Panning mode for resolution limited displays

[itzmax]

Hey all, so my mum got me this new 32" 1080i toshiba lcd, i did ask her to take it back to get a 1080p moniter though, but anyway, as 1080i is limited to 30hz all games look crap @ 1920x1080 so i play most games @ 1280x768 (720p), but one day windows 7 was giving me bullsh*t so i installed xp. once i installed ATI catalyst control centre i noticed a box that said "Panning mode for resolution limited displays" so i randomly ticked it and wolla, i now found that i could play games @ 2048x1536 - 85Hz, it looked totally awsome. a week or so later i reinstalled windows 7 and was dissapointed to find that the "Panning mode for resolution limited displays" box had gone.

So my question is, is there anyway to enable this feature?

Graphics card: XFX HD4870

Thanks.

 

[photonboy]

There are two ways to connect to an HDTV: VGA (analog) and HDMI or DVI (digital). These have slightly different setup options.

If you have a PC-VGA input then you would use your Native resolution (either 1920x1080 or 1366x768) as your Windows resolution.

If you use HDMI/DVI you should be set to either 1280x720 or 1920x1080.
With HDMI/DVI, you need to calibrate so that the screen fits perfectly and isn't too big or too small (in your ATI CCC).

You do NOT have a resolution limited display. Your setup is incorrect.

*Note that for VGA, you are treating your HDTV like a monitor. This means if you play a game that is 1024x768 your black bars will be there correctly. For HDMI/DVI, you choose your resolution such as 1280x720 and that is your ONLY CHOICE to choose from so non-Widescreen games will look stretched. (I believe there are ways to work around this but I don't have this setup so I can't verify.) The exception is some TV's have an HDMI-PC input which makes the HDTV work like a monitor through the HDMI input.

**Audio can be a pain through HDMI/DVI. In some cases it's not possible. My 32" Sony is hooked up to my HD5870 and audio through a VGA video cable and 3.5mm Stereo audio cable and it works just great this way (I use it for video and XBox 360 controller games).


FYI, All HDTV's take in the video signal at 60Hz. Yes, VIDEO is 30Hz (FILM is 24Hz), but except for special cases such as 24P True Cinema (Google it), your DVD Player or TV box spits out the signal to the TV at 60Hz.

The difference between a "1080i" and "1080p" HDTV is that the 1080i HDTV doesn't read a 1080p signal so any device must send High-Def at either 1080i or 720p. HDTV is either 1080i or 720p, there is no 1080p for TV.

BluRay players should be able to send out all the signals (1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i). The BluRay disc stores the movie progressively (1080p) and all HDTV's update their screens progressively. So, if you can NOT decode 1080p, you'll decode 1080i. What does that mean? It means that the BluRay player will INTERLACE that 1080p signal, then send it to your TV as 1080i; then your HDTV will de-interlace it to 1080p again and then scale it to fit your screen (many 32" HDTV's are 1366x768).

So having an HDTV that can read 1080p is a good idea even if it only displays 1366x768 because otherwise you can get interlacing issues. Most HDTV's now are pretty good at deinterlacing.

 

[itzmax]

Thanks for that, it must of taken time to write all that. However i think youve missed my question, In XP i could set the display to 2048x1536 by ticking the Panning mode for resolution limited displays in CCC, however i cannot set this resolution in Vista nor windows 7 because the Panning mode for resolution limited displays box is not there. Atlthough i can force it using ATI tray tools, when i apply it my HDTV goes black and displays "Mode not supported".

PS I'm using a DVI/HDMI cable to connect my HDTV

And when I said limited to 30Hz I meant, 1080i is 60 Fields Per Second, Which is equivalent to 30Hz, Therefore at 1920x1080, I get screen tearing if the Game outputs 30FPS + This is why I play at 1280x768/60Hz which can output 60FPS without screen tearing. This is why i want the Panning mode for resolution limited displays option so I can output 85Hz @ 2048x1536.

 

[photonboy]

I think that Windows 7 is "smart enough" that it recognizes that you do NOT have a resolution limited display and hence does not even give you the option. You should be using Windows 7.

