question by downloading SRX instead of DCX, the quick change buttons make it so easy!!

[subbedout]

I was having trouble with both SwitchResX and DisplayConfigX,
and then I followed your instructions, and now I am displaying
my Mac Mini desktop perfectly framed in my Sony 50A2000 SXRD.

mcbrems, do you have an Intel Mac mini or the original PPC version? I have a PPC Mac mini and haven't yet been successful with 1080i on my SXRD 60XBR1 (which doesn't do 1080p). I'm going to try out your tips though - thanks!

Now - could somebody recommend the eyeTV Hybrid, Mini, or 500?
I gotta start capturing OTA HDTV!! WoooHoooo!!!!

I picked up the eyeTV hybrid (European version) and it works well, although I've had the software "restart" a couple of times when flicking through channels fast, luckily not while I've been recording.

[Pullo66]

Fedward - thanks so much. This totally fixed my problems. This was really a great tutorial.

Thanks!

[brycethornton]

Thanks so much for this guide. I finally got my Philips 37PF7320A working using your info. It took a couple hours of guess/check/record/repeat. The settings for my Mac Mini (Intel) are attached.

[stim]

Hey guys. I have been using my TV as a monitor with Windows XP for quite a while. I used a program called Powerstrip and entered the settings in this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=670840 so that the picture would fill the entire screen.

I have entered the exact same settings into Switchres X, but it is not filling the screen. I think that this is because it is rounding the pixel clock, but I am not sure. The pixel clock should be 79.393, but it is set to 79.39 after I save the custom resolution. Does anyone know how I can override the program to set the pixel clock at 79.393 instead of 79.39? Is there a different program that might work better for what I am doing?

Thanks! :)

[charged]

I just spent the last hour and a half configuring SwitchRes X on a PPC Mac Mini with my 26" Samsung TXP2670WHX so I figured I would share my numbers. I'm new to this sort of stuff so it might not be the best possible configuration, but it's centered and fills the screen on my particular TV. At the very least it should get you into the ballpark.

Pixel Clock: 74.11 MHz
Non-Interlaced

Horizontal:
Active - 1136 pixels
Front Porch - 145 pixels
Sync Width - 40 pixels
Back Porch - 333 pixels
Scan Rate - 44.807 kHz
Positive Sync - checked

Vertical:
Active - 656 lines
Front Porch - 39 lines
Sync Width - 10 lines
Back Porch - 42 lines
Scan Rate - 59.982 Hz
Positive Sync - checked

[charged]

I have entered the exact same settings into Switchres X, but it is not filling the screen. I think that this is because it is rounding the pixel clock, but I am not sure. The pixel clock should be 79.393, but it is set to 79.39 after I save the custom resolution. Does anyone know how I can override the program to set the pixel clock at 79.393 instead of 79.39? Is there a different program that might work better for what I am doing?

Thanks! :)

Did you install OS X on the same computer/video card, or are you now trying this on a Mac? If they are different computers it might just be an issue that the video cards are different?

If I were you I'd just go start from scratch using the guide that was posted here. It's pretty good and should send you in the right direction.

[kriskent]

Resolution 1366x768 NATIVE RESOLUTION i.e.

I am running the 1920x1080 mode now, but the menus on the bottom (dock) care halved though the screen seemed to be filled up.

However, if i turn off the overscan or uncheck it, it's better, i can see the dock but it leaves black thick bars on both sides.

Please help me to display the mini on full widescreen.

Thank you

[listy]

Has anyone managed to output 1080p/24 from their mac?

[listy]

Resolution 1366x768 NATIVE RESOLUTION i.e.

I am running the 1920x1080 mode now, but the menus on the bottom (dock) care halved though the screen seemed to be filled up.

However, if i turn off the overscan or uncheck it, it's better, i can see the dock but it leaves black thick bars on both sides.

Please help me to display the mini on full widescreen.

Thank you


Hi, you seem to be having the same problems I had, but I'm using a pioneer 5070HD. The only way I could get rid of the overscan crap and the huge borders was to give up on DVI -> HDMI, and hook up via VGA with a DVI -> VGA adapter.

The apple then detected the display differently and gave me different modes to play with, i.e. treated it like a monitor rather than a TV. I now get a full screen with no lost edges.

