Widescreen?

Gepetto · Post by **Gepetto** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:41 pm

I've been looking for an answer for a few days now, and I found nothing whatsoever. I am close to the point of repeatedly hitting my head against something hard. Solving this issue is now a matter of honor.

I have a Sony Bravia television that I use as my PC monitor. The TV is 16:9 standard widescreen, but I can only display regular 4:3 resolutions on it. I can stretch the image to widescreen, but then I get a distorted 4:3 image, not a true 16:9 desktop. On Windows XP, is there any way to tell my stupid machine that the monitor supports higher resolutions? Is there a driver I can install, a third-party program, voodoo, anything at all that would allow such a thing?

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:09 pm

alright, after doing a little sarching I think I have the answer.

1366x768 is a standard widescreen lcd tv resolution, but it isn't a standard pc monitor resolution. (square pixels vs rectangular pixels I believe)
the closest thing to your tv's native resolution is 1024x768, so that's what your graphics card detects/does.

can't find anything to help with that in the way of drivers/software/voodoo though

Purge · Post by **Purge** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:06 pm

maybe this
http://www.tweakxp.com/article36759.aspx

i got nvidia and they allow custom res - so if you have it maybe you can try that

http://www.nvidia.com/object/custom_resolutions.html

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:57 am

Your Bravia TV will either be A) 1366 x 768 (all S-series and other models 32" or smaller) or B) 1920 x 1080 (V, XBR2 and XBR3-series) resolution. If your video card/chip doesn't recognize the TV as a monitor correctly, you may have to update your video driver or BIOS.

Currently, the highest resolution supported by category 'A' TVs is 1360 x 768 according to the owner's manual. At the very least, the TV should support 1280 x 768 (WXGA) or at least 1024 x 768 (XGA) which most video cards should be able to output.

For category 'B', the V-series models support up to 1400 x 1050 (SXGA+). The XBR2 and XBR3 support the full 1920 x 1080 HDTV resolution through the PC input, but this is not a VESA spec resolution, and as such, may not be fully supported by older video cards without additional software. That's assuming your video card can even produce that resolution properly with 32-bit True Color output (most likely unless you have a really old card).

Just to make sure, are you using the PC monitor cable (HD15 RGB) that came with the TV? And did you adjust your Windows Display Properties correctly? (Click on the Settings tab, select the second display, check "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor", adjust the resolution slider, etc.)

At the worst case, you may need to use an utility like PowerStrip to enable specific resolutions.

Gepetto · Post by **Gepetto** » Wed May 02, 2007 8:23 am

Thank you three for all the quick responses. I lacked a little piece of information there. My video card is an ATI Radeon IGP 340M. Sorry ^^

Purge wrote:maybe this
http://www.tweakxp.com/article36759.aspx

It says not to go beyond my video card's max resolution, and the "List all types" option says 1024x768 is the maximum. Should I risk it? (I didn't go ahead and test it because if it fails, replacing an integrated board would be quite expensive)

Purge wrote:i got nvidia and they allow custom res - so if you have it maybe you can try that

http://www.nvidia.com/object/custom_resolutions.html

Should I install the ForceWare even though my video board isn't Nvidia?

Willen wrote:Your Bravia TV will either be A) 1366 x 768 (all S-series and other models 32" or smaller) or B) 1920 x 1080 (V, XBR2 and XBR3-series) resolution. If your video card/chip doesn't recognize the TV as a monitor correctly, you may have to update your video driver or BIOS.

Currently, the highest resolution supported by category 'A' TVs is 1360 x 768 according to the owner's manual. At the very least, the TV should support 1280 x 768 (WXGA) or at least 1024 x 768 (XGA) which most video cards should be able to output.

[...]

Just to make sure, are you using the PC monitor cable (HD15 RGB) that came with the TV? And did you adjust your Windows Display Properties correctly? (Click on the Settings tab, select the second display, check "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor", adjust the resolution slider, etc.)

At the worst case, you may need to use an utility like PowerStrip to enable specific resolutions.

