HDMI extended desktop to DLP: overlapping issue.

[fatmike23]

Good day to all!

I just wanted input for others on what they think the issue is. Please take a quick peak at my systems specs for full details.

In Windows 7 and Vista (ruling out driver issue), nVidia GTX 260 here are my stats:

Display 1: BenQ 19inch LCD 1280x1024 75Hz native
Display 2: Toshiba 56inch DLP 56HMX96 1280x720 on website, able to achieve 1080i (which should mean 1920x1080 is achievable)

Now, this is what drives me nuts. Why the heck does the website show 1280x720 as the resolution and then says 1080i. I've wikipedia'ed what 1080i means and it's simple: a screen that can achieve 1920x1080 with i think ~60Hz. My PVR puts out 1080i no problem to my TV via HDMI slot 1.

I've tinkered with my nVidia control panel (182.50) and display settings in both OS's, i've tried both my secondary display (DLP TV) at 1280x720 and 1920x1080 with 60hz refresh as base. Both work, but when i switched from 1280 to 1920, the screen doesn't even flicker or even move. It seems like 1280x720 is the resolution it wants from my HDMI cable to my TV's HDMI input. Help! lol

This may sound like there is no issue with the actual resolutions itself, but this is where it gets good. On both these resolutions, the screen seems to be stretched beyond the actual borders (if you know what i mean) lol i think the word i am looking for is overlapped. When i maximize a window, I cannot see above the status bar because it is stretched beyond the screen. I know, this is stupid. My VGA to my TV's input does not have this problem and i simply adjusted the resolution to 1280x720 and it works just fine. I throw an HDMI cable instead of VGA, and bam! this issue. Please help!

 

[fatmike23]

second post

I realize that this topic is partial PC and TV related, and this kind of sucks technically, but it is what it is. I see that a good 40 people took a quick stare at my post. I still hope some nerd out there shares the knowledge to fix this. VGA is not an option for me - HDMI is a must.

I've made progress. I can definitely extend my desktop via HDMI with both 1080i and 720p by using my nVidia software. This is now working fine. Unfortunately, the screen is still stretched too far. I'll clarify. If I maximize the My Computer window, the Taskbar on the top does not show because it is stretch beyond the top of my screen. This happens to all borders (top, bottom, left, and right side). This window minimized looks fine. If i use the nVidia software to manually adjust the screen to fit to screen, i can make it fit BUT it then looks squished and fugly. Please help!

 

[newtekie1]

I can clear up the resolution issue. 1080i is not really 1920x1080, 1080i TVs use a panel resolution that is smaller than 1920x1080, and scale 1080 signals to fit. Most 1080i TVs really use a 1366x768 panel. They do this so they can offer 720p and 1080i, both resolutions are actually scaled by the TV to be displayed on the panel. This resolution is used in most inexpensive 720p TVs so that both resolutions pretty much need to be scaled the same amount, and both look relatively well. Now your TV is a rare bread, it is a true 1280x720 panel. Which means 1080i images will probably look pretty bad due to the large amount of scaling that needs to be done. 1280x720 is your native resolution, so you should use it whenever possible, avoid 1080i.

Now, as for the screen stretching issue. In the nVidia control panel there should be an option called flat panel scaling. Try changing that and see what it does.