HDTV , no native resolution through HDMI , how to bloody fix this !!

Marri · *Last edited by Marri; 07-10-2007 at 00:40.*

I cant run my TV at it's Native Res through HDMI...

This sucks... I paid so much for this monster cable...

It either shows 1280x720 or 1920x1080i

So if im watching a movie it's either dragged out or slightly blur..

When I go to custom settings and set things to 1366x768 , it says failed test..
HOW on earth do I fix this..

Im using windows64xp pro
Latest Drivers...

TV Sony XBR1 V-Series , Native Resolution 1366x768

I dont have this problem with VGA but I dont want to use VGA..
Im using extensions on those and the quality goes down.....
My HDMI cable is 6 meters long , so I'd rather use this but I need to get rid of this issue which I find rather idiotic...

Psytek · 07-07-2007, 19:06 | posts: 3,370 | Location: UK

TVs use asymmetrical pixels, so even though the TV says it has 1366x768, you have to use 1280x720 @60Hz for it to look right.

When I set my HDTV to 1366x768, stuff looks a little bit squished.

Marri · *Last edited by Marri; 07-07-2007 at 22:56.*

thanks for the post but I'd have to differ there in my case..
When I have it set to 1366 to 768 it's crystal clear on my screen..
If I use a different resolution things look out of band and focus...
Anything above or below my LCD's native res is not clear...
It's like trying to run my desktop LCD monitor below it's native resolution...samething here...
But I need to know how to fix this...
I've seen threads talk of this issue but non being specific enough , hence I still have the problem...

Custom settings in Nvidia's CP , keep failing the test..the only thing I try to change in those is the resolution..

So I need to know how to get the custom settings working in the CP , in order for me to be able to get the desired resolution...

Psytek · 07-08-2007, 16:26 | posts: 3,370 | Location: UK

What are the dimensions of the screen?

It sounds like you have a 16:10 screen, but over hdmi, it only recognises the standard HDTV settings (720p and 1080i)

My uncle has a hdtv that is 16:10, but he's never tried it with his computer, but 1280x720 looks fine on it from an xbox 360.

Marri · 07-08-2007, 16:52 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

Not 100% but checked on the web , says 16:9 .

Giniemaster · *Last edited by Giniemaster; 07-09-2007 at 22:33.*

Hi Marri,

I totally feel with you - this is one of the first threads I've found that started to examine this issue more closely.

I'm trying to connect 8800GTX DVI ---> HDMI to my Samsung 46-inch (M8-Series), same problems and no driver settings to cure the problem. Almost...

Forceware 162.15 BETA, which has been pulled back by Nvidia several hours after "release", is supposed to bring an "underscan / overscan" correction. From what I've read in other forums, 162.15 BETA is only causing instabilities in WinXP, not Vista.

So maybe it also works for XP-64? Might give it a try - I haven't had time to test it yet, but will do so tomorrow.

Greetz,

Giniemaster.

Marri · 07-10-2007, 00:38 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

thanks for the intresting info...
Will look into it..

Some one in the other thread mentioned to play with the DMT settings in Advance timing column.. (Nvcp custom settings)
Tried that nothing happend , my screen goes blank even if I set things to DMT with resolution settings @ 1366x768..
Plus I've also tried setting the "Scaling Type Column" in advance mode to 'Adapter'
Still no go...
Though my test screen doesn't say failed no more but it goes blank..

I'm positive that there are people out there who've fixed this issue but I'm lost some where inbetween..

Giniemaster · 07-10-2007, 07:38 | posts: 15 | Location: Switzerland

Hmm yeah, it's quite disappointing to invest in hardware that's advertized to do a certain job and then having to figure out that it won't perform.

Time for a class action suite again Nvidia

I wish someone who's overcome these problems would take the time and share his/her wisdome with the thousands of nerve-wrecked BEAT-testers who don't manage to get a clear picture on their 3-4k$ LCD-TV via HDMI.

I mean what good is it to run it all over the analogue D-Sub connector once you're wanting to watch HD-DVD or anything that requires HDCP? It simply wouldn't work.

So we're stuck in quite a conundrum here. Know what, I'll bring this problem to Nvidia directly - let's see what happens.

Keep me posted on your learnings

Greetz,

Giniemaster

Marri · 07-11-2007, 00:08 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

Exactly I wish I were a beta tester , they'd probably kick me out of the job the second day...lol

Will let u know how things work out with on struggle , thanks for the post...
Hope you get through...

Giniemaster · *Last edited by Giniemaster; 07-11-2007 at 12:21.*

Well, this extract is from Nvidia's Knowledge-Base:

Q: When viewing my PC on an HDTV, the entire desktop is not visible, and certain areas–such as the Windows taskbar– reside offscreen.

