32" LCD widescreen setup resolution

C

cybercampbell

Registered
Hi all

I just bought a new 32" LCD widescreen TV which has PC in. I just can't get it to look good. for video it looks amazing but for normal computer graphics like text and icons it looks terrible.

What would be an ideal resolution for this...Id like to have more desktop rather then big windows and icons.

it's currently on 1360 x 768 but higher would be great.

I've also installed SwitchResX which allows me to have custom screen resolutions.

Just a thought...should I get some special or better Graphics Card or is the one that came with my G5 good enough?

Sorry if all this seem obvious.

I'm running:

G5 2 GHz powerPC
1.5 GB DDR SDRAM
Moc OSX 10.4.3 (Tiger)

The TV is a Crown CTT3207W LCD Television (32")

Any Ideas?

Cheers
Cybercampbell
 
You bought an off-brand TV, not a computer monitor. Your new TV makes a poor computer display. This is to be expected. Consider the fact that a 23" Apple Cinema Display can display a 16:9 HD image of 1920 x 1080 at full resolution over approximately half the area required for your TV's 1366 x 768 display.
 
OK...thanks for that.

I have a few more questions...

I messed around with SwitchResX and added 1680 x 1050, this gives me the desktop area I was hoping for but again poor quality. that thing is the TV read it as 920 x 1080....but it looks fine just poor quality.

at resolution 1360 x 768 it's still poor quality, in fact the same quality as 1680 x 1050 just less desktop area.

I can get great quality at 1024 x 768 but its streatched. is there any way of getting either of the first two resolutions to look better....like the quality of 1024 x 768 but not streatched. I would prefer 1680 x 1050 but would settle 1360 x 768.

here is more info:

1024 x 768 (60Hz) Good quality but too big and streatched
1360 x 768 (60Hz) Bad quality but too big NOT streatched
1680 x 1050 (30Hz) Bad quality but perfect size.

I don't understand the Hz thing....maybe that the problem...

SwitchResX allows my too make any screen resolution I want but I don't quite understand how it all works and there are lots of settings. see image below:

http://flashmp.com/SwitchResX.png

are there better settings I could use for this to get better quality? (eg Hz)

Any ideas?

Cheers
Chris
 
the Hz is the refresh rate
TV's have very low refresh rates, as far as i can recall
somewhere around 50hz, 60hz?
what video card are you using?
does it support S-Video? you could try that
sometimes, the drivers/software with a video card
can enable TV readiness/optimization
that's definitely something to look into
 
I'm using the standard Video card that came with my G5. here's the blurb:

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE and GeForce 6600
Standard Power Mac G5 configurations come with the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE with 128MB of GDDR SDRAM or the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256MB of GDDR SDRAM. These cards provide excellent all-around performance for creative and productivity users. Each card offers both a single-link DVI port and a dual-link DVI port and can simultaneously support one 23-inch and one 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display.

Would I get better performance from a better video card?

If so what would you recomend for use with a Widescreen TV.

The TV has S-Video in but the G5 Doesn't...I do have an adapter to go from VGA to S-Video. I'm already using an adapter to convert DVI to VGA.

What are your thoughts?

Cheers
Chris
 
Chris,

You are fighting a losing battle on two fronts. The first front is the fact that you have an LCD display. LCD, DLP, and plasma displays are called fixed-pixel displays because they have a fixed number of imaging elements. Yours is 1360 x 768 (should be 1366 x 768). Your computer display will be best at this, its native resolution. Any other setting will necessarily be blurry. No if's, no and's, no but's.

Your other front is that your LCD display is a TV monitor, not a computer monitor. TV monitors are designed to be viewed from across the room where the flaws in the display cannot be seen. Computer displays typically are designed to be viewed at less than arm's length away. The text displayed on a TV screen are things like credits for TV shows and movies. They are not intended to display WYSIWYG MS Word documents.

Then there is the issue of quality. Even a good LCD TV monitor is of lower quality than that of a LCD computer display. You bought a cheap TV monitor.

You are going to have come to terms with the fact that your new monitor is severely limited as a computer display. Set your computer graphics display resolution to 1360 x 768/60 Hz (should be 1366 x 768). You can't do better than this.
 
Looks like I have a new TV for the lounge room :)

Those F%$@ers at the store gave me bad information.

I might go and rent a dvd now....for my new widescreen TV.

Thanks for your advice.

Chris
 
it sounds like a very nice telly, but unfortunatley, the safest way to get any where near a 32" computer monitor is the £2000 apple 30" Cinema Display. which runs at 2560x1600. all those pixels.

<3
 
Hi,

Now I know that this post I am responding to is pretty old, BUT I have not found an answer to this myself in almost a year and happend to stumble on this page quite a few time, so I am hoping so have other people with the same problem. I had a full week off work Ill and got VERY board. I finaly figured the Advanced Timings for this LCD to work widescreen. Bear in mind though that the resolution is only 1280 x 720 and does not quite fit the screen (about 1/2 a cm each side vertical) BUT it is correct widescreen with no stretching. Firstly you need to download something like Powesrtip if you dont have a NVIDIA card as my settings are based on NVIDIA Advanced Timings, as follows:

Right click Desktop, properties, settings, advanced, GEFORCE, screen resolutions & refresh rates.

Choose 1280 x 720, and refresh rate of 60Hz, click advanced timings and input the following:

Mode and timing - Custom Value (Leave alone)
Timing standard - as above
Flat panel scaling - ghosted out

Horizontal pixels:

Front porch - 80
Back porch - 208
Syn pol - minus
Front end active - 1280
Sync width - 128
Scan rate shoudl be 45.25 AFTER INPUTTING ALL ABOVE AND BELOW


Vertical lines

Front porch - 3
Back porch - 29
Syn pol - positive
Front end active - 720
Syn width - 4
refresh rate 59.851 - You will have to input 59.85 and then press the up button to gain the extra 0.001

Leave interlaced unchecked, pixel clock at the bottom should be 76.74MHz.

I accept that this in not perfect and still diplays vertical phasing lines if a test is done, however this is as close as I have got, and I would recon most people would be happy with this.

If any one wants to better this, PLEASE BE MY GUEST, I am sick to death of it,

http://www.techmind.org/lcd/phasing.html

Run the above on a standard LCD monitor beside the TV, they should look the same when you reach "perfection"!

I would be grateful of no sarcastic comment on any poor spelling or grammar. I have just re-installed Xp, have no spell check ETC and am in quite a rush. I am gonna post this on a few help forums and then get going. By the way this LCD is well capable of resolutions in excess of its advertised 1366*768 I know because I have displayed them. It just takes a good bit of work to make them look good!

Crown should have a help page on this !
 
Wonder what this is all about.
LCD native resolution is a hardware limitation, not a result of some arcane software settings....
Why should Crown provide assistance in fooling their products into some simulated mode? I think they are selling TVs, not computer monitors.
 
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