[mythtv-users] Large LCD Televisions?
Hi everyone, First off, I'm completely new to mythtv and to PVR/home theatre in general...and usual thanks to the folks who work on mythtv and support the project - great job! Now ... here's my situation. I recently purchased a Pundit-R BookPC (http://www.cappuccinopc.com/bookpc-pundit-r.asp), a HD-3000 card, and a Samsung LNR408D 40 LCD Flat Panel television (http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_techspecs_full.php/masterid=7676889). Ideally, I'd like to set up a home theatre for cable/FTA satelite, HDTV, and PVR goodness. The Pundit-R is a bit low-powered for anything serious, but I figured it was a cheap way to get started. My Samsung LCD TV is still returnable (for about 20 days or so), so if anyone has any suggestions for a better choice that's comparable (price and quality, etc.) I'm all ears. My problem is that I can't get the TV to display Xorg. I've got a DVI-HDMI cable that I'm using to do the display out to the TV, it almost works fine in text mode (except for the fact that the screen size seems to be too large for the display and my cursor and the left-hand side is cropped off the screen). My xorg.conf file looks mostly like http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/xorg.conf-HD.txt except that I've obviously got a different video card. Basically, the only error I've got to go off is the TV's 'mode not supported' whenever I try to startx. So my questions ... is anyone here actually using a largish (~40) LCD HDTV- capable TV with linux? If so, which ones work really well (ie, any recommendations?)? Any ideas for how to get this Samsung working with X? Thanks, Joshua ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Large LCD Televisions?
On Wed, Jan 04, 2006 at 05:54:43PM -0500, Jay R. Ashworth wrote: You are almost certainly overscanning the TV. I would recommend trying to get X into a lower resolution mode (if you're configured in the traditional fashion, Ctrl-Alt-+ and - ought to rotate between them), and if that works, go into your config file and lock off the modes that scan too high. OK ... bear with me here cause I'm definitely a new to this stuff. You're talking about the 'Screen' section and the 'Display' subsection for the modes right? The monitor specs say the following: Broadcast Standards Broadcast Format Displayed: 480i (SDTV), 768p Broadcast Format Supported: 1080i (HDTV), 480i (SDTV), 480p (EDTV), 720p (HDTV) Broadcast Format: ATSC (Digital), NTSC (analog) HDTV Compatible:Yes HDTV Built-in Tuner:Yes How does that translate to modes (HTimings,VTimings,Flags, etc.)? Or should I use a Modline? Also, is there a way I can ensure that I'm doing ATSC rather than the analog NTSC? Currently I have three modes listed: 960x540p, in540, and 1920x1080i. (Switching between them using Ctrl-Alt-+ and - doesn't change the display (in fact, whenever I start X the TV refuses to display anything even if I do the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to shut down X or use Ctrl-Alt-F2 to change to a different terminal). I've tried listing the modes I have individually, but still no luck. Here's my Monitor section: Section Monitor Identifier Monitor0 VendorName Samsung ModelName40 HDTV HorizSync30 - 60 VertRefresh 60 - 75 Option dpms # My 960x540p mode Mode 960x540p DotClock 37.26 HTimings 960 976 1008 1104 VTimings 540 542 548 563 Flags +HSync +VSync EndMode # My 880x480in540p mode Mode in540p DotClock 37.26 HTimings 880 944 1048 1104 VTimings 480 506 520 563 Flags +HSync +VSync EndMode # My 1920x1080i mode Mode 1920x1080i DotClock 74.52 HTimings 1920 1952 2016 2208 VTimings 1080 1084 1096 1126 Flags -HSync -VSync Interlace EndMode # My 1760x960in1080i mode Mode in1080i DotClock 74.52 HTimings 1760 1888 2096 2208 VTimings 960 1012 1028 1126 Flags -HSync -VSync Interlace EndMode EndSection ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Large LCD Televisions?
On Wed, Jan 04, 2006 at 04:05:51PM -0700, James C. Dastrup wrote: Use the PC-Input instead of HDMI. With the PC input, X will automatically configure itself, since it will be able to read the monitor information. You don't even need a modeline. The Samsung TV's are pretty good, I have one myself. If you have too much overscan or underscan, you can compensate quite a bit of it using the TV. Ho hum ... doesn't that defeat the purpose of having digital HDMI in the first place? I thought the PC output would be much poorer quality than the DVI on my ATI card ... Joshua ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Large LCD Televisions?
On Wed, Jan 04, 2006 at 04:36:46PM -0700, James C. Dastrup wrote: No, PC input is the same quality as DVI. At least on my TV (Samsung 61 DLP and ATI 9600), PC and DVI/HDMI quality is equal. Hmmm ... well I might be doing something wrong ... but my first impression is what I'm seeing in text mode (haven't gotten X to start yet). With HDMI/DVI, though the terminal does creep off the screen (meaning I can't actually see the cursor :-)), the clarity of the ascii chars is crystal; with the PC input, the letters are blurry and seem to be be shuddering quite a bit. Also FYI, I'm not sure if it's my ATI card's DVI out, or my TV's processing, but when I use HDMI, there is a slight delay in the picture from the source. This results in the audio being out of sync, although it is very very slight. I can compensate with my receiver's adjustements, but I don't have to when I use PC. Interesting ... so that means you've actually gotten the DVI/HDMI output on the ATI working with your Samsung? Weird about the delay ... I wonder if it has to do with the fact that DVI is only video and you're using anothe source for audio input from your PC to the TV (rather than using the HDMI audio which would be ideal if there was a video card that supported HDMI). Joshua ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Large LCD Televisions?
On Wed, Jan 04, 2006 at 06:40:45PM -0500, Chris Ribe wrote: I second the motion to check out avsforum. If you are worried about the quality difference between the PC input and HDMI, you probably shouldn't have purchased an LCD panel. I'll definitely check out avsforum. Thanks for the tip. Just out of curiosity, why would an LCD panel in particular be sensitive to quality diffs between PC and HDMI inputs? Joshua ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
