Overscan on ATI cards - Stuck (1 Viewer)

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Metronome

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Hello everyone! I hope your year is off to a brilliant start!

My year began with my motherboard quitting on me which opportunistically forced an upgrade of my GPU and SSD. I've been a Nvidia user for a very long time, so I knew how to deal with the problem I'm having, but with ATI I'm quite lost. Please help, hopefully to absolve the problem entirely!

So for as long as I can remember whenever I installed new NVIDIA drivers my overscan settings would reset, which would require me to set up custom overscan/screen resizing settings for each of the refresh rates of the dynamic refresh rate changer. ie 24hz, 25hz etc. It was always a pain in the a$$ but I guess I got used to it. But now i have absolutely no idea how to do that in the alien ATI platform. Better yet, why is this happening in the first place?

When I change HDMI scaling in the GPU options it slows down the video playback. Weird.

Why can't every display rate natively have the same scaling setting?

I'd really appreciate your help, I can't figure this out.
 
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mm1352000

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    Nothing? No help?
    A bit of patience would be appreciated. People answer questions here in their spare time, and it hasn't even been 24 hours since you posted.


    I'd also ask you to clarify a few points...

    1. How does any of what you described and are asking about even relate to MediaPortal? (This is after all a forum for MediaPortal-specific problems.)
    Issues with GPU scaling and overscan are surely either GPU or display issues, no?

    2. You mention overscan, which suggests you're likely trying to adjust for a CRT display (or otherwise I would have thought you should be focussed on disabling overscan/underscan in your TV)... but then later you mention HDMI, and I don't think I've ever encountered a CRT with an HDMI input. Therefore I for one am confused about what "the problem" actually even is.

    FWIW, I have an AMD/ATI HD 6450 GPU with Catalyst 15.7.1. That's quite an old card now, but since you didn't mention which GPU you're actually using, I can have no idea if this information is relevant for you or not. Anyway, point is: for me, acaling options are in Catalyst Control Center -> My Digital Flat-Panels -> Scaling Options.
    upload_2018-1-19_23-23-53.png



    This section of CCC is only visible when I enable "advanced view" via "preferences" in the top right corner.

    Again, I don't know if this information is relevant for you. If it's not, you would really help yourself by specifying which GPU and Catalyst/CCC version you're dealing with.
     

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    Metronome

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    Hi, sorry.

    1: Because the issue is now and has always been specific to Mediaportal. Video files played in external media players don't utilize the dynamic refresh rate changer, which is the issue as I described. I used to utilize Nvidia control panel to create different resolution profiles for each refresh rate 24, 25, 50, 60 etc. But having now moved over to ATI I'm unable to do that, and the effect of trying to is different.

    - "1" This is the ATI control panel now, catalyst isn't a thing anymore.
    - "2" shows the normal, native mediaportal menu correctly diplayed.
    - "Screengrab1" is what the print screen produces during the overscan issue.
    - "Screengrab2" is what is actually displayed.

    2: Over/underscan isn't specific to CRT...... I'm using a 65" HD LED and a RX580.

    Again, the problem is that I have a native display resolution for 60hz which is displayed correctly. However when the dynamic refresh rate changer is activated to display each video file at its native refresh rate (24, 50 etc) the new display resolution is overscanned. In the past i'd create resolution profiles, but AMD won't allow that. When I utilize the HDMI scaling setting the frame rate seems to get cut in half and go all choppy.

    I;ve now tried the Mediaportal settings option to correct the scaling but have the effect shown in "screengrab2"

    - So yeah, not sure why the dynamic refresh rate changer is creating overscan things to begin with.
     

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    Metronome

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    Maybe it has something to do with the 12noon bat files?

    Like I said, in the past Nvidia resolution profiles corrected the issue; but I can't do that now.
     

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    joecrow

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    I've been an AMD graphics user (other than a very brief flirt with Nvidia) since the early Vista/WMC days and do remember that it was a painfull necessity to set up overscan for each refresh rate that might be used. I'm not sure when things changed but certainly for me with Media Portal 1 and Win 10 it is no longer necessary. Windows should normally set the display to its maximum resolution while the renderer/GPU should upscale or downscale if required to fullscreen. The attached screenshot is for the latest AMD Adrenalin drivers which I am using these show the default overscan settings that work fine for me.
    Hope this helps, but if you need further help you really need to provide your system specs. and a specific description of the problem in respect to MP, for AMD only issues I would suggest you check out this forum.
    amd.jpg
     

    mm1352000

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    Video files played in external media players don't utilize the dynamic refresh rate changer, which is the issue as I described.
    Do they change the refresh rate at all?
    In other words, I'm asking: what proof do you have that "the problem" only happens when MediaPortal changes refresh rate?