Mine is the "A" type. 26" KLV-whatever. I am using the RGB cable that came with the TV and my computer recognizes it as either "Digital Flat Panel" or "Standard Monitor" altough I have no idea what the difference really is. On the display properties, all the available resolutions are 4:3 aspect ratio. The weird thing is, if the TV is deactivated as a monitor, it goes as low as 640 width and as high as 1600 on the scrollbar, but when I activate it the only available resolutions are 800x600 and 1024x768.

And why is PowerStrip the "worst case" scenario?

Sorry for the trouble

P.S.: I intend to buy a new PC next year once I move into a bigger appartment (currently under construction) and I'll probably go for a GeForce series video card (in which case Purge's second suggestion wuld most likely work, and the TV would be, at least for starters, my only monitor). For now, and in case I can't buy the computer (there are always unexpected expenses with new homes) I use a Compaq Evo series notebook and the TV is set as a second monitor. I don't know if that really makes a difference, but if it does here's the info.

Gepetto · Post by **Gepetto** » Wed May 02, 2007 9:38 am

Update: I tried Powerstrip on another computer here at home (my brother's) that has a regular 17" 4:3 monitor (LG Flatron L1550S). I successfully created a driver that supported 1280x768 resolution and installed it, making the image look all "squished" (since it was a 16:9 display squeezed into a 4:3 monitor).

However, when I tried doing that on my computer, even after installing the new driver (and Powerstrip even identified my TV's manufacturer and model on its own) I was still unable to alter the resolution to anything other than 800x600 or 1024x768. Thinking that it may have something to do with the dual-monitor settings, I made it so that the TV was my primary monitor and the actual notebook monitor was deactivated. It still didn't work.

Looking at the "Advanced" tab on the video settings dialog, I noticed that my video card still insists that the monitor I plugged in only accepts up to 1024 width, based on something called "DDC Information" (which also knows my TV's model). Even after deactivating the "Use DDC Information" button and setting the max resolution to 1600x1200, it still wouldn't allow me to go further than 1024x768.

So, is there any way to bypass the ATI driver software (or overwrite the driver for the adapter just like I did with the monitor drivers), and why is it that two different softwares that correctly identified my second monitor as a Sony TV, WITH product code, gave me different values for maximum supported resolution and even refresh rate?

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:44 am

PowerStrip has many options, but if you aren't careful, it's possible to use settings that may damage your hardware. But, what it does do is bypass the EDID of the monitor sent over the DDC of the hardware in such a way that the video card is able to output resolutions that aren't set by the manufacturer. Depending on the monitor, this may or may not be successful.

Scroll down to the last post (#345) by Randomness

It seems that the ATI Radeon IGP 3xxM chipset cannot output in widesceen resolutions without using PowerStrip or a custom INF.

Gepetto · Post by **Gepetto** » Fri May 04, 2007 4:58 pm

The method described by randomness did enable me to select a 1280x768 resolution, but when I did so the image appeared cramped on the top half of the screen with weird horizontal lines on the bottom that resemble something out of a crappy colorspace converter.

The other methods either failed or didn't apply. Guess I'll have to wait a year for a widescreen desktop.

Just for the sake of reference, in case someone ever digs up this thread on the search page, Purge's suggestion does work on nVidia VBs. I had the opportunity to test.

Anyways, thank you very much for assisting me in this matter ^^ quick, comprehensive answers are one of the main reasons why I love these forums so much.

lister007 · Post by **lister007** » Sat May 05, 2007 9:36 am

If it is set to a higher resolution does it LOOK like it is?

Are you connecting from the tower to the screen through a video out or the "normal" (VGA, DVI) out? You said your connected via RGB so ill assume the first. In that case is the cable capable of getting the resolution you want? Have you tried with any "hi def" cables like DVI VGA or HDMI?

Gepetto · Post by **Gepetto** » Sun May 06, 2007 6:44 am

1)Yes.
2)"normal"
3)it is.
4)no.

In the end, it's just my video card that can't do it. Testing with another computer (running an nidia GeForce2) proved that every other part of the setup works just fine.