[i_maximus]

listy and kriskent,

SwitchResX, which is the topic of this thread, should be able to help you solve your problems. I had the same problem. Bars on left and right, or bars on top and bottom, or black all the way around. Then I downloaded SwitchResX, followed the tutorial posted at the beginning by fedward, and bam! Now my display fills up my screen, edge to edge to edge to edge. It wasn't real easy to comprehend for a commoner like myself, but it ended up being pretty easy to do, following the tutorial.

Thanks fedward!

[rmccully]

Will SwitchresX work through a receiver? I have a G4 Mac Mini running 10.3.9 connected via DVI->HDMI into my Onkyo 604, then HDMI into my Panasonic TH42PX60U plasma. I just downloaded the program this morning and played around for about an hour before I had to go to work. The computer says my display is the Onkyo, with a resolution of 1280x720. When I follow the tutorial, switchresX crashes out whenever I try to "Export DDC" then save. It creates a file, but it is blank.

Am I limited since the connection is through the AVR? Can I directly attach the computer to the plasma and configure, and then swap over to the Onkyo using the new settings? It would probably be easier for me to just live with the overscan issues than to reconfigure my whole setup to connect Mac directly to the TV in the long term. I only use it to play iTunes over my stereo.

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated, as they could save me hours of troubleshooting. Thanks.

[unstahoonoo]

What a fantastic tutorial - I now have edge to edge display on my Mac Mini / Toshiba HDTV combination for the first time in a year of ownership. Many thanks

I'm running in the obscure res of 1224x684 however, and I would like to try and get a higher res using the same method. My problem is that when I installed SwitchresX and DisplayconfigX the overscan option in my display properties disappeared. In my starting config it was enabled and now I can't find a way to turn it off (which would hopefully allow me to get a higher res).

Anyone have any ideas about how i could do this?

[Ocho Lopez]

I downloaded SwitchresX and eventually found a custom resolution that I thought was perfect for my tv, but I noticed that it occasionally will drift on me. When I try to correct it changes in the front and back porch values have no effect on the picture position. It seems to correct itself and then drift on its own accord. Does anyone have any idea what is happening or how to fix it. I am using a standard 1.83 core duo mac mini with a dvi cable to a sony kp-65ws510 tv.

[robersk]

I have a mac mini 1.83 and a 32'' samsung.. My question would be how would i get better quality.. either spend more time configuring the screen with HDMI or just plug in VGA to the dvi-vga adapter and have it work automatically (apparantly)?

[chefklc]

Many Macbook and Mini owners report that 1366x768 of a typical 32" LCD HDTV "just works" over VGA. (I'm one of them.)

It isn't so much a "quality" issue, as it is a "plug it in and have it work right out of the box without any third party software hassle" issue.

There are those who spend the time to connect digitally, you just have to be willing to do so. Depending on how far away you sit from the display, you may not notice a difference anyway.

[robersk]

ok so ive tried this method with the hdmi, following instructions to the letter. I can get the screen to the right size but it wont let me move the screen into position. Ive had the horizontal front porch at 0 (I use the arrows to change the figures) and it still doesnt reach the left hand side of my screen. Any ideas?

[fedward]

ok so ive tried this method with the hdmi, following instructions to the letter. I can get the screen to the right size but it wont let me move the screen into position. Ive had the horizontal front porch at 0 (I use the arrows to change the figures) and it still doesnt reach the left hand side of my screen. Any ideas?

You need to increase the front porch, not decrease it. Horizontal porch refers to the right edge of the screen, and vertical porch is the bottom, not the top.

[fedward]

I downloaded SwitchresX and eventually found a custom resolution that I thought was perfect for my tv, but I noticed that it occasionally will drift on me. When I try to correct it changes in the front and back porch values have no effect on the picture position. It seems to correct itself and then drift on its own accord. Does anyone have any idea what is happening or how to fix it. I am using a standard 1.83 core duo mac mini with a dvi cable to a sony kp-65ws510 tv.

My TV (also a Sony) does something similar (if not the same thing, exactly). On initial boot the picture is shifted over to the right, but if I change the resolution at all it'll shift to the left. So if you set it up so that it's aligned properly on boot, it'll then go wrong if you ever change the resolution (or unplug the cable). The other way to handle that is to set it up so it's aligned properly after a resolution change, but if you do that you'll have to change the resolution first thing after every reboot in order to align it.

I looked for an explanation as to why this happened and was unable to find one.

