5 replies to this topic

[Scootre]

Setting up a new Mythbuntu system this weekend has reminded me of probably the one pet hate I have for Mythbuntu... that stupid bloody "Screen Setup Wizard".

The idea is, you just move the little corner frames to indicate the limit of your screen and, hey presto, your screen real estate is set perfectly. Well, that's the idea anyway. I've never seen this damned thing work. So, after a lot of mucking around, trial and error, I came up with a formula to make it work. Your mileage may vary but, It Works For Me.^TM

So for anyone interested, and for next time I have to go through this....

Before you start, you will need:
a. Patience.
b. Perserverence.
c. Your video driver running the correct / latest display drivers. Ie, you should be able to watch a movie with sound before trying this.

1. Start by going to the Screen Wizard (seriously.... just for this step) - so navigate to Setup > Screen Setup Wizards - and move the left/top corner bracket ONLY until it's evenly a little way out from the corner - that is, the white is out from the corner, maybe 1 cm.  For mine, this was moved until the Offset value was 44x26 - that's all we are lookin at in this step. The right and bottom edges of the screen at this point WILL be cut off the edge of the screen. Leave it as it is. DO NOT try to move the bottom/right bracket. It may seem to work.... right up until you save the settings and restart. Go ahead, try it. When you are sick of it - and assuming haven't thrown a chair through the TV screen, carry on from here.

2. So after changing the top/left bracket ONLY as described above, press m(enu) key and save the settings.

NOTE: at any point along the way you can go back to the 'Wizard', press the M key and select reset to take you back to the default settings.

3.  Quit out of mythbuntu frontend and restart.

4. Once back in the frontend, go to Setup > Appearance and then adjust all four GUI and Offset values until the settings work for your screen.  Do this a little at a time and to check your work, click next... finish until you get back to the menu system.  As it goes back to the menu system you will notice the screen resize / jump to the new settings.  Now go back to the Appearance window and use its window border to assess the settings you've made so far.  Be sure to take note of the amount of black space around the image, taking care not to create a gap between the screen image and the TV's bezel.

5.  Repeat until the settings give you a display that works well for your TV.  

6.  For my TV, running at full HD (1920x1080), the settings found to be best were:
        GUI Width: 1825
        GUI height: 1036
        GUI X Offset:  48
        GUI Y Offset:  24

Hope that helps someone else/

Edited by Scootre, 20 May 2012 - 12:38 AM.

[rileyp]

Setting up a new Mythbuntu system this weekend has reminded me of probably the one pet hate I have for Mythbuntu... that stupid bloody "Screen Setup Wizard".

The idea is, you just move the little corner frames to indicate the limit of your screen and, hey presto, your screen real estate is set perfectly. Well, that's the idea anyway. I've never seen this damned thing work. So, after a lot of mucking around, trial and error, I came up with a formula to make it work. Your mileage may vary but, It Works For Me.^TM

I have never used that screen ever....
I use this http://www.mythtv.or...nual:JudderFree to get mythtv correct and I make a custom xorg.conf using this guide here http://forum.xbmc.or...d.php?tid=70068

Automatic installation

All the steps can be performed automatically by dropping to a shell by pressing CTRL-ALT-F1 and running this script either by using copy & paste to an empty file
or by downloading it using:

curl "http://pastebin.com/download.php?i=bU1QFQ3c" | tr -d \\r > nvidia.sh

and then running the script using:

sh nvidia.sh

Xorg will be restarted twice and your old settings will be backed up to the directory ~/old

Am I missing out on something?

Edited by rileyp, 20 May 2012 - 04:03 AM.

[Scootre]

Am I missing out on something?

Perhaps. Unless I'm not understanding what you've posted - though I do understand xorg.conf and mode lines. But this is not what the OP is about.

The OP relates to getting the image centered on the screen using the tools in the GUI without clipping it on one or more edges - simply tweaking and fine tuning. MythTV offers a useless wizard to do this that has been broken for as long as I can recall. To do what I have posted assumes, as stated, you've already got the display otherwise working and has nothing to do with jittery display, as per the first link you posted.

Edited by Scootre, 20 May 2012 - 05:11 PM.

[Lester_Burnham]

Hi,

I normally just use nvidia-settings and the overscan compensation on the desktop. Then one that's right Mythtv will be right.
I had the same issues as you with the appearance thing. Multiple resets untill I worked it out

Lester

[rileyp]

I think I tried once or twice with that gui and gave up on it a long time ago after reading Arkay said don't bother with it. I don't have any overscan anyway and everything looks ok ...so it must be ...
Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

[arkay]

Nah. It's not ignorance.

If you've got a tv that properly allows PC signals then you won't have any overscan to begin with so you'd have no reason to compensate.

This is why everyone tries to get TV"s that do allow a 1:1 pixel mapping from PC inputs. On my tv it can't do it over DVI. The tv will only accept an overscanned signal. So I prefer to use VGA as a perfectly mapped 1:1 via VGA looks a million times better than the rubbish job the tv scaler does.

With a 1920x1080 TV this IS a standard PC resolution so there should be no reason or need for that stupid adjustment in the first place.

TV's that don't show a 1920x1080 source signal perfectly on a 1920x1080 panel deserve to have an axe put through them and the clown at the manufacturer who decided to limit the display to only working with cruddy blu-ray players that STILL overscan the signal in this day and age where overscanning SHOULD have disappeared with CDT technology. Which is why is existed in the first place.

So before messing with those settings I'd recommend seeing if the TV can do native resolutions. They can be called different names. "Just" mode, "1:1" mode, "PC" mode etc etc... Where the 1920x1080 signal will use every pixel on the screen. Most HD tv's have this option now.

If it doesn't there might still be a way of getting it. Through the service menu of the tv, or via some xorg trickery etc. You shouldn't have to rely on the software to re-position and scale the picture to suit your tv. So that display adjustment would be a last resort. Though there are plenty of the older, full HD panels where it's just not possible at all. Criminal as it is.

Cheers,

Arkay.