Custom Resolution Guide for 1080i HDTV-HTPC-POWERSTRIP-RADEON - Page 12

Ok, I re-read the begining of this thread and think that I can make the adjustment to the horizontal overscan issue, but why can't this theory be applied to the vertical settings?

I'm not sure how helpful this really is, but have a look at this this FAQ.

I'm still working on fine-tuning some of the timings for my board and monitor but thanks for the hard work Karnis because of you I was able to play some HDTV Quake III Arena since your 1080i timings worked (with only minor adjustments for my rig).

Thanks to all this place rocks.

Ashley, thanks for the link, I understand what is up with the second suggestion, but how is Powerstrip achieving the first process?

And, in both cases is the signal that is sent out to the display still interpreted as a 1280x720 resolution ( the projector is expecting to see)?

Thanks, Karnis, I'm going to try these methods (some or all) to get an image that has less spill over, I'll let you guys know the results!

Al Sherwood,
A picture is worth a thousand words. Can you take a few shots of the problem on the TV and post them? I'm curious to see what you are experiencing graphically. If anyone else has photos of their HTPC running and can also provide custom values they had to use, that would be great information!

Karnis, thanks for all of your input. It is greatly appreciated. A collegue and I are actually working (mostly him really..I just gave him the idea) out a RGBHV to Y-Pr-Pb transcoder that should knock the rest of them out of the water. We would, however, like to cover all aspects of HTPC to make sure we might not be missing something. We have the SMPTE standards for HDTV as well as an understanding of VGA output (He engineered an external PCTV box in the very early 90's and specializes in RF and video...not to mention a Macrovision removal circuit that used to be featured in magazines). What I am trying to find though, is a general idea of what input these TV's generally have problems with (i.e. what video cards/drivers are capable of outputting the standard formats) and what TV's (or types) seem to have more issues as far as getting proper sync. 480p is a no brainer and we actually took a progressive-scan DVD player and hooked Y through a makeshift macrovision removal circuit (not sure of the right wording for it) and then into a standard oscilloscope. As we both figured, there are definate serration pulses and equalization pulses much like standard interlaced inputs. That is not such a big deal. The bigger deal is figuring out the other half of the equation...what inputs can we expect to deal with in order to get the already predetermined outputs? Dies that make sense? Basically, what inputs do folks want displayed in all honesty (resolutions and aspect ratios)? What cards should let those happen? How much of that is based on drivers alone? What we would like to do is get a list of video cards and drivers that seem to output the right resolutions and then go from there. A good record of what TV's (which would be easiest if anyone who has to use a custom geometry of sorts) and photos for quick reference would be awesome. There should be no reason why someone couldn't just input the proper resolution they desire and if natively supported, get a pixel-perfect picture of the TV once we are done. If any of this seems like it doesn't make sense it is because I am way too excited about this project. Thanks a lot!

From within PowerStrip, Device Manager and even the ATI montor tab the FPD shows as the Sony GDM-FW900, which I expected to see.

However under the ATI Displays tab anf ten FPD the atributes show no refresh or resulution but do flag the Panel display name as: 12SF-D?

Is this an issue? I would have though that it would list the Sony.

I am having a hard time with a few things. I finally got my DIY transcoder working quite well. I'll be adding a vga pass-through to it on a week or so as well as cleaning up the design so everything is in a nice tiny case. I am using a ti4600 with the latest official drivers as well. The transcoder/video card is letting me do most desired resolutions with no problem at all (480p's, 540p's, 720p's and just about every interlaced resolution I have tried.) I am having trouble getting a proper display from the 1920x1080i at all. No matter what I do, it seems that the screen is split in two. The left half starts on the right half and the right ends on the left half of the screen. Also, most of the 540p's are seemingly very rough to get powerstrip to accept and I keep getting the "restart" option when trying them. Is that something that is most likely controlled by my monitor driver or is this more likely a video card driver issue? If it is a monitor driver issue could someone explain the process to make a custom driver? I have the driver Karnis posted very early in this thread but am wondering how to implement it and when it is actually implemented. Do I just restart the machine after the driver is installed then change the name if I like and then just go to town so-to-speak? Will this driver adversely affect the performace of my PC monitor if the resolutions are at safe levels for that PC monitor when turned on? Thanks for any and all help! If anyone is interested in buidling their own transcoder and would like the info, please feel free to pm me and I'll get you what you'll need!

