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    HDMI to HDTV overscan in games issue (nVidia)

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Exostenza, Jul 6, 2009.

  1. Exostenza

    Exostenza Notebook Evangelist

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    I was wondering how I can correct the overscan in games when I want to play my games on my HDTV. Currently I can't get them to run without 5 or 10 percent of the screen missing.
     
    Exostenza, Jul 6, 2009
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  2. spaanplaat

    spaanplaat Notebook Consultant

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    I'm having the same issue. Don't know how to change it. It occurs on some hdtv's. On my room I have a samsung le32 and I have automatic overscan. Downstairs we have a LG somewhat and there the picture is good. Tried different drivers but nothing works. I'm still puzzled.

    edit: Ps. I have a acer aspire 8930g with 9700m gt
     
    spaanplaat, Jul 7, 2009
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  3. rschauby

    rschauby Superfluously Redundant

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    This is an issue with your TV, many TV's "lie" when they say 1080p and they really do not have 1920x1080 true pixels on the screen. They usually have somewhere close to that and then they scale the picture down to the right size or they just cut some of it out and hope you don't notice. Nvidia, and maybe ATI, occasionally have resolution settings that actually try to compensate for the overscanning of these TV's and shrink the output slightly from full 1080p.

    My suggestion: Next time you buy a TV demand that it has 1:1 pixel scaling and your computer output will work perfectly every time.
     
    rschauby, Jul 7, 2009
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  4. Exostenza

    Exostenza Notebook Evangelist

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    Well I got my 720p/1080i 37" HDTV for free so I wasn't about to demand anything.

    I just want to know how to fix this! For the desktop and movies and such I did "resize" the desktop and it works great. Although in games I do not get that option. When I used to use DVI -> HDMI I could select 1366*768 which is my TV's native res, but now with pure HDMI I cannot use that resolution which is really dumb (when I go to set it as a custom res it just goes blank).

    Any suggestions?
     
    Exostenza, Jul 7, 2009
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  5. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

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    Overscan is compeltely acceptable and even expected in TV and movies, so that's why devices sold as TVs often cut it off. However, most of them also have some settings somewhere to show the full signal including the overscan area. Double check your TV menus. I can almost guarantee it is not your computer's fault.
     
    sirmetman, Jul 7, 2009
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  6. st0nedpenguin

    st0nedpenguin Notebook Evangelist

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    There's no lying being done, a 1080p display is a 1080p display regardless of whether it has overscan or not.

    TVs without overscan are still in the minority.
     
    st0nedpenguin, Jul 7, 2009
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