HTPC HDMI Resolution Problems

[s29feb]

I have the HTPC rig belwo hooked up to a Samsung LE26R41B 16:9 Aspect Ratio High Definition TV Ready (720p, 1080i). When I had connect anolouge (D-sub?) I could have it at 1366 x 768. Today I got a DVI to HDMI cable and when I connect it up via that the picture shrinks to the middle part of the screen and is sort of out of focus.

I have the latest drivers installed etc and I have tried AV Forums but cannot find a solution to this so its back on the anolouge for now?

Also I do not use the computer to watch TV through as I have it connected to a seperate Digital Tuner/DVD surround system but I do watch the occaisional XVID etc and when I suss it I'll use it to record etc.

[phatman]

Originally Posted by s29feb

I have the HTPC rig belwo hooked up to a Samsung LE26R41B 16:9 Aspect Ratio High Definition TV Ready (720p, 1080i). When I had connect anolouge (D-sub?) I could have it at 1366 x 768. Today I got a DVI to HDMI cable and when I connect it up via that the picture shrinks to the middle part of the screen and is sort of out of focus.

I have the latest drivers installed etc and I have tried AV Forums but cannot find a solution to this so its back on the anolouge for now?

Also I do not use the computer to watch TV through as I have it connected to a seperate Digital Tuner/DVD surround system but I do watch the occaisional XVID etc and when I suss it I'll use it to record etc.

I have the same problem, but with a diffrent Samsung model:
Samsung LE-40R51B

Did you find a soultion to this problem?

[Jooster]

Oh dear.... This doesnt bode well for me. Mine hasn't arrived yet, but thats the same TV i'm getting, and will be running my comp through DVI>HDMI

[Joker100]

Sorry for dragging this up but I have the same TV and am just about to get the DVI to HDMI lead. I'm also wondering if this got sorted or if I have the same problem is there any solution?

Cheers

[Tom]

I don't know of a solution, but it sounds like a lack of HDCP coming from the machine's output is causing the television to shrink the signal on the HDMI.

Better to use analogue for now, until you can use HDMI <-> HDMI, or find a way of sending HDCP from DVI .. But that's the whole reason they brought-in HDMI.

The idea is you can't send HDCP from DVI.

[Big Adam]

In all honesty, and this is a sweeping generalisation, HTPCs work besk when hooked up directly to "industrial" rather than "domestic" model plasmas/lcd panels.

By industrial, I mean those designed primarily for presentation applications without internal tuners or tuner boxes.

The faithful old Pioneer MXE1 series is a perfect example. Will happily run 720p full screen (1280 x 720) at 50Hz over DVI all day long no problem at all. No scaling, no processing, no compromise. Just a direct 1:1 digital feed. This is from a screen now at least 3 years old.

You can count the number of current mainstream domestic non-Pioneer plasmas that will do the same trick on one (maybe two) hands.

I spent longer researching the screen for my home setup than I did on any of the various PCs I've had feeding it. It makes life a lot easier if your screen is basically just a very very large monitor.

[Mojo]

Not to sound like a complete cheapskate, but does that not also mean it will be very very expensive? If I were to ever do it the TV would be the last place I would want to save on, I just ask more out of curiosity than anything.

[Big Adam]

Depends what you see as expensive. You're not paying for any fancy pants extras.

50" PDP50MXE1 will cost you £2700 new today. Matching speakers will be another £200 on top.

[Ninjagordy]

Tremendous......nice cheap screen...(if your a lottery winner....lol) i have a hyundai 37" lcd that runs 1080i through my system no probz.......

[Mojo]

Right I just bought a cheap replacement for my GFX card (7300GS) but it says on the Nvidia website that it has HDCP support, does this mean I can get myself a DVI-HDMI cable and output at 1080i? (TV supports it too)

[Mojo]

Anyone know if this will work?

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Anyone know if this will work?

As long as the HDCP from the card is output from the DVI connector, then yes theoretically it should work. You will have to find the sound from elsewhere though (HDMI would have sound along with it).

[Mojo]

Cheers, yeah I already have the sound coming through my PC speakers which are better than the tv ones.

[jameson_uk]

It is not as simple as having HDCP will make everything work.

I am not sure why you want to use 720p anyway. To get the best possible picture you want 1:1 pixel mapping between PC and TV. If you have a 1368x768 screen this means yout really need to be getting 1360*768. Sending the TV a 720p signal means that you are scaling stuff on PC to make it 720 lines and then getting the tv to rescale this again to 768 lines.

This again is nice in principle but most screens do not allow this. I have a Sony 32V2000 (which I bought based on the fact it does 1:1 mapping); this however is via VGA.

Try it out using http://www.entechtaiwan.com/files/ntest.zip or the easier way described here http://www.eirikso.com/2006/04/06/pe...t-of-your-lcd/

Currently you are much more likely to get a better picture via VGA and a screen that does 1:1 mapping than the DVI=>HDMI route.

There are 101 threads about this sort of thing on www.avforums.com in the entertainment PC and LCD sections

[stdRaichu]

As someone who's just set up his HTPC to hook up to a 1366x768 LCD (the very spiffy ans surprisingly cheap Hyundai Q320 if you're interested), I'll kinda echo jameson's comments.

If it's hooked up by DVI, then your GFX card will look up the EDID of your DFP to try and grab what resolutions it supports - if all goes well, the DFP will usually always report 1360x768. If you set your output to this and a reasonable vertical refresh rate you should hav eno problems.

If you want to use the remaining six pixel lines, you'll need to disable EDID lookup and concoct a custom modeline. I managed this but couldn't get it to keep the 100dpi that I wanted.