Custom Resolution Tool for Intel Graphics: Easier Overscan Correction - Page 11

Hi!

Trying to figure out my LCD:s DTD but cant figure out which one to use. In much need of help to see if I can get it to work. Would much appreciate assistans.

I have a SAMSUNG LE-40R87BD. It is supposed to have native support of 1360 x 768 @60 hz according to manual. I 'm using G35 Chip (Asus P5E-VM HDMI).

Here is my report from the Intel Diagnostic:

Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator Driver Report


Report Date: 02/17/2008
Report Time[hr:mm:ss]: 00:29:07
Driver Version: 7.14.10.1350
Operating System: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate* , (6.0.6000)
Default Language: Swedish
DirectX* Version: 10.0
Physical Memory: 2038 MB
Minimum Graphics Memory: 8 MB
Maximum Graphics Memory: 358 MB
Graphics Memory in Use: 163 MB
Processor: x86 family 6 Model 15 Stepping 13
Processor Speed: 2208 MHZ
Vendor ID: 8086
Device ID: 2982
Device Revision: 03


* Accelerator Information *

Accelerator in Use: Intel(R) G35 Express Chipset Family
Video BIOS: 1508
Current Graphics Mode: 1184 x 666 True Color (50 Hz)



* Devices Connected to the Graphics Accelerator *


Active Digital Televisions: 1


* Digital-tv *

Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Display Type: Digital
Gamma Value: 2,40
DDC2 Protocol: Supported
Maximum Image Size: Horizontal: 6,0 inches
Vertical: 3,0 inches
Monitor Supported Modes:
640 x 480 (60 Hz)
1280 x 720 (50 Hz)
1280 x 720 (60 Hz)
Display Power Management Support:
Standby Mode: Not Supported
Suspend Mode: Not Supported
Active Off Mode: Not Supported


* SDVO Encoder Report *

** Encoder 1 **
Vendor ID: Silicon Image
Device ID: 174
Device Revision: 0
Major Version: 1
Minor Version: 2

* Other names and brands are the property of their respective owners.

Hi pettan7514,

Did you save the report to a text file before copying from it? If not please do this first. The text file should contain the EDID information which would help us with your problem.

Once we've got it, we can see if 1360x768 is likely to be possible or not.

Cheers,

Wo0zy

Hi!

Here is the report in text file format.

Thanks Wo0zy for taking time to help!

 

DiagnosticReport.txt 2.3544921875k . file

I changed from HDMI port 1 to 2 and voila! All of a sudden I can choose 1360 x 768 right out of the box. I havent changed anything, this is standard graphic driver from Intel. Is this supposed to happen? I mean, so many others have problem getting there Native resolution?

TBH it totally depends on the TV. Some do 1:1 some don't. Looks like you got lucky.

Archibael,

Great find!! Already added the site to "Favorites"

Wo0zy

Thanks a bunch for finding that out for me Archibael. Had almost given up hope :-)

First, thanks for the program. My TV's resolutions aren't recognized by the driver at all, the best I could get was 1280x960. DTDcalc let me go to 1080i and then correct the overscan.

In previous HTPC incarnations, I think it was the ATI drivers which offered something like 1776x1000 (which was close enough for me). I wish the intel drivers would do that. But that's Intel's fault (at least I blame it on them not the program author's. So far, great.

A suggestion: On page one of the thread, under Overscan, mention there will be red bars offscreen for adjustment? I tried for a good while to align the squares with the screen border which obviously doesn't work. The overscan is pretty massive so there is no chance I could see the red borders outlining the edge of the screen.
I also spent several attempts at adjusting things and clicking on "close". When I eventually returned to this pc with the overscan not fixed I found the post that explains why that happens. Still I wish the button was labeled cancel or something.

Do we know why the driver would only offer 1024x768, 1280x1024 and so forth. Clearly these resolutions are not offered by the display.

Not wanting to sound overly critical, but this chipset has been a serious disappointment so far. First the hardware acceleration turns out not to be an actual acceleration for x264 where it is needed most and then I get to spend an evening getting my screen resolution set up. Maybe expectations were too high :-(

Hey, thanks for the quick response.

The driver offered only standard desktop resolutions. I got the EDID as per the instruction from the thread from the diagnostic log. When I fed the EDID into DTD Calculator it came up with three options, one of them 1080i which is what I wanted. So far so good.

Asus P5K-VM HDMI / Monoprice 5way switch / Mitsubishi WD-52525 (I think)

I am unable to correct the overscan however; there is about an inch black on top. The overlay offered by the ruler tool is either not very precise or the TV doesn't respond as expected. I tried to move this upper border up in small increments, eventually it will either be out of sync when I reboot, or to add insult to injury set the border further DOWN.