[Ocho Lopez]

I am not just seeing the image move during reboots or when i manually change the resolution. When I watch a movie might notice there is some underscan one moment and then it will be gone when I look later. It drifts randomly... at least I assume it is random. I haven't actually tried to see if there is a pattern in the length of time it takes to move. Has anyone seen this happen? Is it possible that i might have better luck with DisplayConfig? I have been away from home for I while so I haven't tried that yet.

[Ayla]

Has anyone managed to output 1080p/24 from their mac?

I would be interested in knowing this as well.

Anyone?

And... Would it be best to output 1080p 24Hz, 48Hz or 72Hz to my iScan VP50 for HD DVD playback?

[bald-headed]

I have a new mac mini 2.0ghz hooked up to my Panasonic 50" DLP (PT-50DL54) which supports 720p & 1080i, using a DVI cable with a DVI-HDMI adapter.

I have followed the Switchres x tutorial but I have one issue I still can't resolve, I still have a small portion of the left hand side being cut off. Esentially it prevents me from seeing the Apple system menu (blue Apple logo).

I have spent about a total of 8 hours playing with the settings to no avail.

If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

[hifi]

Has anyone managed to figure out the proper values for a Sony KDS-##A3000 SXRD running at 1080p. I followed some of the provided #'s from the older SXRD models (one set in this thread and one in another) and it doesn't quite work out right on my TV.

[Bobby Doodle]

Hello. I'm having some serious issues with my Mac Mini and my new Acer AL2016W monitor and I found this topic through Google and it looks promising.

The main problem is... I've pretty much screwed things up beyond anything discussed here thus far. :confused:

The problem started when I installed SwitchResX to see if I could get the monitor to run with DVI rather than the (slightly fuzzy) VGA and tried to apply a custom setting. I'm guessing I input the full resolution values at the top without knowing I should have subtracted the horizontal and vertical values as well as screwed up the refresh rates somehow.

Regardless of what I did, my monitor doesn't work anymore and I can't see a thing. Every time I plug it in, it tells me that there is either no signal, or that the image is not supported. And this applies not only to DVI, but also VGA as well... which is what really bothers me.

I've tried resetting the P-Ram (By holding down the Command-Option-P-R keys until second startup chime), the PMU (By shutting down, unplugging, holding down the power button, plugging in, releasing the power button, and starting up as usual), trying to boot in safe mode (by holding down shift right after the chime until startup completes), and a combination of resetting the P-Ram and PMU, but all have the same non-effect.

I even hooked up a different monitor (VGA) that worked and tried to uninstall SwitchResX to see if I could at least get VGA back on the Acer AL2016W, but every time I plugged in the Acer AL2016W after the SwitchResX uninstall with either the VGA or DVI cable, the Mac Mini would still reset to the old custom setting I had tried so hard to erase by uninstalling the program with the unintaller and following the FAQs (Question 6) for SwitchResX. :confused:

So anyway... in my ignorant attempts at resolving this issue, I tried reinstalling SwitchResX and made it so that now my other monitor doesn't work either. And I'm hesitant to plug in my third (and final) monitor and mess with anything. :confused:

Help? :(

[Bobby Doodle]

Okay! The VGA hookup is working again by resarting in safemode and switinching monitors while it was booting then hitting the "Factory Settings" button in SwitchResX.

I'm still going to work on trying to get the DVI to work. Has anyone ever set up a AL2016W with SwitchResX before?

[nandovic]

Hi all,

Going through the SwitchResX tutorial explained in this forum was really useful for me, since I was able to maximize the horiz size from my mini G4 through a DVI-HDMI cable. BUT, things are not so sweet with the vertical dimension...

I'm kind of stuck in a 1408x747 resolution, which is fine for filling up the horizontal but I can't get rid of a black space in the lower area of my display.

After exporting my display information I saw that it uses 750 vertical lines in total (for the display configuration 2, which defaults to 1280x720 non-interlaced, i.e. 720 + 25 for porches + 5 for synch = 750, if I recall well).

The problem I'm facing is that I must set porches and synch to 0 if I want to set the size to 750 while keeping the vert. refresh (60hz) and pixel clock (74.25) constant... and the mini refuses any vertical size with porch and synch set to 0. :(

I also tried to increase vertical size to 768 (as I can use it with VGA input), but that also implies a change in frequencies (refresh rate and/or clock) which seems to mean a blank screen for the Hitachi LV3701 LCD I'm using (although it means a valid res for the mini, as I can see it from my iMac through screen sharing).