Karnis,

How well does the Radeon DVI output and the DVI-VGA adapter perform vs the VGA->Component transcoder? I have been considering purchasing the KD VGA->Component transcoder with loopthru for use with my old Radeon LE to connect to my HD-RPTV. Or I suppose I could get a dual head Radeon ... Not sure which is the better route.

I haven't kept up with this thread, but my Sony High Scan HDTV downcoverts 720p to 480p. Is the best I can hope for on playback of 1280x720p material is scaled/timed to 540p with Powerstrip? How would this downscaling compare with 720p material as opposed to 1080i?

--hardwired

I have all most given up hope. I have a Mitsubishi WS-65711 and a Denon 5803, HYPC with a ALL-IN-WONDER Radeon 7500. I'am useing a s-video for now, till I can run a component video cable from my rack to the tv. I mainly use the computer to got on the net and stuff. The only to be able to read everything is if i set the output to 640X480. But when I 640X480 thier is not enought screen room.

Thanks,

Bret

Ok people here is different question for you.
I want to get Component output from my PC at PAL 576i 50hz
I think this would be the same as a standard PAL DVD player component output.
This is to feed a non HD PAL TV with component inputs.
Would this be possible with a Radion with dongle or maybe a transcoder.

I currently am getting very good results with Svideo TV out.
Am I wasting my time with this concept. Should I just stick with Svideo?

Regards,

Owen

I know its hard to believe but there is progress being made with respect to driver support for the dongle. No timetable but I have been assured recently that the dongle issues are being addressed and will be fixed.

Karnis,

I have read that the Geforce chips may not do interlace. But there is a S video tv out connector on my Shuttle SN41G2 so I assume that it does. Unfortunately I am having a problem setting this up and I would appreciate any advice you may have.

I have a Shuttle SN41G2 mini computer, Audio Authority 9A60 VGA to Component adapter, Powerstrip, and a Toshiba 4/3 HDTV.

All I want to do is show the desktop on the HDTV for the Internet and trying some games, no DVD playback required. As the desktop and tv are both 4/3 I thought it would be easy.

I have not got as far as connecting the tv as I cannot get an interlaced resolution to work. The graphics adapter is an Nvidia Geforce 4 on the motherboard. Powerstrip beta 3.31 build 383 was recommended for better HDTV timings.

I have tried the default HDTV timings within powerstrip, and those from Wayne Harrelson's custom timings at digitalconection.com. On all occasions, I get a screen with the left and right edges joined in the middle of the screen. Some other Shuttle users have mistaken this for two desktops.

It does display progressive, such as 720/540p ok, but I want 1440/1080i. The computer monitor is a LG Studioworks 995e and is unlikely to be the problem. But I am afraid to connect up the Toshiba to find out in case I damage it. The Toshiba 36HFX71 can compress, letterbox or fill the screen with a 1080i signal, so I have freedom on that end.
I cannot play with the interlaced settings as the screen is to bad and I have not the knowledge of powerstrip to do so. I wonder if a timing problem in the powerstrip files I am using could cause the screen to split and join at the ends.

If it turns out that this chip will not do interlace at all, then will your timings for the ATI cards work for the AIW 9000.

Thanks

Karnis,

I am having a devil of a time getting a 1024x576 resolution for my HTPC. I have a ATI 9700 pro and have been using the Sony GDM 900 driver for my HT1000 (nec). I use DVI to the NEC and RGB to my LCD (EIZO) monitor. All owrks at 1024x768 60hz.

Every time I ask powerstrip (3.30 latest version)to add the 1024x576 resolution I get no screen what so ever on the reboot after the Windows XP flash goes off.

I have Directx 9.0a Cat 3.2.

I have tried having only the DVI monitor active (without actually unplugging the other monitor from the computer.

to get back the screen I use my powerquest image file of my last (last week image).

I want to use the 1024x376 to enable the HT1000 in its 16:9 mode so I can use a screen of that dimension (not yet bought)

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



Joel

When I used to have a CRT projector I found that 1440x960i using Powerstrip gave me great results. Since I now have a 1024x768 HT1000 I have been using this resolution for pixel to pixel mapping and the picture is pretty good. By going to 1920x1080i, or whatever the HT1000 will accept, will I get a better picture? Certainly HDNet at 1080i is the best picture on the HT1000. I would just try this but Powerstrip doesn't work anymore since I changed computers and I would like to know what to expect before I reinvest in Powerstrip.

