Overscan in CRT monitor

[littlecharlie]

I've installed the CRT emudriver on my PC, with an ATI 4550 card. It's is connected to a Sony Trinitron.
It all went smooth, but I get a quite noticing overscan.
The resolution is 640 x 480


I can't find a setting in windows 7 to reduce this overscan.

Apart from that, it works great.

I have also wired some consoles (psx, mega and snes) and the image is good.

Any ideas?

[Paradroid]

Any ideas?

Find the service code for your TV (usually a combination of buttons on the remote control) and use that to get into the service menu. You're looking for the vertical size setting. Adjust that to remove the vertical overscan.

You can't adjust this using software. It's needs to be done on the TV itself.

[Zebidee]

The amount of overscan you have isn't really that bad at all, for a TV. I usually get more overscan than that with the Sonys I've used.

TVs have a certain amount of overscan built into them, maybe 3-5% of the image or even more. This is because you won't normally be able to tell/care about losing the edges of a typical TV image, and otherwise people would be constantly whinging about black bars filling up unused screen areas (they feel like they are missing something, poor souls). Adjusting overscan through the service menu is generally the best way to minimise it - often you need an original remote to access service mode.

You can also look at editing your video modes with ArcadeOSD to increase your porch settings and make the modes a better fit for your TV. However, you will only get a limited amount of flexibility here as the modes will only take so many extra porch lines before going out of sync.

You can also try running games in resolutions that are slightly larger than the games normally use to account for the overscan, eg use 336x248 for 320x240 games, 288x240 for 256x224 games etc. If using Groovymame You may have to force the issue by specifying individual game resolutions with <romname>.ini files. Note that doing this may cause vertical refresh rate related issues if GM is having too much trouble matching them for your chosen resolution.

If overscan still bugs you in Windows, try increasing the width of your taskbar (click/drag/pull) to make it easier to click on icons, or even move it to the side or top! Don't use full-screen windows. Alternatively, try running Windows desktop in a larger resolution such as 800x600, if your TV is able to do so.

[R-Typer]

640x480 is a NTSC mode. Your TV is capable of displaying PAL resolution 720x576@50. Try that and your desktop will be perfectly centered.

[littlecharlie]

I thought about using the TV service mode, but since I have several consoles plugged into the same TV, and there is no overscan for them, I thought it would be annoying to change the TV settings everytime I switch from PC to consoles.

I've tried to increase the desktop resolution, but I can't go higher than 768 x 512 (at least windows doesn't let me). I've tried 512x448 and it is definitely an improvement on the overscaning but the aspect is not good (stuff on the screen shows too big).

So far I've only tested windows and scummvm. I'm guessing that when I'll get into games (like groovymame), new problems will come.

[keilmillerjr]

Broadcast television used to follow guidelines to be sure most television sets would not hide important content. PC’s are designed in the opposite manner. Content displays to the full viewport, and the user adjusts the scan placement and skew. A monitor made for pc works extremely well, with external adjustment buttons. Television sets can be shiat with adjustments that was never expected to be made unless an issue arose.

I use an arcade monitor and found a happy medium adjustment. My trinitron sdtv, I cant even figure out how to pull up the service menu.

[cyb]

I use an arcade monitor and found a happy medium adjustment. My trinitron sdtv, I cant even figure out how to pull up the service menu.

To get into the service menu with Sony TVs, first power the TV off, then press in quick succession, DISPLAY, 5, VOLUME UP, POWER. The Tv will turn on and immediately show the service menu.