A bit of help in the form of any suggestion or advice would be really apreciated.

cheers!

[TreyS]

......Note that the Mode is described as 1920 x 540 @ 60Hz, interlaced. It's actually 1920 x 1080, interlaced. I'm not sure why the vertical resolution is half what it should be there, but that's an important detail to note.

It's half because 1080i is really 540p. ;)

Interlaced can only fill every other line at a time so it always displays 540 lines at any given second. Odd lines for one second, even lines the next second and so on. That's why you see the flicker sometimes.

720p and 1080p is greater in the fact that there is more info on the screen at any given moment in time. Obviously 1080p is the best because of that fact.

[BSteely]

I believe you meant to say..."odd lines for one-sixtieth of a second, even lines the next sixtieth second and so on." Definitely fields are not left up on the screen for one second each. I wouldn't call that flicker. I'd call that a slide show.

[BSteely]

To answer a question asked a while back in this thread, yes, I have gotten my Mac mini to output 1920 x 1080 at 24Hz, a.k.a. 1080p 24fps.

[Jshwon]

I desperately need help as I've just hooked up my mini to my 42" Sony KDF-42WE55 (no internal tuner) via DVI cable. When I initially hooked it up it defaulted to a resolution of 1200x720 with overscan on. I tuned overscan off and the picture was clear but cropped on the sides. It wasnt ideal as the doc and icons seemed oversized. So I went to the preferences and changed it to 1900x1080i, when I did this the doc and icons were smaller and was at a size more suitable. The problem was that the text in windows were practically unreadable. Also the there was a "stutter" or shaking effect on the windows and graphics. And it was still cropped on the sides.

Using SwitchResX I tweaked a custom resolution and tried to use that but now I get an completely unreadable screen. It looks like scrambled cable. Per instructions on the avsforums I exported the tv's DDC and it shows as follows:

Monitor Description blocks:
---------------------------
Descriptor #0 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1920 x 540 @ 60Hz
Pixel Clock.............74.25 MHz Interlaced

Horizontal Vertical
Active..................1920 pixels 540 lines
Front Porch............. 88 pixels 2 lines
Sync Width.............. 44 pixels 5 lines
Back Porch.............. 148 pixels 15 lines
Blanking................ 280 pixels 22 lines
Total...................2200 pixels 562 lines
Scan Rate............... 33.75 kHz 60.05 Hz

This is my first time using SwitchResX and would really like any guidance you guys can provide. Is there anyone with the same TV that has found ideal settings that you can share?

[Jshwon]

Looking further into this I think 1080i will not be a useable setting for my TV. Due to the flicker that happens it makes it unwatchable on the desktop. The TV supports 1080i but 720p looks much better. The question is will movies and HD look good at 720p?

In fact when I hooked it up the first time I think it defaulted to 720 and looked similar to this but it was cropped on the sides:
http://tenant.com/images/mini/full/IMG_1656.jpg

I would really like the display to look similar to this:
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3877/rebel013il6.jpg

Both are Sonys but the bottom one is the same screen size as mine 42"

[Smithcraft]

Well, now I know why I had such a hard time with my Toshiba 32HL95. Descriptors 0, 1, 2, and 3 are Empty Descriptors! Then again, some of the other bits of info(which are on the DA G4 Media system and not this one, or I'd just post it) are way off also!

SC

[jaredzimmerman]

i like many other people have thick black bands around my screen when its set to 1280x720, if i enable overscan it goes edge to edge but crops off half the dock and the menubar at the top of the screen, is there a quick way to determine the right settings for SRX based on the tv model?

[terminaldawn]

Thanks very much for the tutorial! Very helpful. One thing I am unclear about. Is the display to be adjusted in SwitchResX with the OverScan turned on or Off?? (System Preferences > Display > Options > Overscan)

Thanks.

[BSteely]

Thanks very much for the tutorial! Very helpful. One thing I am unclear about. Is the display to be adjusted in SwitchResX with the OverScan turned on or Off?? (System Preferences > Display > Options > Overscan)

Thanks.

Use whichever setting makes the video biggest. I think that is with the checkbox unchecked but I can't confirm that from the computer I am running at the moment.