Jack

Hey all. I am trying to use a Dell Laptop with a Radeon Mobility 9000 and a Key Digital VGA to component adapter for HDTV on Sharp 10000 (720x1280). The mobility chip does not work with ATI's Catalyst drivers and I am having trouble getting one of 3 resolutions to work (480p, 720p, 1080i/540p). These are the only resolutions accepted by the Key Digital transcoder. I am already using the DVI input on the Sharp with an HDTV tuner from Samsung. I need to get the PC video output through the projector and I have Powerstrip running and tried several predefined formats with no luck, except the projector does recognize the component input signal vs "no signal". Is my quest possible given my restraints with the Radeon Mobility chip? It doesn't have to be 720x1280, I would be happy to get 640x480 (but 720p would be nice).

Thanks in advance,
Jason

Greetings:

I have an Hitachi 57GWX20B RPTV and it has a DVI input. I have been using a Radeon 9700 with the DVI output and have had very good results using 540p. What worries me is that the TV interprets this as 1080i.

As far as I know the DVI interface is incapable of sending true 1080i content from the Radeon because it is a purely progressive scan output.

Does anyone know how to get my TV to recognize this as 540p, perhaps setting 30 hz refresh rate? (didn't work when I tried) Or better yet, is there a work-around to send 1080i out the DVI, taking advantage of the fact that th TV thinks it is recieving 60 fields per second rather than 60 frames per second?

Or would I be better off getting the DVI to Y-Pb-Pr adapter from ATI?

Any help is appreciated .

Jeremy

Karnis,
Is there a way to change the default resolution setting?
FREAK!

I have a Matrox G400 max and a Panasonic AE100. What are the pixel perfect settings for that?

Why don't I use the Matrox utility for making custom resolutions?

thanx

WHEW! I' finally read through every post in this thread and it is the most in-depth discussion of this subject I've ever seen. At this point I have two questions:

1. I read that I have to "Disable Plug-and-play monitor" Does that literally mean going into the Device Manager/Monitor and selecting "Disable" from the meny? What does that do for me later on?

2. I 've tried to use the custom monitor setting posted by Karnis (ps_mon.inf) a while back, but XP always tells me that this information does not match my monitor. What am I doing wrong?

BTW - I am using PowerStip 3.30, with an ATI AIW 8500DV. My ultimate goal is to connect this to my Mits 55819, so all those custom T&Rs should work right out of the box

Sorry don't have a picture of the overscan, but in the thread titled "DVI projector and HTPC..." I posted a couple of pictures that show how I am not getting the proper pixel mapping that I should for the native panel resolution. Another user posted his and they are waaaay better!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0&pagenumber=3

Still working on these problems BTW.

With respect to PowerStrip, what does the number at the end of the 'Powerstrip Timing parameters' mean, and where does it get entered? I have compared my listing to those posted by others and that number does not match even though they are supposed to be a 'predefined timing'


720p Standard HDTV
PowerStrip timing parameters:
1280x720=1280,88,56,232,720,4,6,20,74520,3088

Generic timing details for 1280x720:
HFP=88 HSW=56 HBP=232 kHz=45 VFP=4 VSW=6 VBP=20 Hz=60

Thanks

Its a bitfield of flags and it varies from one card to another. The constants that you'd be concerned with are bits [3:1]

Bit 1 = Negative Horizontal Polarity
Bit 2 = Negative Vertical Polarity
Bit 3 = Interlaced

The others are irrelevant and, like I said, will vary from one chip to another.

So in your example, 3088 would be in binary 110000010000

Bit 1 is not set so Positive H. polarity
Bit 2 is not set so Positive V. polarity
Bit 3 is not set so progressive

Turned out that the overscan went away when I 'locked in' the PS settings.

Also, the blurry text at my PJ's native 848x480 was not a timing issue but rather digital keystone correction, definitly not artifact free!, when I set this to the neutral position the text was 'pixel perfect'

What is meant by a "digital keystone" correction? This is a bew term for me.

This is an internal process to a projector that adjusts the image as seen on the screen to correct for non-optimal projector placement.

A projector is designed to be placed at a specific height in relation to the screen, either above or below. This is generally set by the optical lens system in relation to the display panel (published in the user manual). If you can't place the projector at this height then small adjustments can be made to 'square up' the picture to the screen.

But, beware; in my case these adjustments had a profound effect on the image especially when displaying text!

Check out the images that I posted in this thread and you'll see what I mean

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0&pagenumber=4

The images are labeled: "Keystone plus61" and "keystone @50"