FirebirdTN Posted July 9, 2006 Report Share Posted July 9, 2006 Hi everyone. Been a LOOONNNGGG time since I stopped by. I found your site a few years back and installed your custom .inf and 44.63 (I think-can't remember exact version, and I can't figure out which ones are installed) drivers to give me stability when playing games on my laptop. Thank you by the way. I never bothered to update the drivers, because....well, these have worked just fine for me all this time. I recently purchased a new TV; my first HD set, and it has a VGA connection on it. I am wanting to hook my laptop up to it so I can game on a larger screen. Hanging out at the AVS forums, I ran upon a thread where a very knowledgable user has done the legwork in getting 1:1 pixel mapping on my particular model TV and has shared his knowledge. Basically, the problem lies in the "overscan" of the TV which causes some of the 1280x720 pixels to not be visible, which will cause the start menu button to be off screen, etc. This user, using powerstrip, has created the custom resolution/timings necessary to completely fill the TV screen while maintaining 1:1 pixel mapping. The problem is, I cannot get it to work. What I am wondering is....since powerstrip states that only a handful of drivers support custom timings, yet Nvidia and ATI being 2 of the largest video chip makers and powerstrip works with most, if not all of their desktop products, I am wondering if its the custom .inf or driver version that is preventing powerstrip from creating the custom resolution? Thanks for any input. For more info on this subject, see this thread on the avsforums: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread....age=1&pp=30 Thanks! -Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Roux Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 You need a recent driver that already have the classic HDTV custom resolutions. You might want to try the 72.14, this driver feature all the laptop functions. You need to know your TV native resolution to set it on the PC. It can be something really exotic. Now if you send a video signal in the TV native size and the TV doesn't display it correctly... shame on the TV manufacturer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirebirdTN Posted July 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 You need a recent driver that already have the classic HDTV custom resolutions. You might want to try the 72.14, this driver feature all the laptop functions. You need to know your TV native resolution to set it on the PC. It can be something really exotic.Now if you send a video signal in the TV native size and the TV doesn't display it correctly... shame on the TV manufacturer. Thanks for the reply! I'll give the 72.14s a go and see what happens. I do *hope* it will allow powerstrip to create custom resolutions, but as long as it gives me more options than I have now it will be an improvement, since my laptop has a 4:3 screen, yet my TV is 16:9 and I have no 16:9 resolutions available to me at all with my current drivers. I do expect it will not display correctly as you mentioned though. The problem is, my TVs native res is a very common 1280x720. Problem is, about a dozen or so of those pixels aren't visible on either side, the top, and the bottom of the screen. They are "out of view" by the screens border. I understand why they did this, so I don't blame the TV manufacturer, but it doesn't make it any easier to get the laptop to use the entire visible portion of the screen, without portions of the startmenu, etc going off the screen. That is where that custom resolution comes in; at a res of 1224x688 it allows all visible pixels to be utilized, while at the same time maintaining 1:1 pixel mapping. So you could say that although 1280x720 is the native res of my TV, 1224 x 688 is the *visible* "native res" of it. I'll give it a shot and report back. Thanks! -Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrice Roux Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Hmmm given the resolution your TV seems to be a LCD one... so there is no reason to mask pixels. On a round shaped tube masking some lines allows to fill the frame. On a LCD there is no point in doing so. If your TV is really a 1280x720, and when you send a 1280x720 signal it clips 12 pixels on each side... sending a smaller image won't fix the issue... your TV will still clip 12 pixels and so on. ps: this is my 500th post here... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirebirdTN Posted July 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 (edited) Hmmm given the resolution your TV seems to be a LCD one... so there is no reason to mask pixels. On a round shaped tube masking some lines allows to fill the frame. On a LCD there is no point in doing so.If your TV is really a 1280x720, and when you send a 1280x720 signal it clips 12 pixels on each side... sending a smaller image won't fix the issue... your TV will still clip 12 pixels and so on. ps: this is my 500th post here... :) Actually, there is a reason for the mask. The problem is varying standards (NTSC vs PC). With a NTSC video signal and no mask, you would see trash on the top (and possibly sides and bottom as well) of the picture as there is extra data contained inbetween the frames (such as teletext, closed captioning, etc). There is no extra information from a PC, therefore no masking is required at all when displaying a PC signal. And btw, yes my TV is a RPLCD. However, you are right, a better way to handle the two standards would have been to have the normal res of 1280 x 720 fill the entire visisble area of the screen, and then "mask" the NTSC signals via software instead of relying on the physical border of the screen to mask the picture. Problem is, I am sure doing it that way would have substantially added to the cost of the TV. In my case, its nowhere near the best HDTV for sure, but it falls into the "best bang for the buck" category. Anyway, I am just now getting to tinker with it. The new drivers gave me ALOT more video options. AND my games still appear to work just fine. However, I now have the dreaded "black bar" problem with this set. I'll first see if PowerStrip now allows creation of custom timings. If it works, then I know I will just have to find a more recent driver than the 43.xx/44.xx series I had been using. If it doesn't work, I might just have to find a more recent driver that does 1280x720 and live with the over/underscan. Thanks again for your help! -Alan -EDIT- Weird. The short-it works perfectly now. The long: I tried *several* different drivers, and all of them gave me the "black bar" problem. I did try the "enhancer" to fix the black bar problem to no avail. I ended up reinstalling my origional driver I was using (43.45), and low and behold PowerStrip was able to successfully create the custom resolution! So, in short, after installing PS, if I had of reinstalled my video driver, it would have worked fine. Now I remember why I always stuck with the 43.45s; because of the black bar issue. It's the only one that doesn't give me that problem out of all I have tried. Oh, well...I'm a happy camper. I get to stick with the origional driver that I have been using all this time, and I get full screen 1:1 pixel mapping on my HDTV from my laptop with that