A:TV transmissions often include electronic information–such as control signals–near the outer edges of the TV timings. These are not meant to be visible, so native HDTV timings are overscanned such that the edges of the display appear offscreen when viewing TV content. When viewing other sources, such as games or the Windows desktop, the image uses all of the TV timings, resulting in some of the image being cut off.

The NVIDIA graphics drivers include an “Underscan” feature that let’s you compensate for HDTV overscan so that the entire desktop is visible. However, this feature is not available for 480i or 480p timings. In this case, to view
display elements that appear offscreen, NVIDIA recommends using the Ovescan Shift feature to pan the desktop. You can access the Overscan Shift controls from the TV Settings page of the NVIDIA panel.

So much for that... funny though that I haven't been able to find this option anywhere in the current drivers. Perhaps I need to pay a vistit to my optician?

Only thing I could think of is to manually configure a resolution, but not a "fix underscan" option....

Well, let's see what they reply to my inquiry...

Greetz, G.

EDIT: ... the next piece of information for WINDOWS XP:

Q: Why am I not able to resize the HDTV Desktop (adjust overscan compensation setting) with GeForce 8800 based graphics cards on Windows XP?

A: Overscan compensation is not supported on GeForce 8800 based graphics cards when connecting to many HDTVs over a digital interface (i.e. DVI) with the default driver settings. However, with ForceWare Windows XP drivers v158.22 or higher, overscan compensation over DVI outputs can be enabled via a Registry Key workaround. To enable this workaround, perform the following steps:

1) Download the .zip file linked below. The .zip file contains 2 executable files which can be extracted onto your PC.

2) Double-click the "EnableOverscanCompensation.exe" executable. This will run a macro to create the "EnOverscanComp" Registry Key in the Windows Registry.

3) Re-boot your PC. (Note: we have seen one PC configuration which requires two re-boots).

4) Open the NVIDIA Control Panel by right clicking on the Desktop and selecting "NVIDIA Control Panel". From the "Resize HDTV Desktop" option in the navigation pane of the NVIDIA Control Panel you can resize your Windows Desktop to fit the viewable area of your HDTV.

The above workaround can also be used to enable fixed aspect ratio scaling on similar display configurations.

Note: this workaround will disable HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) support, which is required for playback of protected HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD content over digital interfaces. To disable this workaround and re-enable HDCP support, remove the EnOverscanComp Registry Key by running the DisableOverscanCompensation.exe executable and then rebooting your PC.

Download Link for Overscan Utility

Information retrieved from : http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/n...p?p_faqid=2064

Hope this helps - lemme know

G.

Marri · 07-12-2007, 01:17 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

thanks a billion but it didn't work..
Will try it out on different drivers , since im using the latest officials and I cant see the scaling option..it's not opening..
thanks will let u know..

Giniemaster · *Last edited by Giniemaster; 07-12-2007 at 12:59.*

Lo and behold! Nvidia just released ForceWare 162.22 BETA for Vista, which brings in a new tab in the driver settings called "HDTV resizing / adjustement" or something like that. This function is supposed to be the cure for our problems... let´s all hope it is!

163.11 BETA (also for Vista) is also out - this version merely fixes the bug, that custome settings will actually change the display resolution.

Info retrieved from the changelogs.

Will try it tonight and hope this will work. Hope something will come for WinXP soon as I have a multi-boot system...

Sorry your test didn't work with the supplementary Overscan-Registry Tweaks, but I believe we´re heading in the right direction.

Greetz, G.

Marri · 07-13-2007, 01:22 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

hehe , yup your the only one heading towards the right direction...
I'm like a punk waiting for you to find a cure for my disease...
Infact I'll put in a bit more effort my self from now on...
thanks as usual and do let me know how it works out..

thanks as always..

Giniemaster · *Last edited by Giniemaster; 07-13-2007 at 12:01.*

Hi Marri,

I got 162.22 beta installed on my Vista (I got a multi-boot system with WinXP 32-bit on it too, so I can test both ways) and Nvidia did keep some of its promises:

1. The new tabs for HDTV resizing are really there and - hard to believe - they work! Now you can adjust the screen size to exactly fit the complete Desktop right to the edges of your LCD-TV.

2. Changing between various HDTV-resolutions e.g. 720p / 1080i / 1080p actually does change the screen resolution and the size of icons. Not like in older Forceware versions... But some issues remain: If you've adjusted the HDTV screen size under 1080p and want to resize it to 720p, the resize menu (in the Forceware) is corrupted.

