changing overscan on rgb TV using remote service code?

[Midnight Tboy]

hey there,

after lots of trial and error (and more error - on both my part and the cable sellers part (grrrrr)) I finally have my ultimarc outputting with a vga-rgbscart cable to my 25" tv.

now the picture is lovely and crisp at the set 640x288 resolution, very impressive even, however there is a fair bit of overscan which I'm trying to reduce.

I've read that this can be done by going to the service menu's of the TV.  I've managed to find the service code to use on the remote (enter by pressing 0,6,2,5,9,6,& menu)  on the Phillips tv model 25PT4475, and it shows the service screen.

the trouble is, now what on earth do I change?

the screen initially looks something like this


----------------------------------------

11c4    l90ef1 1.5

OB       1

232 59 130 121 254 158 74

err 0 0 0 0 0


---------------------------------------

and using up/down I can change the row of numbers 232 59 etc - I've tried playing with the values, the only thing I can seem to noticably change, is where it is currently 254, if I keep changing it it swaps between ordinarly and a very concave pincushion type screen.

if I then go past them numbers it takes me to the OB part of the page...this I can change to :-

AM (on/off)
DM (on/off)
VI (on/off)
CK (on/off)
CL (on/off)
AT (on/off)
CI (on/off)
FV (on/off)
SS (on/off)
SP (on/off)
RC (on/off)
TW (on/off)
AC (on/off)
C8 (on/off)
TN (on/off)
2X (on/off)
XS (on/off)
EX (on/off)
CX (on/off)
CP (on/off)
EW (on/off) (This seems to also do the same pincushion of the screen but nowhere in between)
BS (on/off)
AS (on/off)
IS (on/off)
DV (on/off)
UB (on/off)
LV (on/off)
ST (BK/ID/BI)

I've tried fiddling with a fair few of these settings but can't seem to find the right combo or unterstand what any of them means.

Also, different resolutions for certain games seem to have different amounts of overscan, some a lot (like MK2), others a tiny amount like M J Moonwalker.  does this mean it would need setting differently for each resolution encountered?

can anyone please help?

cheers,
Tuck

[Alcohol]

Hi m8..

i cant really answer your question as i had the same problem but could not access the service mode on my tv.. but what i did do was set mame to a native resultion of 640x480 for all games..  with this setting i get a superb  picture with hardly any overscan at all on all games.. i realise this isnt really an answer to your question.. and the games arnt playing in   there native resultion ect  but ive found that with all the diffrent resultions in mame for so many games it would be almost impossable to get overscan set for all games..
without having to adjust it all the time

iam not 100% sure about this but the service menu must work like the h and v hold tuners on an arcade monitor.. so when mame changes the resolution for a game iam sure the overscan would alter and you would have to go back into the service menu everytime

hope that all made sense ive had a few beers tonight..


Alc

[Midnight Tboy]

hiya,

cheers for the advice.

I was thinking of trying something like that 640x480 for all games, tho when you output at that resolution it makes the screen interlaced does it not.  On the tv it doesn't look bad as such like that, but has a whole kinda 'shimmer' to it.

Also I'm trying to find a way to stop that tearing or whatever it is, that I've seen in some of the games....eg.. Simpsons, on the intro when you start the game, where the camera pans up showing the diamond fly, and you can see a line or 2 drawing across the screen as it catches up.  I believe triple buffering may help on this but hoping it may not cause slowdown or sound problems or anything similar, as sometimes when I tinker I start to get stuttery sound.

aah I'll get there in the end   but yeah I'll try using the mamewah res tool to change all to 640x480 and see what happens

[Alcohol]

Iam telling you lies.. my machine was at 640x480 but i changed it.. told you i had been drinking

ive been using this resolution on all games  512x448

all i do is add this to the mamewah ini file

[name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch} -resolution 512x448 -hws -skip_gameinfo -skip_disclaimer -tb -ddraw -nouse_bezels -nouse_overlays -nouse_backdrops


that will enable tripple buffer too and remove some tearing you mentioned

[boodroe]

I am using component hook up to my non-HD tv. The resolution that has no over scan is 640 x 432. I had to download powerstrip to get mame to recognize this resolution. But it worked out nice. No overscan at all.

[USSEnterprise]

I know this is kind of off topic, but where did you get the service codes?

[toolaa]

I am using component hook up to my non-HD tv. The resolution that has no over scan is 640 x 432. I had to download powerstrip to get mame to recognize this resolution. But it worked out nice. No overscan at all.

Are you using the component inputs to get 640x432 or is this resolution supported with S-video?

[boodroe]

I am using the non-HD component input. It looks much better then s-video. But to get my video card to recognize 640x432 I had to use the program "powerstrip". It works great. No overscan.

[toolaa]

I have to agree that 640x432 looks great for most games.  However for some reason I did not need to use Power Strip.  Seemed like windows recognized it as a native resolution.

[gingerone]

I've got a sony trinitron in my cabinet and I'm having a nightmare trying to find the service codes to get into it. Other than the overscan it looks amazing.