Alternative title: "Splitting hairs in quest for PQ Perfection"
We have tons of useful, sometimes obsolete and occasionally confusing info in Powerstrip-sticky and ATI 2*** thread. Methinks I am not the only one that could use some clarity on basic issues .
My setup: HD 2600 XT driving Samsung HTL 5087 through 5 port HDMI switcher and Onkyo 604 receiver. I don't have any problems per-se and enjoy my HTPC very much .
The questions (assumes 1080p display):
- to enjoy the _sharpest_ Bluray/HD DVD PQ, do we _have_ to run displays in 1920x1080, w/o using things like custom rez (anything but 1920x1080) OR "scaling" feature of ATI driver ?
- assuming this is the only way, most of us will have severe overscan (desktop larger than screen's area). Does PDVD somehow account for it ? In other words, will we have cropped picture displayed or will it somehow shrink it during PB ? I read somewhere that movies are made to account for overscan - so that the extremities are _expected _ to be cropped out during PB ?
Some observations: in my case, with [email protected] resolution and no scaling, I do have may be 5% overscan. Somewhat annoying. But it is in this mode only that I have the sharpest text. When adjusting via "scaling" feature of Catalyst driver, I have no problem resizing to where desktop fits the screen. But the fonts blur somewhat and I'd imagine, video rendering will be subject to similar "blurriness" ?
When selecting custom one of custom resolutions of ~1700x1000, text stays sharp, but the picture is now underscanned to where there is a 1" black border around the perimeter.
I toyed with Powerstrip a bit, but so far I am unable to get a custom resolution created that fills the screen 100% and works
. Probably matter of adjusting timing parameters.
But irrespective, if the only proper way to have BR/HD DVD playback is with 1:1 mapping @ 1920x1080p, then this quest for custom resolution is almost pointless, IMO.
I think I can live with the following: have scaling engaged to where desktop matches the screen size for regular "desktop" stuff. When I am to play a bluray or hddvd, I will jump into catalyst menu and disable scaling before I start the movie. Bit of work, but not to much.
There seem to be an easier way of jumping through resolutions via "multires" program (available from powerstrip's website) - but it requires having second custom resolution created.

We have tons of useful, sometimes obsolete and occasionally confusing info in Powerstrip-sticky and ATI 2*** thread. Methinks I am not the only one that could use some clarity on basic issues .
My setup: HD 2600 XT driving Samsung HTL 5087 through 5 port HDMI switcher and Onkyo 604 receiver. I don't have any problems per-se and enjoy my HTPC very much .
The questions (assumes 1080p display):
- to enjoy the _sharpest_ Bluray/HD DVD PQ, do we _have_ to run displays in 1920x1080, w/o using things like custom rez (anything but 1920x1080) OR "scaling" feature of ATI driver ?
- assuming this is the only way, most of us will have severe overscan (desktop larger than screen's area). Does PDVD somehow account for it ? In other words, will we have cropped picture displayed or will it somehow shrink it during PB ? I read somewhere that movies are made to account for overscan - so that the extremities are _expected _ to be cropped out during PB ?
Some observations: in my case, with [email protected] resolution and no scaling, I do have may be 5% overscan. Somewhat annoying. But it is in this mode only that I have the sharpest text. When adjusting via "scaling" feature of Catalyst driver, I have no problem resizing to where desktop fits the screen. But the fonts blur somewhat and I'd imagine, video rendering will be subject to similar "blurriness" ?
When selecting custom one of custom resolutions of ~1700x1000, text stays sharp, but the picture is now underscanned to where there is a 1" black border around the perimeter.
I toyed with Powerstrip a bit, but so far I am unable to get a custom resolution created that fills the screen 100% and works

But irrespective, if the only proper way to have BR/HD DVD playback is with 1:1 mapping @ 1920x1080p, then this quest for custom resolution is almost pointless, IMO.
I think I can live with the following: have scaling engaged to where desktop matches the screen size for regular "desktop" stuff. When I am to play a bluray or hddvd, I will jump into catalyst menu and disable scaling before I start the movie. Bit of work, but not to much.
There seem to be an easier way of jumping through resolutions via "multires" program (available from powerstrip's website) - but it requires having second custom resolution created.