Moreover, although I FINALLY got what I wanted - that's fitting my desktop onto the LCD-TV screen - I still don't get that crips, contrast-rich picture I had on my older 37-inch Acer LCD, which I had connected via DVI.

Right now the looks of my Desktop is quite blury, dark and looks more like 256 colors rather than 32-bit color depth! No matter if I try the connection via HDMI or 15-pin D-Sub. I really hope to see a crips / sharp some time tonight or my Samsung is going from where it came from. D-Sub only seems to accept 1280x1024.... this cannot be right on a 16:9 screen.

Well, I keep you updated on my findings & good luck,

Giniemaster.

P.S. haven't got around to test WinXP - will do so tonight if my misses lets me

Marri · 07-13-2007, 10:22 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

Glad to know Nvidias trying to figure out the problem , I'm going to install Vista and see how it goes...
Thanks alot for mentioning it , well atleast it's something right..

About your TV , you shoud try using a VGA cable and see how it goes..

Giniemaster · 07-13-2007, 12:06 | posts: 15 | Location: Switzerland

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marri

About your TV , you shoud try using a VGA cable and see how it goes..

Yep, that's one option I'm trying. but as mentioned above, I have similar issues here too. That's a great surprise and really can't be.

Maybe I mucked up my drivers too much.... well, got 2 days to test now. Will keep you posted.

BTW, I've been "power-posting" this issue throughout a dozen of forums. hope to get some helpful feedback from that. One intersting thing: ATi seems to get it working with the 19xx-Series...

Again, it does seem to be the Nvidia drivers that make it impossible. Have you tried setting resolution to 1920x1080 @ 24Hz?? Or 25Hz? this is supposed to be THE MAGIC resolution configuration - I guess I'll find out tonight.

Greetz, G.

greengiant · 07-13-2007, 14:51 | posts: 346

ATI is better with HDTV native resolutions, but all the blame can't be put on the video card, if your TVs edid does not say that it supports the native resolution more then likely it wont work

on some TVs you can bypass, or overwrite, the edid but it can be risky and possibly ruin your TV. But for those willing to try powerstrip will allow you to do such things

Giniemaster · *Last edited by Giniemaster; 07-13-2007 at 23:06.*

SUCCESS!!

And it was so easy after all... now before I beginn, this worked for my entity, so you might not replicate the results if your HD-LCD-TV doesn't support the menu options!

This solution work for both WinXP and Vista - no matter if 32 or 64 bitterness

Now, what you need to do is to....

Vista: please have the latest Forceware BETA driver 162.22 installed in order to find the "HDTV underscan correction" option in the Control Center/Panel

1. grab your TV's remote and locate the menu/settings button

2. have your PC connected to the LCD-TV via DVI-->HDMI link

3. set your TV to the HDMI-input port your PC is connected to so the TV tries to display a picture

4. fire up your deadly OC'ed transistor monster and let it boot to windows (whatever you're using)

5. once booted, your display will give you the grief of an underscaned / overscaned (choose one

) image...

6. now press the MENU button on your TV remote and locate the ASPECT RATION menu in the DISPLAY SETTINGS part of the general menu overview

7. NOW THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOUR TV SUPPORTS IT OR NOT:

you'll see serveral options like 4:3, 16:9, Zoom, Auto-Zoom and so on... and hopefully the option "JUST SCAN" / "ONLY SCAN"

8. select this option now! you should now see an immediate improvement on image scaling / resizing.

9. grab your mouse and enter the display resolution menu in your Window$ OS (Control Panel if you like).

10. set resolution to either 1280x720 @ 60Hz or alternatively 1920x1080 @ either 24 / 25 / 30 / 59 / 60Hz

depending on what your LCD-TV supports (all in 32-bit color depth!)

For WinXP: setting the "JUST SCAN" mode on your TV should have resolved all problems now - in conjuction with setting one of the two resolutions mentioned above.

Vista: set one of the two resolution setting mentioned above and enter the HDTV UNDERSCAN CORRECTION option in the Control Center. Use the option "use resizing" and adjust the image to fit the edges of your TV

Et voilá... that was all the magic!

I have used the latest BETA Forceware for both WinXP (16x.xx something) and Vista 162.22 BETA

My TV is a Samsung 46-inch M8-Series... has the SuperClear Panel, TruHD 1080p/24 capable, digital tuner, 3x HDMI, 2x Component, 3x SCART (EU connector type for VCRs, STBs, etc.), one PC D-Sub! As it's a European model, the US counterpart might have a different name. EU Model is the "LE46M8BD" and can be found @ www.samsung.de for example - so you can compare your model to mine.