[terminaldawn]

Overscan checked makes the screen much bigger. with Overscan turned off i have black borders around the edge.

So I am confused, even though I have a 1920 x 1080 screen after I configure this with SwitchResX my resolution is 1848X1024 ... am I losing resolution by doing this?

[BSteely]

Overscan checked makes the screen much bigger. with Overscan turned off i have black borders around the edge.

So I am confused, even though I have a 1920 x 1080 screen after I configure this with SwitchResX my resolution is 1848X1024 ... am I losing resolution by doing this?

Yes, your TV is overscanning and throwing pixels away at the edges. That's typical behavior for a TV. Many modern TVs have a way to defeat that so check your TV's user manual for information about making "PC" connections.

[five]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I am having problems with mine working correctly.

I had the same starting values as the author and I needed to end up with a resolution of 1152x648.

The numbers I got:
Horizontal Vertical
active: 1152 pixels 648 lines
front: 472 pixels 220 lines
width: 44 pixels 10 lines
back: 532 pixels 246 lines
----------------------------------------
total: 2200 1124
So the problem with my numbers is that it won't let me put anything higher than 63 lines in the front porch vertical value. I will put 220 and then i'll revert to 63. All other values work fine.

Any ideas or workarounds to get the correct values?

[five]

Any ideas guys?

[BSteely]

If you can't get the front porch value to take above 63, then just try using that value. Put the missing 157 lines (220-63) into the back porch so that it becomes 403 lines. See if you can get that to work.

[andersschroder]

can anyone help me setting up the text doc for switchresx for my sony bravia 32 lcd (KLV-V32A10E) running on my new mac mini? I am so lost and at my last attempt it made the screen black so i had to start up in safe mode and uninstall switchresx. I'm a fool at this and hope any of you rockstars can help me out here.

Thank you in advance...

[beowulf1877]

1 vote for making this thread a stickie.

[Further]

Not a bad idea.

[andersschroder]

can anyone help me setting up the text doc for switchresx for my sony bravia 32 lcd (KLV-V32A10E) running on my new mac mini? I am so lost and at my last attempt it made the screen black so i had to start up in safe mode and uninstall switchresx. I'm a fool at this and hope any of you rockstars can help me out here.

Thank you in advance...

anyone???

[andersschroder]

anyone???

can anyone help me setting up the text doc for switchresx for my sony bravia 32 lcd (KLV-V32A10E) running on my new mac mini? I am so lost and at my last attempt it made the screen black so i had to start up in safe mode and uninstall switchresx. I'm a fool at this and hope any of you rockstars can help me out here.

Thank you in advance...


Please anyone???

[BSteely]

andersschroder, can you explain what you mean by setting up a text doc? I am not familar with that feature in SRX. Otherwise I would like to help.

[andersschroder]

andersschroder, can you explain what you mean by setting up a text doc? I am not familar with that feature in SRX. Otherwise I would like to help.

Thank you! If you read the first post, fedward sets up switchresx by exporting DDC. It outputs the settings that switchresx detects as a text file as far as i understand. Then he changes the text file and loads the info back in. And bam, he has some new modes to select. If there is an easier way to do it, it would be great =)

My lcd screen runs 1366*768 but switchresx detects 1280x720. It leaves the picture with big fat borders around the edge of the screen and if i select overscan it crops too much of the picture.

btw i'm going dvi->hdmi

Hope you can help.

[BSteely]

Thank you! If you read the first post, fedward sets up switchresx by exporting DDC. It outputs the settings that switchresx detects as a text file as far as i understand. Then he changes the text file and loads the info back in. And bam, he has some new modes to select. If there is an easier way to do it, it would be great =)

My lcd screen runs 1366*768 but switchresx detects 1280x720. It leaves the picture with big fat borders around the edge of the screen and if i select overscan it crops too much of the picture.

btw i'm going dvi->hdmi

Hope you can help.