driver and PowerStrip! Thanks for the help though-I do appreciate your efforts on setting me off in the right path! -Alan Edited July 10, 2006 by FirebirdTN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®®® Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 ps: this is my 500th post here... :P and the more important one: rich of useful information plus sharing it. Thanks Fabrice.Concerning the BlackBar: Now watch it... The fix was developed from Teraphy & MiniSteve 2 years ago using a Toshiba 6100 Pro, so it must work on your 6100 too :) But there could be something afoot here. I don't know if MiniSteve ever reported back using one of the 70s drivers, but i'm 100% sure that it must work. Maybe a not known VideoBIOS version?! Could you run the NERD tool and attach the logfile? Also pls. read this pinned topic (at least the first post) http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/index.php?showtopic=5832 Btw i'm a longtime user of 72.14, no problems so far, but i have to admit that i don't have such special needs, alas i cannot complain. The GF460 Go was also never affected by the BlackBar :) as it uses a different VBIOS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirebirdTN Posted July 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Although it is entirely possible I did something wrong, I do not think so... What I did was downloaded the desired driver version. I then ran the executable to extract the contents. I then went to the "enhancer" page, and left everything at default EXCEPT made sure I selected the correct version for my driver version, and under the "Toshiba" section selected "1400x1050". I then clicked the link at the bottom and downloaded the new NVDisplay.inf file (or whatever the actual name was). I then replaced the origional file in the freshly downloaded driver with the one downloaded from the enhancer page. At that point, I just ran setup.exe and went from there. I did run the N.E.R.D. tool, but a portion of it kept illegal oping on me, but when I clicked "OK" to the message that said an error log was being created, it continued to run. Hopefully, it gathered enough information, or maybe from my description you can tell me what I did wrong. Thanks, -Alan P.S. As of now though, my desired project is working. As a matter of fact, when you read that log file, you will see my res was set to 1224x688. That is because at the time I ran NERD, I had both my laptop screen and external HDTV on, PowerStrip running, and had the laptop set to the custom res/timings to allow 1:1 pixel mapping on my HDTV. LaptopVideo2Go_LogFile.txt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®®® Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 The procedure you described was 100% correct. But it seems as if the DEVCON.exe used by NERD is not executed on Windows 2000 which is the actual first case reported so far by the few who use W2K these days :) Anyways if it works as you need it, then congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirebirdTN Posted July 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 Everything is working great, but real quick I did want to point something out: When I tried the 72.xx driver above, I did NOT use the enhancer. That may have been why I got the dreaded "black bar" issue. However, i tried the 44.03 and 44.68 with the enhancer and still got it. My thinking was, I wanted the OLDEST driver that would fit my needs in keeping with the "optimal" driver thread, since my laptop is quite ancient. Actually though, now I wish I did have a newer laptop! I stopped by the "widescreen gaming forum" website, and applied the tweaks to get Quake2, Quake III, and Unreal Tournament to use the custom resolution I created, and all I can say is WOW they look ###### good with 1:1 pixel mapping on the new widescreen HDTV. I just wish I could see some newer games on it, but my lappy is just too old, lol! -Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirebirdTN Posted July 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 (edited) @@@, Not sure if your still watching this thread, but I just for "yucks" decided to give the 72.13 another go with the enhancer. It works fine (no black bar). BUT...I did want you to know that the "enhancer" does not appear to work with the 44.xx drivers. Yes, I know they are ancient history, but I was trying to use the "optimal driver" for my vintage hardware (which is the 44.68 classic). Don't know if you have any demand or desire for such old drivers, but did want you to know the enhancer does not work with them. Thanks, -Alan Edited July 13, 2006 by FirebirdTN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®®® Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 You want 44.68 to enhance? I see what i can do for such a veteran member... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 WOW! I wasn't expecting you to go out of your way for me, LOL. I just wanted to make sure you were aware that although the enhancer covers all the driver versions, it didn't work with the 44.xx drivers I tried. You ROCK! -Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®®® Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 Hm, 44.68 is listed in the dropdown menu. I assumed it is not listed there... What exactly is the problem with 44.xx drivers? (sorry for the confusion) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 The "black bar fix" on the enhancer page isn't working, at least for me. Just to make sure maybe the script was working on the enhancer page I downloaded the .inf, and read the entire "black bar thread" and viewed the .inf with a text editior, and the registry tweaks to tell the PC to ignore the EDID data are in the inf, but I still get the black bar. With the 72.13s I tried, the enhancer did fix the black bar. Thanks, -Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®®® Posted July 14, 2006 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 I'm not quite 100% sure (3 years ago), but i think 44.68 should need no additional BlackBar fix as it's a driver from the PRE 53.xx generation which don't have problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirebirdTN Posted July 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 I'm not quite 100% sure (3 years ago), but i think 44.68 should need no additional BlackBar fix as it's a driver from the PRE 53.xx generation which don't have problems. Its okay, not to worry about it, I was just letting you know. I am pretty sure though (at least in my case) that way back when I tried a bunch of drivers, and they all gave me the black bar EXCEPT for the 43.45 driver with your modded .inf. Odd, I know, but that is why I stuck with that driver and never updated past it in the 44.xx series. As to the 50s and beyond...well, although my card is supported because of the unified driver architechture, I also believe that for optimal results you should stick with the latest driver within your hardware's vintage. Again, its no biggie, I did just want to let you know in case anyone else stopped by and tried to grab an older driver for an older laptop. Also, it could also be something unique about my particular laptop (but I do have the known bad video BIOS). -Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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