So, all in all, this is possibly the BEST image I've EVER seen now that it's working flawlessly!! in 1080p - a dream has come true! And I am VERY glad to see that the 8800GTX can do 1080p/24!! She's worth every penny!! Can't wait for affordable BD drives...

GreetZ and best of luck in your testing, or better - enjoying TruHD on your 8800GTX

Giniemaster.

Marri · *Last edited by Marri; 07-14-2007 at 01:15.*

I installed the latest Beta 163.11 for Vista 32bit.. (wrong version of vista since I need 64bit for my 4gigs of ram)

Guess what , before I started to try and follow your guide step by step...
I went to display properties and went through the slider just to see all the resolutions it was reading..

Weirdly enough , I for the first time saw my TV's native resolution listed..
1360x768

I was like , wOOww...
Though I must point out , that I've tried Vista countless times before with almost all the former drivers..
Non could do this..
So my thanks goes to you for actully trying to go through the trouble for posting each and every bit of help you could put through , to help me resolve my issue..
I'm sure I'll be following your guide for my Xp install because XP isn't as easy as Vista for my HDTV..
Your the best...thanks for letting me know...

I actully feel great now...
U and I both dont have this issue no more...thats very satisfactory in all honesty..
I'd have to call that an achievement on your part..

Hope your enjoying your HDTV now..

thanks..

N3LSON · 08-04-2007, 20:41 | posts: 17 | Location: NJ

OK Sounds great but what if my TV doesnt have the scan option ? Im trying to run a EVGA 8800GTS via a DVI --> HDMI connection to a Toshiba 32HLC56 HDTV on Windows XP. The native resolution of the TV is 1366x768. I have overscan on every resolution I try to use no matter what I do. I tried all the fixes previoulsy mentioned to no avail. Basically the picture is too big for the screen. I have tried using the VGA connection but it only supports up to 1024x768 so Im stuck on either the HDMI or Component conection for widescreen. My TV does not have a scan option it does have the 4:3 16:9 and the Zoom options.

I just came across your solution and I was wondering if I dont have the scan option on my TV is it even worth trying this method ?

Thanks in advance

OH BTW I am using the 162.18 driver set.

Marri · 08-05-2007, 01:24 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

Are u only using XP or do u have Vista too..

Since anything higher then the 163.11 has the fix in it..

N3LSON · 08-07-2007, 16:31 | posts: 17 | Location: NJ

I am running Windows XP SP2 with all the latest updates. The Nvidia driver is the 162.18. I tried the overscan fix but it didnt work I cant seem to create the custom resolution properly. Strange thing is it deafult to 1920x1080 when I first connect the HDMI cable and it does not give me the 1360x768 option which is the native resolution of the TV.

My system is

EVGA 590 SLI
AMD X2 6000+
EVGA 8800GTS 320 MB
OCZ Platinumn Rev 2
W.D. 2500KS
Samsung SATA DVD/RW
Ultra 500W PSU

The TV I am attempting to run is Toshiba 32HLC56 I am running DVI male -> HDMI female connector with a 16.5 ft (5 Meter) MALE TO MALE HDMI cable
This TV also has a VGA port but I believe its limited to 1024x768 4:3 resolution. Which is why I want to run HDMI. Right now I am running component cable at 1280x768 which is fine picture and video wise but the text is blurry.

Marri · 08-07-2007, 19:58 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

Dont worry , I still have the same problem with XP
Since the drivers haven't updated beyond what we already have been using...
Vista had the same issue but now it's gone...
I can now do my TV's native res through vista..since there has been a driver update for vista over the recent previous....
I have high hopes that we'll get a fix in the upcoming drivers for Xp..
There's a 99% chance of that happening..

Before I could do 1080i and 720p in Vista..
720p had scaling issues..
So ever since I update Vista's driver to the latest..
I can now do 1366x768 Native

But XP hasn't updated since so , Still have the same issue..

About the scaling option , I never used it my self..
Since it doesn't work most of the time , even when it does while resizing it further reduces the resolution..

N3LSON · 08-07-2007, 21:06 | posts: 17 | Location: NJ

Wow really in Vista it works ? I was going to install Vista but many people have told me to stay away from it. I mostly play games with this PC but I still want to be able to do other things.

Marri · 08-07-2007, 21:27 | posts: 3,467 | Location: Moon

yeah Xp is what I use most of the time...
I hardly use Vista , except for movies...because of the res...
I hate Vista atm..
Yeah for games Xp is alot better thus far..

I have both the OSs , so its easy to switch in between..
Like if u plan on using both..
Try to make sure u inplug the hard drive which uses Xp doring Vista's installiation..since it messes up the Xp boot config..
Once u installed vista then plug the Xp hard drive back and you can use both OS like normal dual boot..