Blurry TV (1 Viewer)

[Spragleknas]

I actually bothered to read the operation instructions for your TV (found here), but I need the full manual to find if there is a "just scan" function.

Regarding resolution, I believe that 720p (1280x720p50) is the best you can feed your TV over HDMI/DVI as it is what the TV would expect, and therefor have a good scaling for this. It will never be 100 % sharp in Windows GUI as long as you do not have 1:1 pixelmapping.

You should consider giving TV a try with this resoluton. (How often do you really want to see the deskatop, anyway?).

 

[echoing]

True, I don't really have a need to see the desktop.

Can any of you with digital cable and FloppyDTV make a screenshot of a channel (not HD), so I know what quality to expect?

 

[CCob]

You are basically seeing 2 issues here. The first issue is your panel scaling your PC picture when using HDMI, 1:1 or just scan should solve this if your TV supports it. If not, then stick with the D-SUB. Your second issue, which you have already noticed is de-interlacing, which you will see over HDMI or D-SUB. Personally I don't think MP's de-interlacer is up to much (just my opinion) neither is ATI's (Bob or Weave) de-interlacer in hardware (DXVA), I have not seen nvidia's de-interlacer in action. What I find the best is the yadif de-interlacer in ffdshow.

To use this, install the latest ffdshow tryouts with the raw ffdshow filter. Add the raw ffdshow filter to the post processing section under your TV section, and then configure the ffdshow codec's de-interlacing section. Personally I use yadif de-interlacer, but there are many there which you can try.

Now the draw backs. The main issue is HD content. If you also watch HD content and use DXVA, post processing filters will break that and decoding will all be done in software. Ideally you would want to use ffdshow tryouts as the codec for MPEG 2 only, but due to certain incompatibilities, ffdshow is black listed as a codec so even though you can select it, it wont work, which is why we have to use it as a post processing filter instead.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[echoing]

CCob: Thank you, this could really be the solution I have been looking for.

I haven't actually been able to test it yet, as I was away from home until late last night. I just switched back to D-SUB so far, and the GUI is crystal clear. I will test the better deinterlacing you are describing.

However, there is a problem with the aspect. I am sure many has had this problem before me, but I didn't find an answer. I have set the resolution to 1024x768, which is the native resolution of the plasma panel. However, Windows (and Mediaportal) sees this as a 4:3 resolution, but it's really 16:9 on the TV. This results in black bars when watching 16:9 material, as Windows thinks the screen is 4:3.
Is there any way to prevent this from happening, making Windows and Mediaportal realize that I'm running 1024x768 in 16:9? I could use the stretch function, but that will only mess up material which is not 16:9 (for example 2.35:1 or 4:3).

 

[CCob]

Yea, these type monitor/tv's can be a real pain. Basically your TV has non square pixels but most video drivers (maybe even all, I'm not certain) assume they are square which is why you are getting 4:3 output.

Ideally we would need the video drivers to allow you to specify the pixel aspect ratio of your monitor as well as the resolution so that it can compensate accordingly.

This is what I would do, the equivalent wide screen resolution for 1024x768 is 1366x768, use powerstrip if this resolution is not available to you in windows to force this resolution. The desktop will most likely be a little softer because the panel will scale it, but it should all be the correct aspect ratio then. When playing games or watching videos (or using the mediaportal UI) I don't think you will notice much.

Ideally you would want it over DVI/HDMI as most drivers over these connections allow you to do various things with aspect ratios. For instance CCC for ATI drivers have 3 different options for scaling when connected to DVI.

 

[Spragleknas]

Didn't read all, but this might be interesting: Full Screen in Plasma - AVForums.com
(There is a link to a thread regarding your TV).