[potfish]

Hello all,

Silly me, I thought that using a digital link from the DVI output of my graphics card to the HDMI input on the projector and setting the resolution to the native resolution of the projector would make for a perfectly mapped image. Nope.

The Sanyo PLV-Z4 projector has native image of 1280x720. I've got a Radeon X1600 graphics card set to 1280x720 using Catalyst 7.3 drivers (28 March 07). The projector's overscan is set to 0 and the edges of the desktop image (seem to) align to the edges of the projected image but the text shows obvious anti-aliasing.

If I use VGA then I get sharp pixels no problem, but the projector doesn't seem able to do 1280x720 resolution by VGA, it does a 4:3 image which scrolls. In any case I need a 10m cable so I don't think VGA would be the answer anyway.

I've had a look at Powerstrip but not been successful getting any improvement there, and I've posted asking for support on their forum but got no replies at all

Any suggestions on what to try from here? The whole point of buying the projector was to drive it from my HTPC.

Thanks
Martin

[potfish]

Really nobody able to help with this?

[ukkev2000]

Originally Posted by potfish

Really nobody able to help with this?

Well, I can post a reply at least

I drive my Z4 over component, VGA and DVI->HDMI.
My Z4 produces perfect images using each connection.

I drive the Z4 from a Nvidia 6600GT card and a Xbox360 (which uses an ATI chip).

For text on screen you will have to play with things like edge enhancement, sharpness, contrast and colour, gamma to get your PC image spot on. I have settings for Desktop (ie web browsing) and video playing, bound to the manual settings on the Z4.

Your VGA scrolling issue is weird, got to be a PC problem not Z4. I've used VGA with several PC's and it's spot on.

Have you tried making sure the PJ is on before you boot the PC?
Does your "Display Properties" correctly identify the Z4?

[Donnacha]

although I don't have a Sanyo, i do use a PC with my Hitachi, have you tried to move the position of the screen using the graphics card menu, or adjust the vertical & horizontal settings and clock phase on the PJ? I'm assuming there should be something like this in the Sanyo's menu settings?

[just wondering]

I have a z4 , i use a 800xt ati graphics card , dvi-hdmi , it produces a spot on picture for windows desktop and looks mega when watching high def movies , the cable is around 3 meters long , the picture produced , has clear crisp text , bright whites and a sharp picture , when using a xbox360 , everything once again looks spot on.

When you go into catalyst , ati's config software for the graphics card , does it show a Z4 as the display been used ? mine picked up on the display been used as a z4 , might be worth checking.

[potfish]

Thanks for the replies, I've been away on business so not able to check. I'll do some more experimenting at the weekend.
Cheers, Martin

[ROne]

Go through my old posts for the Z4 - your will see there is always a bit of bleed/softening of edges even when 1:1.

Didn't have this problem with the Z3.

[WonkyEwok]

Don't know if this will help, but my Hitachi PJ-TX100 does 1:1 pixel mapping at 1280*720 over DVI from my old desktop (ATI X800) and laptop (ATI X1600), at 50 and 60Hz if I remember rightly. One time I tried a long, cheap DVI cable though and it wouldn't show anything. With a shorter one it was fine.

Over VGA it'll only do 1024*768 4:3 though.

Hope you get it sorted.

[potfish]

OK thank you all again for the replies. I've done some more tests and here is what I know.

Yes the Catalyst Control Center software detects that it is a Z4 projector attached. I also have a Samsung LCD TV from the VGA port in clone mode so I disconnected this in case it was compromising what I could set. Rebooted the PC after disconnecting so Sanyo PLV-Z4 now showing as single display.

I've played with the following settings in the Catalyst panel:

Image Scaling - scale to full size / centred = makes no difference
DVI settings - check boxes for Reduce DVI frequency on hi-res displays / Alternate DVI operational mode = makes no difference
Colour depth - 16 bit or 32 bit = makes no difference

You can Force... some settings - I tried all the available refresh rates - 25 & 30Hz were really flickery, 50/60Hz same as each other: not 1:1 mapping, 72/75/85Hz all max out at 640x480 resolution.

Originally Posted by ukkev2000

For text on screen you will have to play with things like edge enhancement, sharpness, contrast and colour, gamma to get your PC image spot on. I have settings for Desktop (ie web browsing) and video playing, bound to the manual settings on the Z4.

There seem to be no settings for edge enhancement or sharpness on the Catalyst panel -- I'm sure I would have played with them already anyway.

Unfortunately all the menu options for horiz, vert, total dots etc. on the projector are "greyed out" when the HDMI input is used, otherwise I'd probably have it sorted by now too. The only setting in "Picture Adjust" that is available in this mode is Overscan, which is set to 0, and positive values cause the picture to expand and the image to be cropped (as you'd expect).

Anyone any other ideas before I bin the DVI cable and try component? Want to exhaust the possibilities with DVI first, simply because it should be best and I don't want to spend more money on more cables if I don't even know if it'll make a difference, and especially if there are a couple of people who have succeeded in doing what I'm trying ("just wondering" has even managed with ATI chipset).

Could it be the quality of the DVI-HDMI cable? It's 7.5m long and didn't cost a fortune, but everything looks normal other than this blurring. (no breaking up with high speed video or anything).

Thanks again,
Martin

[WonkyEwok]

Sounds like it's not the cable as you are getting a picture. Powerstrip has quite a few options doesn't it? Were there any other threads there that might help?