"Locked" resolution (1 Viewer)

[ErikX]

I have an Asrock 330 ION based mini computer running Windows 7 rtm hooked up against my Samsung ue55B7070 LED TV. I am using MediaPortal media center to play back movies, mainly in x264 mkv format.

The Nvidia Control Panel tells me that it is using native 1920*1080@60hz resolution.

However, in the MediaPortal setup under General, the display shows "Generic PnP monitor (1280x720) on NVIDIA ION". This setting is greyed out, so it's not possible to change it.

Anyone have a clue why I can't tell MediaPortal to output video in native resolution? Do I need a specific driver for my LCD display to be able to change the resolution?

 

[ErikX]

Hm... guess I'm the only one experiencing this. Damn..

Is there a tool/utility I can use when watching movies to find out what wat resolution is actually used?

 

[alank]

Shift-1

 

[CHli]

Hi,

The greyed out box you see in MediaPortal configuration tool si just there so you can select on which monitor MediaPortal will be started (if you have more than one) for that you have to enable the option : "Use screenselector to choose on which screen MP should start" (Default: off)

From the wiki :

"When enabled, the screen chosen in the dropdown box below will be the screen that MediaPortal will start on by default. Enable this if you use multiple outputs on your video card and would like MediaPortal to start on the secondary screen. You must also specify which screen you want to use (see below). "

http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/MediaPortal/Configuration/General

So the text you can read there is the text reported by your monitor as an identifier, it has nothing to do with the resolution at which MP will be running.

 

[ErikX]

Thank you CHLi!

When I select "Use screenselector to choose on which screen MP should start", the monitor setting is no longer greyed out. I am however still not able to change it to native resoluton, as the only opion I can select is still "Generic PnP monitor (1280x720) on NVIDIA ION" I just don't get where it get that resolution from, and how I can change it to display the correct one.

I'm now using MPC HC as external player, as I am able to select full 1080p output resoluton in the players settings. However, when I play Angels & Demons, and then bring up the statistics view, it shows trhe following:

Video size: 1920*800 (AR = 12 * 5)

Why does it show this resolution?

 

[CHli]

You're welcome !

I repeat myself : "The text you can read there is the text reported by your monitor as an identifier, it has nothing to do with the resolution at which MP will be running." If your video adapter graphics settings is set to output 1920x1080 then MP will be running fullscreen at that resolution.

The video size reported by MPC-HC is the size of the video (not the resolution of the monitor). Since most movies are in 2.35:1 format (like in the cinema) a 1080p movie is less than 1080 pixels in height, the rest are just unencoded black bars.

 

[ErikX]

Thanx again! The resolution 1280x720 still show up when I press Shift-1 to show resolution on some standard DVD movies, so it's still reported from time to time both in MediaPortal and in MPC HC. I just don't understand where that number comes from, and why both player from time to time report that they are outputting at that res.

"The video size reported by MPC-HC is the size of the video (not the resolution of the monitor). Since most movies are in 2.35:1 format (like in the cinema) a 1080p movie is less than 1080 pixels in height, the rest are just unencoded black bars."

A-ha! That's valuable info. Thank you!

 

[ErikX]

Close to giving up..

I'm close to giving up this setup, and change to XBMC under Linux.

Shift+1 when watching any standard DVD in MediaPortal shows that I am outputting video at 1280x720. It also tells me that I am running at 0 fps(?)

When running a HD movie by launching MPC-HC via MediaPortal the movie seem to be running at the correct resolution, but only at 16 fps. Even after changing the output resolution in MPC-HC to 1920*1080@32 fps, it's still only running at 16 fps.

So, I'm stuck at running all standard DVDs in wrong resolution, and all HD material with only 16fps

Anyone have any last tips before I reformat and install Linux with XBMC?

 

[CHli]

ErikX,

If your NVidia Control Panel says that you are running your windows desktop @ 1920x1080 then there is NO reason that I can think of that MediaPortal would somehow change the resolution when it's being started...

Are you connected using HDMI ? Can you double check your graphics settings ?