Some NooB questions about TV resolution and audio (1 Viewer)

[misterp]

EDIT
Sorry, in the correct format

Area: Media Portal Program
MP Version: 0.2.0 RC1
Skin:
Windows Version: XP professional SP2
CPU Type: AMD64 3200+
Memory: 1G
Motherboard Chipset: Asus A8N-V (NVidia NForce 4 ultra)
Video Card: Gigabyte GEForce 6600GT PCI
Video Card Driver: ??
Video Card Resolution: 1024x768
Video Render Type: VMR9
Video Codec Type & Version: Default
Audio Codec Type & Version: Default
TV Card: Avermedia Hybrid A16A
TV Card Type: DVB
TV Card Driver:
Optional Log:
Optional References: any reference

Synopsis: Enter the details of your problem here

OK, my questions are hopefully quite simple to someone who knows his/her stuff
Resolution

I have a 42" Panasonic HD (1080i) plasma Im connecting to via the RGB output from my NVIDIA GEFORCE 6600GT card (using the supplied dongle/adaptor).
It says (on the Panasonic website) that the native resolution for the device is 1024x768, yet on the next few line down it states that the composite resolution it 640x480, and to further confuse me, it then goes on to say HDTV res is 1080ix720p.
Question is, what should I set the res to? Im assuming the native res of the Plasma which is 1024x768, but then where does the HD res come into play (Ive tried setting the TV device settings) Do i set it to 1080 x 768?

Audio

Ive tried all the available codecs I have and still cant get my onboard optical SPDIF output to send out anything but PCM. I want my AV amp to do the digital decoding not the soundcard. I was going to look into the NVIDIA codecs, does any one have suggestions?

Thanks if you can help out on any of these...already lost many hours sleep so far trying to sort out most of the minor problems.


Thanks

 

[Taipan]

Question is, what should I set the res to?

You should set the resolution of your video card to match the native resolution of your display - in this case 1024x768. Your video card will then do all the scaling necessary from 576i, 720p or 1080i to match the resolution of your display.

 

[knutinh]

Your screen is a little unusual since it is 16:9 format, while the resolution is 4:3 (!)

I do believe that LG plasmas with similar specs works best if they are fed a widescreen signal corresponding to the vertical resolution (i.e. feeding a 768x1360 signal to a 768x1024 non-quadratic plasma). Then the plasma will scale down the horisontal resolution.

If the electronics allows 1:1 pixel mapping, you may also be able to connect native 768x1024, but then you have to do stretching in your htpc to get the right proportions.

I all else fails, I would just set the htpc to HD 720p, as the plasma should be optimised to do that resolution quite good, with no hassle (although possibly not as good as native resolution)

regards
Knut Inge

 

[misterp]

Thanks for the reponses..

Makes sense to set it to the native res of the Plasma, and as knitinh mentions, im confused as to why the native res is a 4:3 picture.

I gave it a go last night, and still wasnt very good. Ive fixed it by adjusting the overscan compensation settings in the NVidia desktop manager/driver settings. I think Ive come out with a res of some strange figure of 1168x654 (or something like that), with the card set to a 720i HDTV output.
The automatic resizing that has been mentioned isnt happening, maybe this only works when using the SVGA PC connection (Im currently using the RGB component inputs). Maybe I`ll try the VGA and see if that works better.

Have also fixed the sound issues. Im using the trial NVIDIA drivers and by configuring the audio codec to output SPDIF it seems to work (Ive also found you can adjust the other included codecs via the settings-filters section)

Anyway, i`ll post if the VGA connection is more sucessful.

Thanks

 

[Nightmare77]

sorry to be a pain but i wouldn't bother with the RGB out from the dongle from the 6600GT, i would have thought a card like that would have at leaset a VGA output and perhaps a DVI output as well, a 42" plasma screen should have a VGA cable at the least if not a DVI/HDMI input, i would go with one of those instead and you will probably find its all sweet
good luck