I don't think this is for me

Hi Martin,

The ruler tool is pixel accurate (especially if you use the UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT buttons rather than dragging with the mouse. You can also use the adjustment tool (the blue square with the red border) for fine adjustment as this allows you to see where your active pixels "sit" within the blanking intervals.

Do I take it from your comments about feeding the EDID into DTDCalc that you're using the new version with the "Interpret EDID" Tab?

Just to clarify. You've added the standard 1080i resolution (obtained from your EDID) to the registry as DTD_1. You then reboot and select the new (overscanned) 1080i resolution from the Intel Graphics Tray. Then you launch DTDCalc again, go to the "Reg Hack" Tab and click "Read DTD's from Registry" which loads up your 1080i timing into the DTD_1 slot and then click "Create Modeline". Is this correct so far?

Next you go to the "tuning" tab and use the ruler tool to adjust as needed after which you write the new DTD to the registry.

What is the DTD you end up with after the adjustment?

Also, a quick Google for you TV brings up a few pages which suggest that while it supports 1080i this is done through scaling. 720p (or timings derived from 720p) may give you better results and stop the TV from scaling (which could have something to do with your problem).

Someone claims that the following modeline gave them the best results

ModeLine "666p" 74.56 1200 1288 1424 1680 666 694 697 746 -hsync +vsync

You could try feeding these into DTDCalc and see what happens.

Hope this helps a little. If not Archibael will probably have a few more suggestions and/or a flash of inspiration

Wo0zy

Wo0zy: Yes, that's what I did. Unfortunately this is a crummy TV, it doesn't read 720p from HDMI. (I think the speculation was that the electronics can't handle 720p, and it will drop half the lines than upscale to its native resolution of 720p. But I may not reproduce this right, it was made by men wiser than myself )

I ended up ordering an ATI 3450 today. Last time I used an HTPC it was just two clicks to get this right with the ATI drivers and this apparently problematic TV.

Thanks again for the awesome tool though; if it wasn't for that I would have been stuck at 1280x960

I am busy installing an AOpen MP945-VDR Mini PC and I'm having lots of trouble getting my Sony KDE-42XS955 to work via a DVI to HDMI cable.

I have to install Vista (with SP1 integrated) using a normal DVI/LCD monitor, else the user account creation page never shows up on the TV.

If I set the resolution to 1280x720 the TV will sync, but overscan.

When I run DTD it fails to load any timing from the registry.
If I select a standard timing, and modify it to 1216x684, and save it, reboot, nothing still shows up in the resolutions.

If I run PowerStrip it fails to retrieve any timings from the TV.

(I ran both DTD and PowerStrip as admin)

I don't know if this is due to to SP1, or if Vista and my TV and the GMA jsut does not get along well.

Anybody tried DTD on Vista SP1 with a 945GM, specifically a Sony KDE-42XS955 and a AOpen MP945-VDR?

Regards
P.

I am on SP1 but I was using G35...

What I needed to do is use the Intel control panel and save the system information to a file. It does not show this info on screen but the file had the EDID (sp?) blob that I needed to get started with DID calculator. Once I had that I was able to save and load custom resolutions.

(in regards to my earlier posts, ATI 3450 running fine by the way; offered 1776x1000 right on first boot and overscan was spot on)

Hi ptr727,

Can't say I have yet but Martin's results suggest it should work (even if he didn't get the results he was looking for).

Which version of the Intel drivers are you using? Also, search the registry for DTD_1 and TotalDTDCOunt. Make sure all relevant TotalDTDCOunts are set to 1 (or more) and check each DTD_1 to see if the values match your new DTD for 1216x684. You can copy the values from one of the keys and paste them into the reverse calculator (remember to remove the 37 01 from the end before calculating).

There is a post on page 5 which explains exactly which keys DTDCalc should write to which should help narrow it down

Let us know what you find.

Martin's suggestion regarding how to obtain the EDID for your TV is correct however, even if the DTD you choose is not correct it should still show up in the Graphics Tray.

Wo0zy

Update:
I reinstalled Vista Ultimate with SP1, this time using a LCD monitor from start to finish.
After installing, a new Intel GMA driver was available through WU, this was reportedly published yesterday on WU.
The last time I manually installed the 15.7.3 drivers, this time I let WU install the updated GMA drivers.

For some unexplainable reason these two changes made a difference in the the observed behavior, this time I did get timings from the Intel diagnostic report, and I could create custom resolutions.

