Help with PC to HDTV Needed

[denzlite]

Got a Samsung PN42A450 42" 720p for our conference room hooked up via HDMI to a ATI Radeon HD 3400 video card inside a Dell PC - and looking in the manual for the Samsung it says PC optimum resolution is 1024? I'm having a hard time figuring this out. 1024 appears to stretch in 16:9 mode but looks excellent and in 4:3 mode looks terrible. Can someone explain what's going on here? Why would anyone set PC res to 1024 on a 16:9 720p HDTV? Thanks. Also, anyone know the native res on this TV?

[edDV]

Got a Samsung PN42A450 42" 720p for our conference room hooked up via HDMI to a ATI Radeon HD 3400 video card inside a Dell PC - and looking in the manual for the Samsung it says PC optimum resolution is 1024? I'm having a hard time figuring this out. 1024 appears to stretch in 16:9 mode but looks excellent and in 4:3 mode looks terrible. Can someone explain what's going on here? Why would anyone set PC res to 1024 on a 16:9 720p HDTV? Thanks. Also, anyone know the native res on this TV?

Read the manual again. It is probably 1024x768 (non-square pixel) native resolution.

If you are preparing graphics,

1024x768 mapped to 16:9 would have pixels H stretched 1.33 to 1
16:9 square pixel would be 1366x768. Scale that to 1024x768.

It would expect video as 1080i at 1920x1080 or 720p at 1280x720. Both would be downscaled to 1024x768 and display as 16:9.

[usually_quiet]

I checked at Samsung's website. The specifications for that TV do list the resolution as 1024 x 768.

[denzlite]

That's kind of crazy - I guess I should have researched more - I argued to my boss that a nice HDTV/PC/HDMI would be better than a projector. Now I'm kind of in a pinch - I hope there's some kind of hack/workaround to this.

[edDV]

That's kind of crazy - I guess I should have researched more - I argued to my boss that a nice HDTV/PC/HDMI would be better than a projector. Now I'm kind of in a pinch - I hope there's some kind of hack/workaround to this.

Are you playing video or displaying the computer desktop?

If the latter, you would be better off with a 1366x768 or 1920x1080 resolution screen. Both are square pixel.

You can still get 1024x768 to work. Text won't be as sharp.
1. Set the display card for 1024x768 and 16:9 screen aspect ratio. Connect VGA.
or
2. Set the display card for 1280x720p or 1366x768 (square pixel) and let the TV scale it. Try VGA and DVI->HDMI.

The manual should list resolutions it will accept over VGA and HDMI.

[fritzi93]

What edDV said. I use the second option: 1280x720 via DVI -> HDMI from a Radeon 1650pro to a 42", 720p set, 1024x768 native resolution.

You should have the ATI Catalyst Control Center (free from ATI). Right click it in the tray and set desktop to 1280x720. If the option isn't there, open the control center, go to DTV (DVI), and click HDTV options. In the list of displays the TV will support, add 1280x720, apply. If you need to adjust overscan, it's in DTV -> Scaling Options. Try setting overscan to zero.

That should do fine for you, especially when displaying video. (BTW, I play videos with MPCHC, set to open in full screen by default). Good luck.

[denzlite]

Thanks much. I will try this. I should have known the ATI card would have it's own control program...

[denzlite]

Thanks. I'm using HDMI to HDMI. Downloaded latest ATI driver/catalyst from Dell for 3450 HD card for WinXP 32bit. In the advanced view of the catalyst dialog I don't see the HDTV options for overscanning you mention. There's a main heading with "Digital Panel Properties" with subheadings 1. attributes, 2. color, 3. HDTV Support.

I did Set the display card for 1280x720. Catalyst however doesn't show me many other display options. 1280x720 seems to work "ok" - there is a noticeable blur. When I try to change this to 1280x768 though, the image shrinks way down in the middle of the tv.

When I go to HDTV support, there is no option for overscan - nothing that says DTV -> Scaling Options. It does say, "HDTV modes supported by this display: These options are intended for displays that report incomplete or incorrect capabilites in their EDID information. Setting a format adds it to the Force button menu ins the Displays Manager."

There then is the option to add 720p60 and 720p50 formats to the Display Manager, but clicking on one of them gives a dire warning about wrecking the display.

The 1280 by 720 looks ok - if I could get rid of the blur that would be great.

[denzlite]

Oh, also I'm wondering if the version of catalyst that came with the Dell driver for this computer is what I want. Would it be better to download the driver straight from ATI?

[edDV]

You might get better results with VGA. try 1024x768 direct mapping.

[denzlite]

Hey thanks for all your help, but 1024 at 4:3 isn't going to cut it - I need to get clear results utilizing the whole TV and what I'm wondering is - maybe that's not possible - in which case I have to explain that to the folks I talked into buying HDTV over projector without researching this enough, should have probably gone projector. Sigh. If this were my setup, I suppose I could compromise.

[edDV]

Hey thanks for all your help, but 1024 at 4:3 isn't going to cut it - I need to get clear results utilizing the whole TV and what I'm wondering is - maybe that's not possible - in which case I have to explain that to the folks I talked into buying HDTV over projector without researching this enough, should have probably gone projector. Sigh. If this were my setup, I suppose I could compromise.

It won't be 4:3 if you set the card for correct aspect ratio.

In any case, your "mistake" was not to get an HDTV but to go for too low horizontal resolution for clear text.

Exchange the TV for one with 1366x768 or 1920x1080 native display resolution. Most projectors will be far less sharp and have less contrast.

[fritzi93]

Oh, also I'm wondering if the version of catalyst that came with the Dell driver for this computer is what I want. Would it be better to download the driver straight from ATI?

Maybe, I dunno. I DLed direct from ATI and installed Catalyst Control Center, oh, a year and a half ago and haven't updated. The options I mentioned are there on my computer, exactly as described.

You certainly don't want to use 720p 50Hz if you're in North America. The 720p 60Hz is the one you want. I really don't remember, but perhaps I got scaling options only after adding it to display resolutions. [shrugs]

Good luck.