Why does my 1080p laptop output not fill my 1080p TV?

Ok, so I have my G73JH connected to a 40" SHARP AQUOS HDTV at 1080p using an HDMI cable.

Everything works almost perfect, except for I notice that there is a small ammount of black surrounding the image (about 1cm). This black area also changes in size, depending on the resolution I use.

For example, when I'm in 720p (1280x720), I get the best fit. There is the least amount of black. When I'm in 1080p the black is more pronounced.

I've also noticed this issue (which different amounts of black) on different HDTV's...

Can someone please explain to me why the output doesn't just fit/adjust to the full screen size?

 

It could be due to underscan, you might have a picture mode button on the remote, or a setting in a menu, that lets you change it to a mode called pixel-by-pixel, just-scan, or the like.

 

I have the following four view modes:

Stretch
Full Screen
S. Stretch
Zoom

Stretch fits the best (but not perfect), Fullscreen is a little smaller, S. Stretch and Zoom are both not what I'm looking for.

However! When on S.Stretch or zoom, although a lot of information is missing/cut-off, it does go right to the corners of the screen.

Do you have any other ideas?

 

Sound like your TV doesn't have a 1:1 option, it's not a standard thing unfortunately (although sometimes there are firmware updates that add it).

You may be able to tweak it in CCC, but it doesn't look like you can push it past 0%, so I'm not sure it's going to do the trick. Here's a guide (scroll down a little):
Overscan in Catalyst Control Center - Super User

 

You probably have to fix the underscan settings in Catalyst control center.

If you're using 10.8 catalyst drivers, you will have probably have to fix it every time [this was fixed for desktop cards in the 10.9 release, and there *IS* some kind of modified 10.9 driver . . but I have not tried it on my G73.

 

Most times its the gpu drivers doing it not the TV, though some older TV models have issues.

the underscan/overscan option can be a bit hidden and even perhaps not there if your drivers are not standard (aka OEM or mod drivers)

 

I've got a perfect fit right now! I went into the Catalyst Control Center as has been suggested, and there's some handy scaling options.

If I have to manually do this each time, like mindinversion says... well, that will get annoying. Is the 10.9 drivers not official supporting ATI mobility cards then or something?

 

Something in 10.8 caused the scaling settings to reset every time you restarted the machine. You'd actually have to go into CCC and play with the scaling options, then it'd revert to what it was supposed to be set to.

They fixed it in the 10.9 desktop set, but as they didn't release a mobile version the best I can suggest is to try the 10.10 betas that are floating around via:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/525013-catalyst-10-10-beta-mobility.html

I would *THINK* these incorporate that scaling fix, but I haven't had a chance to install/try them out yet.

Or just roll back to 10.6/10.7 >.>

 

I have 10.8 on mine and i can verify it resets, but you don't have to go back in and rescale every time. Just opening and closing cc works for me for it to snap back to the correct fit

 

it a driver issue with 10.8 , 10.9... 10.10 official will fix it.. the beta's not good so i'd wait... the official one should be out in 1-2 weeks.

 

I have the Sharp Aquos 1080p 52 in lc52d92u hdtv lcd, and I fixed my problem with CCC, or a monitor setting from win7 , regardless its the lappy, mess around with your overscan settings, I got rid of the black bars right after I found that out.

And for the poster who posted about the tv not having 1:1, sharp calls it dot per dot, lol stupid naming scheme imo but thats the one to one option. Now dot per dot, is a 1 to 1 option for a video resolution to match the native resolution of the tv sreen, ei 1080p laptop gives a 1080p image to a 1080p screen, your tv will display in 1:1, but your playing at 720p, on a 1080p tv then your tv will stretch the image in some fashion through one of its stretching options, this is because the tv has more pixels then the image its getting. But if the tv and the image match, it will be 1:1.

So just make sure on your laptop you CCC settings are 1080p aswell, I believe you find the options for when you have your tv plugged in, in devices monitors menu option youll find your tv sitting there , right click and youll be able to set up some settings for it, and they stick. You DO NOT have to do it more then once.

 

I'm glad I now know about this. Those black bars have been haunting me for a long time, but no more!

Good to know Sean, I'll keep my eyes peeled.