If you have an HDTV, then you do NOT have a resolution of 2048x1536, nor is your refresh 85Hz, it is 60Hz.

In fact, 2048x1536 isn't even the correct ratio. The correct ratio is 16:9, not 4:3.

I know a lot about HDTV's and computers. I recommend that you paste the information I sent on my first reply. It is correct.

The only thing I'm uncertain about is how to compensate for games that don't support Widescreen. There may be a 1:1 pixel mode or ASPECT RATIO mode somewhere in CCC or with your HDTV that you may need to mess with.

Other ATI CCC notes:
CCC-> "Desktops and Displays"->bottom icon->"Configure"->"GPU scaling" (not sure if that works in HDTV mode, but I needed it on for some of my non-Widescreen games to work with my 16:9 U2711 monitor.)

Digital vs Analog:
I didn't quite explain this correctly. It's more accurate to say "PC" vs "HDTV"; for example, a computer monitor can have a DVI or HDMI input for a PC signal while an HDTV normally is expecting an HDTV signal like 1080p. They are completely different signals.

HDTV manual:
Your manual has a list at the back of supported signals for both the PC input and the TV inputs. Your PC input is likely 640x480, 800x600... up to 1920x1080. Your HDTV input would be 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p.

Wikipedia is also a good source.

 

[itzmax]

Look, My HDTV can do 2048x1536/85Hz But ONLY with the Panning mode for resolution limited displays box checked, And as far as gameplay is concerned the picture is not squashed or stretched, It looked Perfect and the quality was amazing.
So i take it you cannot enable the Panning mode for resolution limited displays?

 

[photonboy]

What setting?

You have two choices: 1920x1080 or 1280x720 (@60Hz) to setup correctly.

For gaming, it also depends on your hardware. obviously the higher resolution takes more computing power. If you have 1920x1080 as your native resolution for your HDTV (you have 1920x1080 physical pixels) you should choose that.

You may wish to consider using the VGA input if you have one.

My setup:
32" Sony HDTV (native res 1366x768)
- Windows resolution is 1366x768
- HD5870->VGA adapter-> VGA cable-> VGA-PC input on HDTV
- audio card (FRONT) output-> 3.5mm stereo cable-> 3.5mm audio input

Using the VGA allows me to treat my PC as a computer monitor. The main issue is audio. There are very few ways currently to send ALL of your audio (Windows sounds, videos on hard drive or disc and Games) through the HDMI cable. Most HDMI output stems from graphics cards but the audio is often simply routed from movies. since there is NO processing, only supported audio works (such as Dolby Digital). Windows sounds and games use your audio card.

There are some computers (usually laptops) that have the sound card's output sent to the HDMI output properly (even then you need to software toggle between onboard sound and HDMI audio to toggle between the laptop speakers and HDMI output of audio).

The only solution I know of that works fairly well is on a few graphics cards that have a digital input that you physically connect to the sound card's output. In this case you get the same sound coming out the HDMI output on the graphics card as you do from the sound card (it's just digital on the HDMI connection and analog out the sound card).

 

[photonboy]

It's possible that by some fluke your settings look okay, but you do NOT have things setup correctly. Again, note that your aspect ratio is 4:3 and NOT 16:9.

Either your card is sending out the signal as 16:9 or your TV is receiving it as a 4:3 signal and then just stretching it to fit the screen.

Either way, there are only TWO correct settings to choose for a normal HDMI input on an HDTV, 1280x720 @60Hz or 1920x1080 @60Hz (720p or 1080p).

 

[photonboy]

PANNING MODE for Resolution-limited displays:

It just occurred to me that you don't know what this is. This is used when you have a low-resolution display like a netbook at 1024x600.

What this does is you can choose a resolution HIGHER than your native resolution and PAN around within it. You won't see the entire screen. For example, if you chose 2048x1200 as your resolution in PANNING MODE for the above netbook you would see ONE FOURTH of the screen at any time. You usually use the CURSOR keys to move the viewable screen within the virtual screen.

It's like playing a video game where you have a huge map but can only view part of it on your screen at any one time.