RE: Windows MCE

["Keith Finnett" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul,

That's really interesting...how are you achieving the 1:1 pixel mapping?
I'm
outputting my MCE signal via HDMI into a Pioneer 435 plasma panel, and have
had some fun getting it to display full screen. It looks great on the media
centre, but looking at the desktop I see a certain amount of fuzziness,
since I've not got a 1:1 pixel mapping.

k



-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Paul Gordon
Sent: 19 January 2006 10:25
To: UKHA_D Group
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Windows MCE

I have used analog VGA on my two MCE PC's - both my displays have this
connector. One is a 32" HD-ready LCD in the bedroom. This has a native
resolution of 1366x768, and I have managed to find a resolution that is
supported by the graphics card which almost perfectly matches that
(1360x768). This gives me a very clear & crisp display, and I'm
assuming
that the scaler in the panel is smart enough to not try to stretch the
image
over a measly 6 pixels, rather, just leaves black bars top & bottom
that are
just 3 pixels wide each... (can't confirm this, although I can say that on
close inspecttion, I can't *see* any evidence of non 1:1 pixel mapping...)

My other is connected via analog VGA to a 42" Panasonic series 6
plasma
panel. This is 852x480 native resolution. As yet, I haven't finished
working
on this one, as it has only just recently been built, and I've not achieved
the 1:1 pixel mapping. I'll be working on this more this coming weekend,
and
I hope to sort it out then. I've noticed another standard resolution which
again although not exact, is pretty close to the panel resolution, (I think
it's something like 840x480 or thereabouts...) - I'll probably try that
first & see how it goes.. Failing that, I'll see if I can get the
graphics
drivers to let me set a custom resolution that is close enough. - I did
quickly try to set a custom resolution of 852x480 to hopefully give me
perfect 1:1 mapping, but the driver wouldn't accept this setting, telling
me
it was an invalid resolution, not sure why that is yet, and haven't had
time
to experiment much. I have got newer drivers downloaded & ready to
install
though..

Both my MCE PC's use nVidia cards, the bedroom one is a GeForce 6600GT, and
the lounge one is a 6800 I think... I've got the latest forceware drivers
(81.98) on the bedroom one, but not yet installed on the lounge one which
is
still running the drivers from the CD that came with it, which I think are
version 6x.xx. Hopefully the new drivers will provide some additional
resolution settings...

I would say that achieving 1:1 pixel mapping, or something sufficiently
close that the panel doesn't have to scale the image is probably the single
most important consideration in terms of getting a clear desktop on a large
display. Others will no doubt jump in with more informed comment here, but
I
believe I have heard it suggested that this might, in fact, *not* be the
best option for viewing video?... - Keith D / Phil H / anyone else / have
anything to say on this subject? (other than ranting about how rubbish
S-Video outputs from PC's are!!!)

Analog VGA works fine for me, and is certainly better than any of the
S-Video options that I have seen....

Paul G.


________________________________

From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx on behalf of Simon McCaughey
Sent: Thu 19/01/2006 08:59
To: UKHA_D Group
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Windows MCE



On 19/01/06, Danny Dawson <dannyd4315@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thanks very much, Is it any good have you used it? and how do you get
it
to
> display on your TV? the easiest way?
>

I haven't used it personally, I know others who use it on their HDTVs
using DVI, and they think its great

I'm sure others on the list can answer that....

S.