HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

CPUnltd · 2010-07-25 01:55:19

I have an odd situation and I am unable to find any reference to it in the forum so far (if I missed something, I apologize, please link me to the thread that answers my question if there is one)...

I have a Viore LED TV 22" that I just recently accquired a few months back that I am trying to use as a monitor with my Zotac HTPC (using an Nvidia ION GPU). The issue is that the HTPC connected via HDMI has about a half, maybe three quarter inch space on all edges that is not visible. I am not sure if the bezel of the TV is too thick, but I'm under the impression that it's not because I can connect my video game systems to it just fine and for what I can tell everything is visible edge to edge. By default, it has this issue with Linux and Windows (both HTPC's connected via HDMI as it's the only output both offer) so I'm not sure if it's a PC problem or an HDMI problem. It makes life extremely difficult for me doing a fresh Arch install because after a point, I can't see what I'm typing on the commandline as it goes outside of the range of the screen. When powered on, the screen tells me that it's at a resolution of 1360x768, and I know that 1366x768 is a standard supported resolution. But if the issue were that, I would only have this issue on the left and right edges of the screen and this covers all 4 sides. This screen is under warranty, so I don't wanna remove the bezel in hopes that it IS too thick and covering the screen edges... also, the game systems connected via composite look fine. So I'm at a total loss as to how I can work this issue out. I honestly would like to keep using this screen as a monitor, but this issue makes it VERY hard for me to do so when I am in a non-gui environment. ANY help with this would be greatly appreciated as I have run out of ideas and I'm working on a new install at this very moment (and have reached somewhat of an impasse because of my lack of visibility on the commandline. Thanks in advance to all and I sincerely hope I can get past this issue because it's killing me.

First and foremost, what I would like to be able to do is correct the resolution so that I can work via commandline until I reach the point of installing X... from there, I'd like to fix said issue within X (if the original fix does not carry over)... But I am really trying not to pull out my old monitor just to install Linux (will require a DVI adaptor) and have to play with the locations of items on the screen in order to stick with my LED TV... I'd like to fix this issue once and for all.

CPUnltd · 2010-07-25 19:36:52

I am now officially under the assumption that it is an HDMI resolution thing... I realized that my Zotac HTPC does have VGA, so I connected it and booted the system... my resolution is REALLY small right now, but everything seems to be fitting into the screen just fine... will take this process all the way to installing and running X with XFCE to see just how things pan out via VGA. But this clearly tells me that HDMI has some resolution issue that I need to figure out for this TV. I will post the exact model number at some point to see if anyone comes across info online to help me sort this out.

KlavKalashj · 2010-07-25 20:54:59

I don't know, maybe it's something going on with HDMI. When I'm home, I always use my tv as screen, and it won't show anything until X is started. After that I can go to tty's just fine, but I can never go to bios or grub with hdmi... Don't know if it's related, just saying, once you get X up and running, maybe it's fine. Are you using KMS btw?

CPUnltd · 2010-07-25 21:04:56

the scenario gets more interesting... after getting all the basics installed and tossing XFCE in as the DE, on first reboot the CLI resolution goes outside the screen borders (still connected via VGA) and XFCE's resolution fills the screen just fine (with a resolution of 1920x1080 via VGA oddly enough... took a pic and will upload for proof at some point). This situation confuses me even more since the desktop resolution is properly filling the screen. Will connect via HDMI to see if that makes a difference. I did add the edid options for my nvidia card, so I wonder if that helped at all (not sure what I have to check to see if it responded to the EDID properly, but I'm sure someone here will chime in to tell me what to look for).

CPUnltd · 2010-07-25 21:06:55

KlavKalashj wrote:

I don't know, maybe it's something going on with HDMI. When I'm home, I always use my tv as screen, and it won't show anything until X is started. After that I can go to tty's just fine, but I can never go to bios or grub with hdmi... Don't know if it's related, just saying, once you get X up and running, maybe it's fine. Are you using KMS btw?

currently not running KMS unless it is defaulted (never got around to seeing how that worked or was set up) and right now using primarily all default packages.

CPUnltd · 2010-07-25 21:19:03

HDMI connection still displays outside of the visible area of the monitor, but now also flickers (which I'm guessing is a freq issue) though the screen does detect the resolution at 1920x1080p (not just 1920x1080 like it did when I first tried that resolution a few installs ago). But via HDMI, both CLI and X stretch outside the edges of the screen in all 4 directions, so I believe that the issue IS directly HDMI related... will get the exact model number of my screen and post it here to see if I can get the modeline and/or EDID for my screen so I can run this properly via HDMI. It will be interesting to see how things hold up at 1080 via the VGA connection, though I need to increase the DPI so I can actually see the screen from a safer/more comfortable distance from the monitor. But this is becoming an interesting experience.

Nepherte · 2010-07-25 21:39:01

Using the official nvidia driver, look into the overscan option, which you can find in nvidia-settings. Increase the value until it fits your screen.

CPUnltd · 2010-07-25 22:46:51

learned something new to add to this situation... after looking over the xorg log, I see that it detects my tv as "Targa LCDTV16 (DFP-1): 165.0MHz" reading further on this, and so far, I see threads stating that is a common mis-detection...

will look into that overscan option Nepherte mentioned... I believe it's --tv-over-scan=(0.0 - 1.0) in the nvidia-xconfig options

almost forgot that the screen sometimes stays black when starting XFCE... not sure what that's about...

Last edited by CPUnltd (2010-07-25 22:53:16)

CPUnltd · 2010-07-25 23:20:09

tv overscan option seems to do nothing...

Arch Linux

#1 2010-07-25 01:55:19

HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

#2 2010-07-25 19:36:52

Re: HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

#3 2010-07-25 20:54:59

Re: HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

#4 2010-07-25 21:04:56

Re: HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

#5 2010-07-25 21:06:55

Re: HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

#6 2010-07-25 21:19:03

Re: HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

#7 2010-07-25 21:39:01

Re: HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

#8 2010-07-25 22:46:51

Re: HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

#9 2010-07-25 23:20:09

Re: HTPC w HDMI to LED TV resolution problem... maybe?

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