MCE 2004 and Plasmas with Rectangular Pixels

Hi!

I've got a question that could heavily impact on whether
or not I would buy a MCE 2004 PC:

The newest Panasonic plasma screens are widescreen 16:9
aspect ratio, but their native resolution is 1024x768,
which is a 4:3 ratio. How is this done? By making the
pixels rectangular. Yep, non-square pixels.

Some software applications (e.g. ZoomPlayer, Grand Theft
Auto) understand that you can output 1024x768 but still
have a need to modify the output for a widescreen
display. They have settings to force the output to 16:9
in order to get properly displayed images even if the
resolution is 4:3.

Regular Windows XP, unfortunately, does not have such a
setting, so that means that your desktop (and Web broser,
etc...) when output at the plasma's native res of
1024x768 looks short and stretched.

Does Windows XP MCE 2004 have a setting that allows you
to specify that the resolution may be 1024x768 but that
the output should be modified for a 16:9 plasma display
with rectangular pixels? This would be particularly
critical for viewing the desktop and any non-aware
applications such as Word, or Internet Explorer.

Thanks!

/Cory

 

I have a 1024X748 Panasonic Plasma. I believe that most plasmas have
rectangular pixels, especially the 1024X1024 (Hitachi and Sony I
believe).

However, I think you're question really only applies to software
applications which can increase the amount of "real estate" that it
displays to the monitor in the horizontal direction. For instance,
Grand Theft Auto could keep the correct aspect of the objects in the
game and add more content left and right to maintain a 16X9 aspect
ratio. Theoretically the windows desktop could do this too.

However, television and DVDs cannot do this. If they're delivered
over the cable lines or from the DVD player in 4X3 then the absolute
best the computer can do is stretch (things look short and wide),
zoom (lose top and bottom of picture), or in Panasonic's special mode
(where the edges of the picture are stretched, but the center remains
unchanged).

Since Media Center Edition is all about TV and DVD and Music (who
cares what music looks like) then does it really matter?

By the way, I keep it set on stretch in MCE.

Posted via http://www.xpMCE.com
Everything about Windows XP Media Center Edition

 

Aaron:

Thanks for the reply!

I don't particularly care about music, TV and Video in
this case because, as you said, there's no particular
problem with having them stretched (or not, as the case
may be).

What I'm worried about is my desire to do some occasional
Web surfing or e-mail reading on the plasma. I'm worried
that on the Panasonic set I'll be forced to do the
following:

Hook the HTPC up via the VGA input and set the desktop
resolution to 1280x720 (a 16:9 ratio) which will force
the screen to scale, which usually results in fuzzy
text. This is the recommendation I've seen made most
often.

I would much prefer to buy a Panny 42" HD plasma with a
DVI input, which my research has shown will not support a
resolution higher than the sets native resolution of
1024x768, so I'd be stuck with a very weird looking
Windows desktop -- unless the Windows desktop knew how to
deal with the rectangular pixels. Which I'm hoping MCE
does.

The ideal with plasma is a 1:1 pixel matchup. Desktop to
screen, perfectly matched. Unfortunately Windows XP
doesn't understand that sometimes those pixels aren't
square. I'm hoping Windows XP MCE does!

/Cory

 

Yes, ideally you'd have a digital display with 1280x720
or 1280x768 native resolution (and DVI) so that the
display didn't introduce any artifacts. If the Panasonic
does have a DVI, then it will most likely accept 1280x720
as this is a common HDTV timing, even if it isn't the
native resolution of the panel

While the display can get away with distorting pictures
and video from a DVD player, it is really apparent when
you are trying to read text.
If you are getting a Media Center Edition PC to use the
remote control and distance UI, then your expierence is
really not any different than it would be using your DVD
player (and maybe better since the scaling will be less
severe). If you want to use it primarily for computing
and email, you might want to test how it looks by using a
laptop or your old PC first.
If it looks fuzzy at any resolution you try, then you
know the panel is always scaling video.

 

Seems like the interoperability between computers and
televisions is a growing issue.

Especially strange is the fact that many TV manufacturers
are also PC or Monitor manufacturers, yet the
compatability issues between STANDARDIZED TV, SDTV and
HDTV resolutions and STANDARDIZED computer resolutions
has not been adequately addressed.

If it was, the folks who are trying to do this every day
(www.avsforum.com) would not be pulling their hair out
messing with Powerstrip, transcoders, ATI HDTV Dongles
and the rest of this stuff.

If a video card offers TV-Out, it ought to be as simple
as connecting any conventional monitor. But it isn't.

Part of the blame is with the video card guys, but the
majority is due to the TV guys who use proprietary
signaling and resolutions.

But when the computer guys live in the same house as the
TV guys (Toshiba, Sony for instance) there is no excuse
for anything less than plug and play.

 

Cory,

Sounds like you haven't bought the TV. Have you
considered the Samsung DLP line. They are not thin, but
they are just as light and offer 1280x720 native through
DVI. It's just like a PC monitor. A little more blurry
close up but I can easily view all web pages 10 feet out.

One tiny caveat, you have a choice of one setting which
cuts a few pixels all around the edges but is perfectly
clear (native), or a second setting which shows the
entire picture but is a little blurry (interpolated).
Dumb, but that's the way it is.

Jose