Custom Resolution Guide for 1080i HDTV-HTPC-POWERSTRIP-RADEON - Page 6

I have a WS-65909 (pretty much the same as your WS-65908 but with the integrated HD tuner, I believe) and all of the custom timings posted by Karnis work perfectly for me.


The construction of RGB cables is somewhat critical. Your description of the construction of your cable and the fact that your LCD projector image with the same cable isn't giving you a great picture suggests that your cable is suspect. In fact, you mention only 3 RCA connectors for the cable - you should have 5 (RGBHV - horizontal and vertical sync are pretty important connections) unless you're using a component video adapter. I'm using RGB cables from Better Cables with excellent results, but any well made cable should do.

If you suspect the DVI->VGA dongle as the culprit, doesn't your card also have a VGA connector? If so, give that a shot and take the dongle out of the equation. Assuming you still have problems, go out and purchase a good VGA to RCA breakout cable from a reliable source such as Better Cables and I bet your problems will clear right up.

stay as close to 31.5 or 33.75 as possible

gsr thanks for your comments!

You may have solved my problem. I have NOT added the H & V sync leads to my cable make up since I was under the impresion that Sync on Green would do the trick? I will give it a try, I have a professional breakout cable with H&V leads but only have tried the RGB, Humm just didn't think I needed the H&V sync leads.... dumb ..

Also, I do not use an external scaller I have been expecting the combination of the ATI output and PowerStripe would be doing that for the HDTV input?

The AIW Radeon 8500 only has a DVI connector on it? another dumb problem by ATI. One has to use the DVI to VGA dongle to get to VGA.

Thanks for the help!

9700 Pro
Sony RPTV
Trancoder (audioauthority)

1920x1080i as provided by Karnis works PERFECTLY

However, all other interlaced rez have sever understand vertically.

What should i do to adjust the porches. Whatever I try and do seems to always screw up the display.

Karnis and gsr:

Thanks for all of your help!

gsr's comment on my cable make up was the fix after all. I had not built my VGA to RGBHV with the HV leads since I thought Sync on Green was all I needed, not... I did need the H&V sync leads. The T&Rs now work just fine.

ATI can now take their DVI to HDTV dongle and shove it. I have several computers with ATI boards in them and will now be looking for their replacement going forward, ATI had the right idea but just missed the mark on how to set up a HTPC. I guess all the money for them is in gaming.

Is 1280x720P listed in here somewere?

So Karnis,

Is it possible to get a full screen 1600x900i? It looks on my 16:9 TV that I have an anamorphic squeeze going on vertically.

The whole picture is squished in the middle of the display. All the lines look to be there. So my desktop looks like it is a 2.35 aspect movie -best way to describe it.

So is 1600x900i just not possible? It would be great for games on my 9700 Pro with 2x AA

Karnis:

Looks like I am missing something (again) fundamental about the HD monitor timings. You mention that you are not including T&R's for 720p modes on a 1080i monitor. So what mode is my MITS 65905 running in when I am watching ABC (1280x720p) from my DTC-100? Does the DTC-100 always scale the video to 1080i?

Yes

Karnis, you've solved a mystery I could never quite explain that being why my DTC-100 always seems slightly better than other tuners for SD or 480p source material. The DTC-100 output matches the native resolution of my display.

Karnis:

Thanks. Now the discussion(s) on dscaler is making more sense. On the MITS WS65905 , in the Advanced Setup Menu you can choose 480p or 960i. Any idea how/when this applies? I have never noticed changing it to have any effect.

So does the mits display 1080i input as 1080i or is a 1080i input downconverted to 960i?

It sounds as if the latter is the case. What the native resolution of that display?

Thanks Karnis.

For my Hitachi
540p or 1080i conversion applies to NTSC sources, 480p and 720p
A 1080i ATSC signal is displayed as 1080i.
The native resolution (really the only resolution) is 540p.

So since the mits set can do 480p, 960i, and 1080i what is the native resolution of the display?

My Mitsubishi syncs to 31.5 and 33.75 KHz horizontal scan rates, meaning it can natively display 480p, 540p, and 1080i. That is part of the nature of CRT based displays, they are not inherently single native resolution devices like digital displays are. For whatever reason (probably simplicity and cost reduction) Hitachi chose to support 33.75 KHz only.

Thanks Ron, that makes total sense.

Have used Karnis' resolution and timings settings as well as what's preconfigured in PowerStrip. The preconfigured 960x540 seems to be a better fit for my stuff. Have tweaked both these resolutions mercilessly (front porch, back porch, etc.) and not found a solutioin to:

A white horizontal line at the bottom of the cropped image on both my PC monitor and the HDTV. The white line is (guessing) about 3 or 4 pixels in height. Most noticible on DVD playback

Video card is Radeon 7500, running Win 98 SE on Soyo SY-K7V Dragon plus mb with AMD Athlon XP 1600.

Monitor is a RCA D36TF30 direct view - it is a 4:3 model with a 16:9 mode switch. Using VGA from PC to RCA.

Any thoughts on how to get rid of the white line?

One other thing. I'm pretty much a PowerStrip rookie.

Karnis:

I tried adjusting the vertical sync width a few notches. Didn't get rid of the line in either your recommended settings, or the preconfigured settings.

With your resolution and timings (VFP=7, VSW=1, VBP=15, Hz=60), , the white line is slightly below the black cropping border. Kind of embedded slightly into the bottom black crop.

Using the following vertical settings (VFP=2, VSW=2, VBP=31, Hz=60), the white line appears to be on the border of the bottom crop.

I have not upgraded my Radeon 7500 drivers since I installed the card (about 14 months ago). Wonder if that could be a part of it?

Not sure what to try next.

I'm getting clear ghost characters on menus using a Sapphire Radeon 9000. I've tried several settings including the recommended 848 by 540.
Any thoughts?

I bought the cable from digital connections. VGA to 5 BNC. No switcher.

I think so.

1 - VGA to 5 RCA(HD15M5R6) - $39.00

This is on MITS 46809