AE700 w/ DVI (HDMI) from PC won't give me rez I need

Yay my first post!

I've been bashing my head here, completely baffled about this problem. What I'm trying to do is hook up my PC to my projector using the DVI connection on my ATI X800 Pro to the HDMI input on my AE700 projector. Yes, I have the right cables...a DVI, DVI-HDMI coupler, then an HDMI caple. I'm trying to get the resolutions that I was allowed when I used the RGB connection, of 1280x1024, but it keeps borking out. Note that I can get that resolution from within windows, but as soon as I start Doom3/HL2, I have immediate problems.

It looks like there's a hang-up with detecting the native resolution of the monitor device (my projector), and it thinks the max is 856x480. Here's an interesting experiment I ran with one game:

1) ran in regularly, with the game set to run at 1024x768...the game exited with a DirectX error.
2) ran it again in windowed mode (runs in a window) at the same resolution, and it worked.
3) ran it regularly with an RGB cable, worked fine.

I can understand why RGB should work easily as it's all analogue, but I would hope that a digital connection has the same flexibility w/ better picture quality. So far, I can't confirm either

Note that the projector is being detected by the PnP manager on the PC correctly, and actually states the max resolution is 1920xsomething-er-other. I also installed PowerStrip, but I have no idea how to use it :/

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've tried to , but nothing seemed to make sense.

Thanks!

[hazard]

This is something I just tried myself last week, and did eventually get it working, so keep at it.

I am using an oldish Nvidia card (GeForce 4400) hooked up the same way as you. It too detected the projector fine, but assumed it had a maximum resolution of 1920x1280 or something. When first connected it tried to actually USE that resolution and the picture was a mess.

There was barely enough of the settings window visible to allow me to bring the resolution down to 1280x720. This is the optimum setting, and immediately everything worked fine. Ok there are a few pixels missing around the borders but HL2 looks pretty damn good anyway.

Basically then try to set the res to 1280x720 and see how you get on. Never having had much luck with Powerstrip, I'll leave that discussion to the more experienced types

[zoolap]

on windows if you pick the wrong resolution you have about 10 seconds in which you can press "esc" to cancel the choice.

/bump

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I've tried that already with no subsequent luck...I can get pretty much any resolution through windows (even 1280x1024)...the problem is when I play games, the highest resolution games seem to detect is 856x480. Maybe it's my con'farnin' video card, but I would hope an X800 is more than sophisticated enough for the task.

Really frustrating, as the main reason I bought this was for gaming.

Whaddya know, damn vertical banding hit an all time poor quality tonight. I've tried to read up on solutions on that as well, but the only one that peeps seem to say works is turning the projector off completely....too bad I mounted it on my 10 foot ceiling, argh.

BTW, if anybody has a solution to my resolution problem, I'll pass on major good karma vibes

[Nikumba]

Doom,

Make sure you have the latest Catalysts installed, reset all your values to default and i mean every thing in the catalyst suite.

Power off your machine and unplug your normal monitor and boot up using hte pj only and see what happens.

I use a 9800 pro on mine and had to put i think 4.10 or high to get the native res we need

Nikumba

[KraGorn]

Originally Posted by DoomGoon

I also installed PowerStrip, but I have no idea how to use it :/

Do you still need help with this? I use the 4.12 drivers with my 9600 and even though they give me 1280x720 out of the box Powerstrip is still more useful IMHO when switching refresh rates and fine-tuning them to eliminate judder.

Originally Posted by Nikumba

Doom,

Make sure you have the latest Catalysts installed, reset all your values to default and i mean every thing in the catalyst suite.

Power off your machine and unplug your normal monitor and boot up using hte pj only and see what happens.

I use a 9800 pro on mine and had to put i think 4.10 or high to get the native res we need

Nikumba

I have actually tried the default Catalysts that came with my vid card, 4.10 I believe, and also 4.11 and 4.12. Ran into the reboot issue as well...and can actually reboot with both by monitor and my other pj setup properly...1600x1200 (LDC monitor) and 1280x1024 (pj) in windows, with my primary display being my projector. HOWEVER, when I start a game that runs at 1280x1024, the game bonks out, normally with either a crash, black screen of confusion (cousin of the BSOD lol), or a DirectX error.

When I did the above with an RGB connection, I was in Happyland gettin' my game on (ie it worked fine)...when I do it with HDMI, the above happens.

Thanks to all for the help...any PowerStrip experts out there know of a way to trick the games into thinking my projector has 1280x1024 native? I think the problem is the native rez detection, which is saying 1280x720, and games are sayin' no-way to it.

Originally Posted by KraGorn

Do you still need help with this? I use the 4.12 drivers with my 9600 and even though they give me 1280x720 out of the box Powerstrip is still more useful IMHO when switching refresh rates and fine-tuning them to eliminate judder.

Powerstrip looked pretty cool...lotsa fancy numbers though that made my brain hurt. I'm a puter geek, not a electrical engineer

I have to say, while I have been having these issues with the HDMI connection, the fonts look much nicer when running in windows than the RGB.

[KraGorn]

I don't understand the numbers either. Luckily you don't have to, normally you can just pick one of the presets and use those .. I know how alter the refresh rates to achieve precise timing, but HOW it does it is beyond me.

However, one thing I rarely do is play games on a PC running Powerstrip, by the sound of your experience some games at least sound to be poorly written and don't allow for non-M$-standard desktop sizes.

Originally Posted by KraGorn

I don't understand the numbers either. Luckily you don't have to, normally you can just pick one of the presets and use those .. I know how alter the refresh rates to achieve precise timing, but HOW it does it is beyond me.

However, one thing I rarely do is play games on a PC running Powerstrip, by the sound of your experience some games at least sound to be poorly written and don't allow for non-M$-standard desktop sizes.

Agreed. I think the games are just enforcing native resolution support, andwith RGB, there was no PnP taking place, so it had no idea of what the native res was, so I think it assumed that whatever Windows was running, was at least native.

Doom3 = Open GL 4x3 resolutions only...don't blame Id Software
HL2 = DirectX, 4x3 and 16x9...no excuses Valve, shame on them

[wajcn50]

Hi,
I'm a total novice in this area but I'm also looking to hook up my PC to my AE700 so really interested in this thread.

I did notice though when reading through the projector manual (Pg 58) that the resolution you are after is not available in 'HDMI format', only 'PC'.

Could this be significant??

[pez]

Doom3 with the patch will support 16:9 resolutions (yay! - apparently - not tried it myself yet!).

i have heard reports that the ae700 doesnt support a full 720 line image over HDMI, the image will lose out about 2% of the bottom and 2% of the top of the screen for some reason only known to Panasonic (theres a quote from a Panasonic support engineer that said that the 700 doesnt fully support PC based Home Theatre!).

Shocking really, when the ae500 supports 720 over DVI with no problem.

pez