I've tried to be diligent about searching the forums, but I can't seem to find the right answer, so here goes -

System Info:

HW: Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2G; 200GB IDE-ATA HDD; 1G RAM; nVidia GeForce 6600 256MB PCI-E; PVR-150 model 1045 & Air2PC-HD5000
SW: KnoppMyth R5A22, nVidia-6629, ivtv 4.0
TV: 65' 1080i Rear Proj CRT using DVI input

I'm still having some trouble getting 1080i display from my Air2PC-HD5000 to my television (via DVI connection). I am able to view recordings and live tv from OTA, but so far only in 640x480... which of course isn't really HD.

Here's some history of my work thus far (note - I rebooted after each step and looked at the XFree86.0.log to see what X had to say)

1. Generated a modeline for 1080i and added it to my XF86Config-4 file (and added the name to my "Screen" section under the Display Depth 24 entry):
ModeLine "1920x1080@60i" 77.6 1920 1952 2240 2272 1080 1104 1110 1135 interlace
I have 2 related questions regarding this:
a. Is the modeline case sensitive with regards to the "interlace" option? I've seen it written Interlace and interlace seemingly interchangably
b. When the keyword "interlace" is included in a modeline, does that essentially tell it to divide the vertical res by 2 (so where I have 1080 in my modeline, it's really interpreted as 540, or should it actually be 540 instead of 1080)?

2. X complained that the modeline was outside the acceptable EDID settings for my display device, so I added the Ignore EDID option.
(BTW - interestingly enough, my TV's EDID reports vertical resolution as 540, which confuses me. It IS a 1080i display, but that should mean I have 1080 lines of vertical resolution displayed in odd and even frames of alternating 540 lines, right? Wouldn't that mean the TV should report 1080, not 540? Hummm... I guess I just don't understand EDID very well...)

3. X then complained that it was "too large for virtual size", so I added the following line to the Screen section of my XF86Config-4 file:
Virtual 1920 1080

4. Finally, the modeline was accepted. But as soon as X starts up, the display is HUGE and doesn't fit within the borders of my TV display. I can scroll around the screen using my mouse, but that's obviously not what I'm wanting... as much as I enjoy the extreme closeup of Jennifer Garner, I'd much rather see Alias in full picture. (For what it's worth, the same thing happens when I try 800x600 res, only the "virtual display" is, obviously, not quite so HUGE, but I still have to scroll the screen.)

I found a few postings on the forums about "display too large", "x display is larger than TV's", "Desktop extends beyond" and so forth, but I'm still not getting it. Maybe I just don't understand X's virtual screen thing. Am I doing something wrong here? I'm I forgetting to do something?

I feel like I'm rambling (sorry), so here's my real question: What do I have to do to "compress" the virtual screen so that it fits within the boundaries of my TV and still keep 1080 lines of res?

Just because a modeline isn't reject doesn't make it the one that gets used...

Go into your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and way down at the bottom make sure that the first mode for your default color depth is that one.

You'll probably have to do the same thing I did. No matter what resolution I put, the display was always larger than the screen, but the quality suffered. Just adjust the GUI size in Settings -> Appearances to just barely fit outside your screen. The TV will then also be the same size as the GUI.

I suggest a couple of things... If you haven't already, read http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/expertti ... guide.html . The 1080i modeline is calculated at 30 hz vs. 60 hz for progressive. I have attached two as examples - a 540P and 1080i (TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK - see my system setup below). The 540P actually works better for me...

ModeLine "1920x540" 82.928 1920 2064 2112 2456 540 544 546 563 -hsync -vsync

ModeLine "1920x1080" 82.125 1920 1984 2176 2432 1080 1081 1094 1125 interlace +hsync +vsync

Also - see http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... highlight= . I had the same kind of problem - those suggestions fixed it for me.

_________________
Backend server - 4.0 TB 3.0ghz dual core 6 gig RAM, nVidia 9400, Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 MB, 2 HD-5500, 2 HD Homerun dual tuners, 3 frontend machines - LinHES 8.6.1

Me too. And yes, my monitor reports 540 as well. Attempts to push it past with the ignore EDID option results in a larger display area, but it's scrambling things on the display, jittering all over.
I did try my PC (XP) with PowerStrip, and WAS able to get a true 1920x1080 screen, but it was kind of unstable. A bare desktop looked good, but then I'd open up a document in Word or Notepad, and it would start warping/distorting or jittering things. I was not able to get that modeline to work in Myth, but I DO have a different card on my PC than the MythTV box.

I've found that the 540P produces beautiful HD playback. Can't tell the difference between recorded playback and live playback with my LG LST-4200A tuner. So I'm satisfied that I'm getting "true HD". 1080i looks great, 720P looks great.

The only issues for me are running other X programs (games, FireFox, etc.) that don't fit nicely in 540 lines, especially with the overscan that my monitor has. I lose about 25 pixels on all sides, and some games and such don't have the ability to be re-positioned nicely. But other than that, I'm very pleased with my 540P output on DVI to my 65" RPTV.

Thanks for the suggestions.

tjc - Yeah, the 1920x1080 modeline name is entered as the first one under the correct color depth in the Screen section of my XF86Config-4 file. It's actually using that resolution (according to the X Config log file).

sabriel -
I tried changing the GUI size under Settings -> Appearances, but no matter what I change it to there seems to be no affect at all. I've run into this before with other "display sizing" techniques (like xvidtune, or adding Overscan option in my XF86Config-4 file). No matter what I change the values for x/y offset or x/y sizing, nothing happens.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I'm using a DVI connection. Would that prevent things like overscan settings from having any affect?

How much are you changing the display size in the GUI? I though it would take off from the current size, but it's acctually the size you want it to be. Ie, if you put in 20, it will try to make the GUI 20 pixels. If the number isn't large enough, it won't make a difference. It took me a bit to realize that. Try putting the GUI size at 800x600 and see if that makes a difference.

This is my modeline that seems to work well for my 52" RCA using the DVI port.


And my GUI is set around 1700x960.