I still have DOS/BIOS mode overscan problems (this is great about the ATI HD2600XT card, works perectly in DOS/BIOS mode), but that is not something I can do anything about in software.

My DVI to HDMI converter with TosLink audio injection also does not work with the GMA card, it worked fine with my previous ATI X1300, but I'll take that up with the manufacturer.

Thanks for the support.

Regards
P.

Two quick questions:
1) Should I attempt to use even number resolutions, or are uneven number resolutions ok?
2) When using the ruler tool, how do you recommend to tune using the red border, i.e. red border visible, not visible, no pixels outside border visible, one line of pixels visible outside border visible, etc?

Regards
P.

Glad to hear you got things working although I can't explain why the WU driver worked and 15.7.3 didn't.

Regarding your questions.

1. Always go for even numbers of pixels. There have been some problems with odd numbers (primarily on the vertical timing). Also, avoid odd numbered "H Start of Sync Pulse" values. While odd numbers mostly work there is unexplained behaviour with Vista UAC and on startup/shutdown. Something to do with handoff to the secure desktop we think. Also Red/Blue reversal has been reported

2. Red border just visible is how if was designed. However, if you use VMC you may have to tweak the Horizontal to slightly larger than the visible area if you get odd screen corruption on the RHS of the image. Alternatively, use the custom resolution for the desktop only and configure VMC to use a standard resolution. If you tell the Wizard you're using a TV instead of a flat panel the VMC interface will compensate for overscan by moving navigation buttons "in" by around 10%.

Hope this helps.

Wo0zy

Wo0zy, thanks for the advice.

Another unrelated question;
During Vista SP1 testing (pre-release and RTM) I found, and reported to Microsoft and was told the issue was reported to Intel, that SP1 and the 15.7.3 GMA drivers bluescreens two of my machines with GMA3000 (DG33TL) adapters on suspend/sleep. This does not happen on my machines with GMA950's.

Now that Vista is RTM, and Intel released new drivers through WU, same problem.
I am forced to set my machines to high performance power scheme to prevet them from sleeping.

Anybody else experiencing this?

Regards
P.

Wo0zy, Archibael,
Just a quick note of thanks. After wasting 2 nights with Powerstrip a couple of months ago, I had given into just dealing with massive overscan and just using MediaPortal to adjust it. Great program, by the way.
Anyway, revisited the issue last week and came across this thread. An hour or so of tweaking last night with your program and I got it. No more overscan!
Awesome work, guys. Thank you.
Jim

Hi mij1525,

Thanks for taking the time to give positive feedback. It's appreciated.

Wo0zy

Thank you, are these new drivers, or any Intel Beta drivers available online?

G35 + Sony KDL-46V2000 = EPIC FAIL

I've just built a htpc based on an Asus P5E-VM HDMI and I'm having no luck getting the right resolution for my Sony KDL-46V2000. I've connected the htpc via VGA (I'll worry about HDMI later) and the TV's PC input accepts 1360x768 with 1:1 pixel mapping but there's no such choice in the display properties (Vista Ultimate 32 bit).

At the moment I'm running 1024x768 which naturally leaves a bunch of black unused space on the sides. I tried adding 1360x768 with Powerstrip but when I changed to this resolution, the graphics card just stuffed the extra pixels onto the same 4:3 space. It's like the graphics card doesn't realise I'm using a wide screen tv.

Anyway, I'd like to try the method explained in this thread but I don't know how to get the DTD for my TV. I tried method 3a ("save to file" via the Intel Graphics tray icon) but I just get an incomplete report that does not contain the Raw EDID. I can't find any Linux modeline for my TV and the last option (choosing a standard CEA resolution) went horribly wrong. I tried adding 1280x720p@60Hz but my TV wouldn't accept it and I had lots of problems getting any picture back so I'd rather not try that again.

Does anyone have any other ideas on how I can find a DTD that works with my TV? I specifically chose this motherboard so I wouldn't have to buy a separate graphics card, but right now, I'm seriously considering it.

Here are the resolutions that my Sony KDL-46V2000 accepts via the VGA input (image copied from the manual)

Create a diagnostic report from within the Intel Graphics Tray and post your EDID information. That'll give a starting point.

Wo0zy

Maybe someone can help me with this. I have intel media graphics on a compaq presario c508. I am trying to use this utility to get 1920x1080i output to the second monitor port to run to my CRT projector. Here is the problem, the DTD calculator says "inet graphics registry key not found" Any ideas? I know for certian i am using intel GMA. I have vista basic installed. am logged in as admin and am not using the UAC.

Thanks,
Paul