Yes, there is an easier way to input a video timing into SwitchRes X by using its built-in calculator that is based on something called the Generalized Timing Formula (GTF). By using the GTF calculator, all you need enter is the format, namely 1366 by 768 in this case, and the desired vertical refresh, usually 50Hz or 60Hz, and SRX will calculate and fill in all the other boxes based on the GTF. The way to do this is as follows:

Open SRX and click on the Custom tab. Click on the "+" symbol to add a new timing. A new window will open with the current video timing values inserted. At the bottom of that window, put a check mark in the box for "Use simplified settings:" and then in the associated pop-up select "GTF". Now go into the timing cells on the window and you should see that you can only enter values for Horizontal Active (set this to 1366) and Vertical Active (set to 768) and then set the correct Vertical Scan rate, which I guess will be 50Hz for that particular Sony, though 60 might also do, so you may need to try both. Then click the OK button and follow the directions for saving and restarting. The newly created timing should then show up within the normal OS X Displays preferences pane.

I have to warn you, I read the English language version of the user manual for your Sony TV and did not find a single mention of how to connect the TV to a PC. That's usually a bad sign. This TV seems to only be compatible with conventional video timings like 1080i, 720p, 480i, etc. but it may not necessarily work from a timing equal to the panel's native resolution. So I can't promise a good outcome from using SRX as I have outlined above. I wish you luck.

[andersschroder]

Yes, there is an easier way to input a video timing into SwitchRes X by using its built-in calculator that is based on something called the Generalized Timing Formula (GTF). By using the GTF calculator, all you need enter is the format, namely 1366 by 768 in this case, and the desired vertical refresh, usually 50Hz or 60Hz, and SRX will calculate and fill in all the other boxes based on the GTF. The way to do this is as follows:

Open SRX and click on the Custom tab. Click on the "+" symbol to add a new timing. A new window will open with the current video timing values inserted. At the bottom of that window, put a check mark in the box for "Use simplified settings:" and then in the associated pop-up select "GTF". Now go into the timing cells on the window and you should see that you can only enter values for Horizontal Active (set this to 1366) and Vertical Active (set to 768) and then set the correct Vertical Scan rate, which I guess will be 50Hz for that particular Sony, though 60 might also do, so you may need to try both. Then click the OK button and follow the directions for saving and restarting. The newly created timing should then show up within the normal OS X Displays preferences pane.

I have to warn you, I read the English language version of the user manual for your Sony TV and did not find a single mention of how to connect the TV to a PC. That's usually a bad sign. This TV seems to only be compatible with conventional video timings like 1080i, 720p, 480i, etc. but it may not necessarily work from a timing equal to the panel's native resolution. So I can't promise a good outcome from using SRX as I have outlined above. I wish you luck.


Thank you so much. I tried your trick but everytime my lcd goes black and states that it doesnt work with that resolution. Bummer I guess i wont get this screen to work. But thanx anyway for helping me out =)

[vw412fan]

Hello all, I'm a new member here but have lurked for a while now. Thanks for the good SwitchResX tutorial posted above.

For what it's worth I have my Mac mini 1.66 Core Duo connected via DVI --> HDMI to a Panasonic Viera TH-50PX80U and am using these settings:

Horizontal (H) active – 1224
H front porch – 136
H Sync – 80
H Back porch – 208
Vertical (V) active – 688
V front porch – 22
V sync – 5
V back porch – 36

I originally found these settings for a TH-42PX60B, and adjusted the vertical front and back porch in order to move the image down a bit. At this point I am missing just the top of the Apple leaf in the menu bar, and I have the full Dock. (I'll update this post with a link once I'm allowed :) )

I still need to experiment in order to eliminate the periodic horizontal shift. This thread was a nice help in adjusting the porch settings.

Thanks all!

[MAC_FANATIC]

I used your settings for my 50px80u and I got the same results. Thanks!

Have you updated your settings for better results?

Have you tried to create a custom setting for a 1080 signal from the mac?

Thanks again!

Hello all, I'm a new member here but have lurked for a while now. Thanks for the good SwitchResX tutorial posted above.

For what it's worth I have my Mac mini 1.66 Core Duo connected via DVI --> HDMI to a Panasonic Viera TH-50PX80U and am using these settings:

Horizontal (H) active – 1224
H front porch – 136
H Sync – 80
H Back porch – 208
Vertical (V) active – 688
V front porch – 22
V sync – 5
V back porch – 36

I originally found these settings for a TH-42PX60B, and adjusted the vertical front and back porch in order to move the image down a bit. At this point I am missing just the top of the Apple leaf in the menu bar, and I have the full Dock. (I'll update this post with a link once I'm allowed :) )

I still need to experiment in order to eliminate the periodic horizontal shift. This thread was a nice help in adjusting the porch settings.

Thanks all!