Overscan on HDTV output

[kymics]

I did a quick search on this, but I don't think I saw anything that addresses this question.

Later this year (or possibly next year) when our rec room is finished, I want to upgrade our old RCA tube TV to something newer and high-def compatible. I have a DLP projector already, but I found that it's not practical to use for every day viewing.

In my set up for the rec room, I've alloted room for an HTPC in the entertainment unit. I'm planning a PCI card solution and FTA receiver box in that area. I want to output both to this new TV. I know that most of the new TVs (LCD, DLP, Plasma, etc) have some sort of PC connectivity, but I'm learning that it's not always easy to make that 'handshake' (mostly due to resolution issues). The most common problem seems to be overscan. The TV does 1280x720 which seems perfect for HDTV but when originating from a PC, you seem to lose about 5% off the sides of the screen. Not a big deal, but it could be annoying.

It seems like the better solution these days (assuming you can sacrifice some size) is to go the opposite route and buy a computer LCD that can also handle TV. I already have a 19" widescreen Dell and I've been impressed with its versatility.

Any opinions on this? My usage would be a blind scan on FTA receiver to find HDTV wild feeds and then use the PCI card to tune them in and display them on the TV.

 

[mark_calgary]

I have a 60" Sony RP LCD HDTV connected through DVI to my PC. I was also very annoyed by the obvious overscan when displaying the winXP desktop. As my TV has a native resolution of 1366 by 788 (or so) I ended up driving it at 1920x1080 and then, using the Nvidia display properties (I have a 6600GT video card), changed the desktop size to something that fits exactly in the visible screen area. Now I have no overscan.

I find the picture quality is still fantastic when watching HD (or even SD) and am quite happy with it especially when I flip between the satellite HD feed and the network HD of the same program I get through my cable TV provider (which will still have overscan).

My only issue is with aliasing of winxp fonts since the display has to downres the 1920x1080 to 1366x788.

 

[kymics]

That's too bad, but I'm glad that you worked out a solution.

I'm looking at a 37" Acer LCD TV that has a native resolution of 1920x1080, so PC display should still look good even given the large size. Similar to your point, running the lower res HDTV signal should then be able to fit within the screen nicely (although I still don't quite understand how this all works out).

Our basement is pretty small, and I'm currently using a 25" CRT, so 37" would be a step up for us. We have the DLP projector and a 100" screen for when something bigger is needed.

 

[damaged]

My only issue is with aliasing of winxp fonts since the display has to downres the 1920x1080 to 1366x788.

With LCD displays, the fonts look like crap by default, did you set the font in XP to Clear-Type, this helps ALOT.

Right click on Desktop, select Properties, then select the Appearance tab, then click on Effects button, look for "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts" make sure it is checked, in the drop down make sure ClearType (not Standard) is selected, click Apply/OK. All done.

Hope it helps.

 

[mark_calgary]

With LCD displays, the fonts look like crap by default, did you set the font in XP to Clear-Type, this helps ALOT.

...
Hope it helps.

Thanks, I'll give this a try and see. It really isn't a major issue for me since the machine is used only for the satellite receiver but any little improvement in the interface is certainly worth it and my eyes might thank me in the long term .

 

[damaged]

Thanks, I'll give this a try and see. It really isn't a major issue for me since the machine is used only for the satellite receiver but any little improvement in the interface is certainly worth it and my eyes might thank me in the long term .

Let us know if it helped or not, maybe others can benefit.

 

[mark_calgary]

Let us know if it helped or not, maybe others can benefit.

Definitely helped. It also allowed me to change back to a smaller font as I had set the font size to 120dpi to help readability which then caused some applications to place menu buttons outside their windows (bad coding in my opinion). Now at 96 dpi everthing is still readable and these applications work properly. I also made the icons bigger for aesthetic reasons.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[damaged]

Definitely helped. It also allowed me to change back to a smaller font as I had set the font size to 120dpi to help readability which then caused some applications to place menu buttons outside their windows (bad coding in my opinion). Now at 96 dpi everthing is still readable and these applications work properly. I also made the icons bigger for aesthetic reasons.

Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for the update, glad it worked out.