dual display resolution?

phatmansays · Dec 11, 2007

Hi there im new to all this so please be patient.

I Have a 17" Macbook Pro running tiger but may soon be upgrading (if this makes it easier). I currently connect my MBP to my 32" HDReady TV but i get a limited resolution of 1280 x 720 as opposed to my MBP that can have 1680 x 1050. I have done a little bit of reading into this and found Screen Spanning Doctor for different types of Macs. I was wondering whether there is any other way of unlocking this resolution for my TV or whether im stuck with what i have got?

robbieduncan · Dec 11, 2007

Does your TV actually support higher resolutions than that? HD Ready just means it meets a very minimum standard which is 720p (720 vertical lines). The resolution you are getting is 720p. Size means nothing: it's about resolution.

Super Macho Man · Dec 11, 2007

You need to find out what the max resolution is that your TV is capable of. If it's a 720p TV then you are probably stuck with what you've got - your TV only has that many pixels. If you're not sure, check the manual for your TV, or try Screen Spanning Doctor. If SSD won't let you switch to it, you're probably out of luck...

yippy · Dec 11, 2007

The screen spanning hack won't do anything and won't work on your Mac anyway.

What you might try is this program.

But first, what is the native resolution of your TV as the computer can't make it go any higher than that. 1280x720 is already 720p HD so technically that could be the max resolution the monitor is capable of.

phatmansays · Dec 11, 2007

Hey,

yeah i think my TV is only 720 but text such as the menus and stuff look really fuzzy. A lot more so that if you were watching tv or playing on my PS3 lets say. Could this be to do with the fact im using DVI to S-Video as my interface?

robbieduncan · Dec 11, 2007

Could be many things: digital to analogue conversion, overscan...

Basically TVs are inherently not very good as monitors. It took me a lot of research to find the correct settings to put into SwitchResX to create a custom output resolution for my Mac Mini feeding my 1080p 40" LCD TV. This gives a 1:1 pixel mapping so very crisp.

You can check for overscan: are any parts at the edge of your screen off screen (normally easy to see on the Menu bar)...

jnc · Dec 11, 2007

phatmansays said:
Hey,

yeah i think my TV is only 720 but text such as the menus and stuff look really fuzzy. A lot more so that if you were watching tv or playing on my PS3 lets say. Could this be to do with the fact im using DVI to S-Video as my interface?

Swap that out for a DVI-HDMI cable. Worlds better.

phatmansays · Dec 11, 2007

Yeah there are bits missing. I have had a play with turning overscan on and off but it does not make a whole lot of difference to the picture quality just that either some content is missing off the sides and top or the fact that there is a big black line around my image.

robbieduncan · Dec 11, 2007

phatmansays said:
Yeah there are bits missing. I have had a play with turning overscan on and off but it does not make a whole lot of difference to the picture quality just that either some content is missing off the sides and top or the fact that there is a big black line around my image.

Then you are not seeing a 1:1 pixel mapping which probably causing most of the fuzziness. You need to do some research into the exact timing parameters for 720 on your screen. For example here are the ones for 1080p on mine. You can then use SwitchResX to create a custom resolution that will give you a crisp 1:1 pixel mapping.

The other option to check first (as it's easier) is to see if your screen has a PC mode that turns off the overscan scaling applied to all inputs.

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dual display resolution?

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