Operating System Help with Resolution/DPI settings (1 Viewer)

moryoav

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Hi Everyone.
I'm using Win7 64bit with MP 1.1.3 (StreamedMP skin), working on 1920x1080, PC connected to wide screen 42" TV.
Here's the dilemma:

1. With 1920x1080 resolution and 96DPI - the standard settings - MediaPortal works great, HD skins look terrific, full resolution is used. However, the OS itself is unusable from the couch in my living room - everything just looks way too small (text is unreadable in windows, icons are way too small).

2. If I change the DPI to 200% (custom), the PC looks great, all the icons and text are big and nice. However, this effectively reduces the resolution by half to 960x540 and in MediaPortal things aren't scaled very nicely. MediaPortal isn't using it's full HD capabilities because of that.

3. If I change the DPI to 200% (XP Style), the resolution isn't halved! This however causes problems both in Windows (not everything is scalled very well) and in MediaPortal (somethings text strings look good, others look messed up).

I'm sure I'm not the only one here with an HTPC connected to a big screen TV...

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated...

:D
 

mbuzina

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  • April 11, 2005
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    I think there is no real solution to this (currently). MP is sensitive to the DPI setting (as Windows does the scaling) and it affects windows & MP so there is not much the MP devs can do against this.

    I know this is a lousy proposal, but set your windows desktop to a lower resolution and let MP run in a 1080p when fullscreen.

    Just checked something: there is a compatability setting in Windows 7 for each program that you can turn off High DPI Scaling with. Select Properties of the shortcut you use to start MP with, go to Compatability and check the Disable High DPI Scaling.

    Maybe this works, I have not tried.
     

    grrfield

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  • September 22, 2006
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    AW: Help with Resolution/DPI settings

    Hi, I've the same problem as you. After some tests with diferrent dpi-settings I'm back to the default fof 96 ppi. Instead of changing the resolution, I now have increased the default font sizes for desktop, icons, windows, ... (go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Personalization\Window Color and Appearance - Advanced Appearance Settings) and the default icon size. In Internet Explorer I have set the zoom factor to 150%. Unfortunately, the increased fonts doesn't fit in some text boxes and some system fonts in menus can not be changed by this method.

    grrfield
     

    SimondusMaximus

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    Hi peeps.

    There's a free app called "HotKey Resolution Changer" that will run in the system tray. You can assign different resolutions to different keyboard shortcuts and change the resolution very easily. That should do the trick!

    Cheers
    Si
     

    mbuzina

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    You should not need a hotkey resolution changer, you can just tell MP to run in 1080p resolution and leave your desktop in a lower resolution.
     

    SimondusMaximus

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    Can you explain a little more, mbuzina? I've searched but not found any settings that do what you suggest without extra software or batch files etc. I must be missing something?
     

    mbuzina

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    OOOOPS, sorry. I seem to have remembered a setting that was available in previous builds: You could select the resolution you wanted MP to run in on the General Tab of configuration. It seems to be gone...

    I also tinkered a bit with the DPI settings on my laptop and they seem to not affect MP at all! But my laptop has just Blue3 on it.

    Sorry again, I did not want to mislead you, I just misremembered this.
     

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