    2: Over/underscan isn't specific to CRT...... I'm using a 65" HD LED and a RX580.
    ...then I strongly suggest you check the settings in your TV and make absolute certain that any overscan/underscan setting is disabled.
    A digital panel with a digital connection should be able to display 1:1.

    Maybe it has something to do with the 12noon bat files?
    I have no idea. As far as I can tell, 12noon is a third party thing. It's not something provided with MediaPortal. Therefore this is something you will need to check for yourself.
     

    joecrow

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    @Metronome Your latest post came in while I was still writing mine, on a quick look have you tried setting the "Scaling Mode" in the Radeon settings to Fullscreen?
    Later:-- Also if really necessary could you not use the "Custom Resolutions" option?
     

    Metronome

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    JOE:

    I have "Full Panel" selected. It doesn't fix the problem. I mentioned before that this problem existed both with my NVIDIA hardware/software and now with ATI, for as long as I can remember (4+ years). Installing new Nvidia drivers would always annoyingly reset the custom resolutions i'd created to fix this issue. so it's not an AMD specific problem. The issue exists only in Mediaportal, nowhere else. When I use the AMD "HDMI scaling" setting to fix the problem, everything displayed on the screen becomes choppy. I can see how creating custom resolutions is a pain with ATI, it's not intuitive. However custom resolutions is how I fixed the problem with NVIDIA. I tried to create a custom resolution but it states that my TV/display isn't compatible with whatever number is enter in the 1920/1080 size fields.

    So I'm out of options here, other than not using DRRC and running every file at 60hz; which I really don't want to do. (because I like smooth playback).

    mm1352000:

    Because when a movie is played with a non 60hz refresh rate (24, 25, 50) the dynamic refresh rate changer switches the resolution, which is seen and displayed on the TV; that's the entire point of the dynamic refresh rate changer correct? .. This process ONLY takes place in mediaportal. Not in VLC, WMP or anywhere else. When I play a 24hz file in VLC it plays at the 60hz 1080p resolution (Because no DRRC). Here's the kicker (proof), when a 60hz video is played in Mediaportal obviously the resolution doesn't change from the native/default; hence no overscan problem...

    The problem has always related to mediaportal and DRRC.

    MY TV is not the issue. The HDMI source is set to "PC".
     

    mm1352000

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    I have "Full Panel" selected.
    ...then why does your previous "1.jpg" attachment show "preserve aspect ratio" selected?

    Because when a movie is played with a non 60hz refresh rate (24, 25, 50) the dynamic refresh rate changer switches the resolution, which is seen and displayed on the TV; that's the entire point of the dynamic refresh rate changer correct?
    No. The DRRC should be able to change refresh rate without affecting resolution. Refresh rate and resolution were related for CRT, which is why overscan/underscan control was necessary... but a digital display should be able to adjust the two properties independently.

    This process ONLY takes place in mediaportal. Not in VLC, WMP or anywhere else. When I play a 24hz file in VLC it plays at the 60hz 1080p resolution (Because no DRRC). Here's the kicker (proof), when a 60hz video is played in Mediaportal obviously the resolution doesn't change from the native/default; hence no overscan problem...
    From my perspective this is inconclusive at best, because:
    1. It does not prove that VLC, WMP etc. can change refresh rate without problem. If the problem were MP-specific, all programs except MP should be able to change refresh rate without problem.
    2. As per your previous reply, the functional mechanism you're using for changing refresh rate when using MP is not even an MP component. Instead of using the built in refresh rate changing capability, at some point for whatever reason you've chosen to use third-party 12noon batch scripts. To be clear: yes you've enabled MP's DRRC, however the use of the 12noon scripts means that the DRRC's functional mechanism for changing refresh rate has been replaced by the 12noon scripts. That's fine; you're free to do that. However, having done that, you can't then come to us and tell us that there's a problem with MP's DRRC [because you're not actually using DRRC's functional mechanism!].
    I reiterate the advice given in my previous reply: if you would like to continue to use the 12noon-provided scripts to change refresh rate, you can and should test those scripts work properly independently of MediaPortal. In other words: you should check that executing the scripts outside of MediaPortal has the desired effect. If the scripts don't work correctly outside of MediaPortal, you know where the source of the problem lies... and it has nothing to do with MediaPortal. On the other hand, if the scripts do work correctly outside of MediaPortal, then and only then would you have proof that there appeared to be a problem with MediaPortal.

    [edit: I should add that obviously another option you have is to remove the 12noon batch script configuration in MP's DRRC to check whether the DRRC's "native" refresh rate changing functionality works better than the 12noon scripts.]

    MY TV is not the issue. The HDMI source is set to "PC".
    With the greatest respect, this means nothing to me. It means nothing because the selection of "PC" doesn't tell me that scaling/underscan/overscan is disabled. (In fact I'd have thought it far more likely that there'd be an independent/separate setting for scaling/overscan/underscan.) Therefore I respectfully maintain my previous recommendation.
     
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