Sony XL100 - Windows looks poor

H

HappyPax

Guest
I wonder if anyone has resolved the poor display of Windows. I run my XL100 through a panasonic Viera 37 and MCE (as others will testify) looks fantastic. Windows is appalling though. To be honest, I'd be happy with a 800x600 res just to make the thing readable (I only intend to browse) but can't figure out how to get it to work without bits dropping off the screen or the display squashing to 4:3 format.

I have to say, this is a real disappointment but I wonder whether it's something as simple as display drivers for the nvidia 6600 Geforce card? Surely Sony wouldn't have released this if the PC display was so poor. I must be doing something wrong, can somebody help me?
 
I'm guessing you have a non-HD viera TV?

What are you using to connect to the panel? Is it the VGA connection?

If it is and you have the resolution set to the same as the panel's native res then windows whould be crisp *BUT* absolutely huge with little room on the screen for very much.

Reason is that non-HD Plasmas are very low res - lower res even than standard TVs (852*480 instead of, typically, 1024*576) and the signal that you're sending to the TV is being scaled right down to this res, making it looking indistinct.

MCE uses big soft fonts to get arounbd this problem as it was designed to be shown on TVs.
 
HappyPax said:
I must be doing something wrong, can somebody help me?
No, you're not doing anything wrong. The XL100 with its HDMI only output looks great with MCE, but poor with Windows. You could read the very long XL100 thread, but suffice to say it's very hard to adjust your overscan to get 1:1 pixel mapping on your screen. I don't know what model panny you have, but anything with less than 1360x768 resolution will make small text look very fuzzy.
 
What is the native resolution of the panel on the Panasonic??
Its also worth enabling Cleartype and Extra Large Fonts

Right mouse click, properties, display properties, appearance, font size, select extra large fonts, then also select effects - ensure all buttons are checked and select cleartype from the second drop down menu. Then hit apply/ok
 
my panasonic is the new HD Ready TH37PX600. I'm astonised if there is no solution. Is it possible to get the simpel VGA because that always does the trick. But will that compromise the MCE display throught the HDMI I wonder. Is it possible to use two connections? VGA for windows and HDMI for MCE? or am I just living in a dream world!?!? there must be a solution........
 
OK, according to Panasonic, your plasma has a resolution of 1,024 x 720 pixels. This is just about good enough for a decent Windows desktop.

Going to VGA is not a solution as your Sony XL100 doesn't support it. If you (or a friend) has a notebook PC with VGA, you could try connecting it to your plasma. The notebook should auto-detect the resolution via VGA and then at least you will see the end result you are aiming for.

As I said above, it should be possible to get your Sony to work as this resolution, but you will have to fiddle with the display setting a lot to get the overscan right.
 
Stiggy said:
OK, according to Panasonic, your plasma has a resolution of 1,024 x 720 pixels. This is just about good enough for a decent Windows desktop.

Going to VGA is not a solution as your Sony XL100 doesn't support it. If you (or a friend) has a notebook PC with VGA, you could try connecting it to your plasma. The notebook should auto-detect the resolution via VGA and then at least you will see the end result you are aiming for.

As I said above, it should be possible to get your Sony to work as this resolution, but you will have to fiddle with the display setting a lot to get the overscan right.

Trouble is that 1024*720 is non-square pixels so if you tried using native res it'd be stretched out horizontally. MCE can compensate but windows will be rubbish for browsing etc.

Best that can be done is to feed it 1280*720 over hdmi and let the set do the scaling?

This is the problem with plasmas and their non-square pixels - fine for video (which is what they are designed for) not so good for computer display.

LCDs are excellent for computer display.. Not so great at video.

You pays your money..
 
Make sure you've matched your resolution as close as possible to the LCD resolution then use the nview overscan feature to tweak it and get rid of any borders

Right click on desktop, select NVIDIA display, TV, nview display settings, press device settings, HDTV overscan configuration, overscan configuration and adjust the horizontal and vertical, press ok when happy. Then select remember my preference for selected format, then hit apply!
 
nehalem said:
Make sure you've matched your resolution as close as possible to the LCD resolution then use the nview overscan feature to tweak it and get rid of any borders

Right click on desktop, select NVIDIA display, TV, nview display settings, press device settings, HDTV overscan configuration, overscan configuration and adjust the horizontal and vertical, press ok when happy. Then select remember my preference for selected format, then hit apply!

He's got a Plasma, not an LCD. With a res of 1024*768 with non-square pixels.

If he sets the res to 1024*768 the video will be ok but windows will be all stretched out and fuzzy.

He'll be better off feeding it 1280*720 and then using those controls to beat the overscan. Still won't be all that sharp tho'
 
Dear All, Thanks for all your replies, it seems there is so much variance in what can be achieved although the point about plasma -v- LCD is interesting. I'm just amazed that it can't look good. When I was fiddling around I got what would be an acceptable display to me on the smaller res 800x600 but the computer wouldn't retain it which is a pain. I only want to browse so the big letters ain't a bad thing. The point about the laptop is interesting, I have a Vaio notebook and when I plug it into my cheapo 40" Samsung LCD it stretches out a treat in VGA and ticks all my boxes! That's all I want (to browse) but sadly my two new 'top of the range' bits of equipment; Sony XL100 and Panny 37" find this simple challenge a bridge too far. So much for progress! Thanks anyway.
 

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