Mailing List Archive: MythTV: Users

Overscan - Fix at Source - the TV!

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tortise at paradise

Jul 10, 2009, 1:51 AM

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Overscan - Fix at Source - the TV!

From thread: [mythtv-users] overscan problems with nvidia 8400 GS - which became more than just the 8400GS...

<quote>
In theory none of this should apply to a digital signal on a flat panel monitor, but overscan seems to have persisted in the HDTV world. I suspect this is because there are CRT HDTV sets out there and the spec has to accommodate them. </quote>

Possibly a development of this explanation is that if all HD's did not overscan it makes the overscanning ones more obvious and therefore would make for more unhappy consumers, which should be the case in any event. If they do not know what to blame, blame becomes difficult.

Also we have had sliders for Volume, Bass, Brightness etc for ages, why not one for overscan?

In the predecessor thread I argued that where a manufacturer promoted a set as capable of displaying a certain resolution then I think the set should display that, and not a cut down overscanned version. (As that thread had a narrower subject I repeat the notion here)

Its a bit like buying a five seater car and getting a two seater...and not realising you only have two seats. Perhaps a bit exaggerated, the analogy remains valid.

<quote>You fixed yours at the TV end - and that's nVidia's answer. There used to be settings at the video card end, and those don't work, apparently for 8x00 series cards. In my case I have a plain old CRT TV, and there's no adjusting for this. Besides, it works correctly with other consumer electronics.
Dale Pontius </quote>

I agree it is annoying that NVIDIA have taken back what they gave. However is there a greater case for your TV manufacturer to update the TV firmware and fix this? NVIDIA updates their firmware, have done for years..will do for years..why should your TV not be any different?

If there was more consumer pull for manufacturers to fix their TV's we might move the problem and its fix back to where it belongs - in the TV.

linux at thehobsons

Jul 10, 2009, 3:13 AM

Post #2 of 2 (225 views)
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Re: Overscan - Fix at Source - the TV! [In reply to]

Tortise wrote:

>If there was more consumer pull for manufacturers to fix their TV's
>we might move the problem and its fix back to where it belongs - in
>the TV.

Well it would help, for a start, for this to be in the specifications
they publish. I'm in the position of looking to buy a TV specifically
to use as a computer monitor for my mother whose eyesight isn't what
it used to be. My local big dealer has been quite helpful, allowing
me free reign round the display models with laptop and cable, but
it's a bit of a pain trying to figure out which ones have the right
features - at one point I was hooked up to a 37" Sony which was
"quite nice" although it was clearly still doing something to
"defocus" the image. A friend works in their service department, and
he's had no luck getting information from his technical contacts -
"we don't have that information". So I've emailed Panasonic (one of
the brands they do) thus :

>I am looking to purchase an LCD TV specifically for use as a computer display
>...
>Anyway, to the specific questions which are not, so far as I can
>see, answered in your specifications :
>
>1 - Which of the 26" models have Full Pixel mode on a DVI/HDMI input ?
>
>2 - Whether ALL picture processing can be turned off - so there is a
>one-one match between the pixel the computer sends out and what is
>displayed ?
>
>3 - Which correctly report their native resolution (1366 x 768 ?) to
>an attached computer - both via DVI/HDMI and VGA ?
>
>4 - Whether they can power on/off based on presence of a video signal ?
>
>5 - And whether the settings are "sticky" ? I've just been reading
>threads where someone with a Bravia is having to reset Full Pixel
>mode every time they select the HDMI input with a computer attached.
>
>
>6) Regarding HDCP. Will you provide a guarantee, without time limit,
>that should the licence key be revoked in future (or the set be
>otherwise rendered incapable of HD playback), that you will
>upgrade/repair the set so as to continue supporting HD playback ?

I'm told that all emails go into a tracking system and their score
gets penalised if they leave any questions unanswered - it will be
interesting to see if I get any answer at all, let alone one that
answers the questions.

Now if enough people ask these questions, they might start doing
something. While I don't expect to ever connect such a source to it,
I deliberately threw in question 6 to see what would happen :-)

--
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as
Christmas stocking fillers. Some available as e-books.
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