[SOLVED] New Nvidia driver - no overscan compensation?

[CJ]

I have just upgraded to the latest nvidia driver and found that my Samsung tv (1280x720) is back to doing its usual overscan thing.

For years, I have run with an overscan compensation (in the Nvidia Display Settings) of .80.
With the new driver, this slider appears not to be available any longer.

EDIT: Please see next post for details.

Cheers!
CJ

[CJ]

Ok, found these release notes for the 302.07 beta (we are currently using 302.17).

* Removed overscan compensation configurability from NV-CONTROL and nvidia-settings. This can be configured, with finer granularity, through the ViewPortIn and ViewPortOut MetaMode attributes. See "Configuring Multiple Display Devices on One X Screen" in the README for details.

From the 302.17 README:

"ViewPortOut": this specifies the region within the mode sent to the display device that will display pixels from the X screen. The region of the mode outside the ViewPortOut will contain black. The format is "WIDTH x HEIGHT +X +Y".

This is useful, for example, for configuring overscan compensation. E.g., if the mode sent to the display device is 1920x1080, to configure a 10 pixel border on all four sides:

    "DFP-0: 1920x1080 { ViewPortOut=1900x1060+10+10 }"

I have tried inserting a Metamode in my xorg.conf, as follows:

Code: [Select]

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    DefaultColorDepth 24
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Modes "1280x720"
    EndSubsection

    Option "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1280x720 { ViewPortOut=1280x720+20+20 }"
EndSection

I have tried with different values for the offset of the ViewPortOut (from +10 to +200). I always reboot, just to make sure.

None of this has made any difference whatever!

Could someone have a look and perhaps throw a few ideas at me, please?!

Cheers!
CJ

[CJ]

I got a helpful guy over at the Nvidia forum to help me with this issue, so updating this for solution and posterity (just in case someone else find themselves in the same situation in the future).

The correct (form) metamode line should read:

Code: [Select]

Option "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1280x720 { ViewPortOut=1240x680+20+20 }"

Notice that the dimensions attached to ViewPortOut has to be decreased with twice the amount of the right/down shift.
E.g. in my situation: 1280 - 2 x 20 = 1240; and: 720 - 20 - 20 = 680.
(Obvious, once you know, my tired eyes missed the number differences in the README.)

This does reduce the pixel area by that amount, but retains a pixel-perfect ratio and thus the sharpness.

Some applications might not like this - games, MythTV - in which case a scaling might be a better solution. This is equivalent to the old overscan compensation and is achieved by adding a ViewPortIn to the line, e.g.:

Code: [Select]

Option "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1280x720 { ViewPortOut=1240x680+20+20, ViewPortIn=1280x720 }"

This gives the full pixel area but is scaled to fit the available screen area, so not pixel-perfect and less sharp for that reason.


Hope this might help someone in the future.
For me, I am settled and shall mark this solved.

Cheers!
CJ

[JohnW_57]

The nvidia 302.x  driver gives more freedom to configure to your system but must be correctly done.

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/302.17/README/xconfigoptions.html  gives more information.
Reading their documents is recommended!

JohnW

[sirkingchase]

I got a helpful guy over at the Nvidia forum to help me with this issue, so updating this for solution and posterity (just in case someone else find themselves in the same situation in the future).

The correct (form) metamode line should read:

Code: [Select]

Option "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1280x720 { ViewPortOut=1240x680+20+20 }"

Notice that the dimensions attached to ViewPortOut has to be decreased with twice the amount of the right/down shift.
E.g. in my situation: 1280 - 2 x 20 = 1240; and: 720 - 20 - 20 = 680.
(Obvious, once you know, my tired eyes missed the number differences in the README.)

This does reduce the pixel area by that amount, but retains a pixel-perfect ratio and thus the sharpness.

Some applications might not like this - games, MythTV - in which case a scaling might be a better solution. This is equivalent to the old overscan compensation and is achieved by adding a ViewPortIn to the line, e.g.:

Code: [Select]

Option "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1280x720 { ViewPortOut=1240x680+20+20, ViewPortIn=1280x720 }"

This gives the full pixel area but is scaled to fit the available screen area, so not pixel-perfect and less sharp for that reason.


Hope this might help someone in the future.
For me, I am settled and shall mark this solved.

Cheers!
CJ

XBMC crashs on startup with segmentation fault errors, and the log complains about CWinSystemX11::XErrorHandler if you do not add the ViewPortIn segment as CJ has stated.

I wish Nvidia still had a way to change this within the settings.  Theres no doubt that using ViewPort is more accurate.  I took me about an hour to get everything just right but it looks good, before the overscan was out of ratio.

Also, this is the only guide I can found that goes into detail on this issue.  Thank you guys for posting solutions.  NVIDIA does not a have an example on there web site, they simply say Overscan has been removed use ViewPort, I had no idea what it was much less the syntax to add.

[CJ]

XBMC crashs on startup with segmentation fault errors, and the log complains about CWinSystemX11::XErrorHandler if you do not add the ViewPortIn segment as CJ has stated.

Nope, not for me. I have been running with this since this thread.
Could it be some dimensions that are not supported by your card? (Just guessing, I have no clue.)
Try posting your metamodes line.

Some applications might not like this - games, MythTV - in which case a scaling might be a better solution.

I can add flash video to this list (YouTube in full screen). It simply 'goes over' right and bottom.

Cheers!
CJ

[sirkingchase]

Sorry I think my post was misunderstood,I ment to just add XBMC to the list of programs that do not work without using ViewPortIn suggested in CJ's post, are the erro messages it throws out without it.

My "metamodes" line that works with MythTV, XBMC, etc  -
     Option "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1920x1080 { ViewPortOut=1810x1000+55+40, ViewPortIn=1920x1080 }"

[CJ]

Sorry I think my post was misunderstood,I ment to just add XBMC to the list of programs that do not work without using ViewPortIn suggested in CJ's post, are the erro messages it throws out without it.

Gotcha' 

Cheers!
CJ

[Timothy]

Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you!

I've been struggling with this for weeks... different nVidia resolutions... different TV settings... nothing worked.

I just read your post and edited xorg.conf to read:
Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: 1920x1080 { ViewPortOut=1820x1020+50+30, ViewPortIn=1920x1080 } +1600+0"

And it works perfectly!!

Definitely   

[CJ]

Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you!

You are most welcome.

You do know that you are using scaling with your current metamode? Not saying that you should not, of course. Depends on your need (and what apps you use).

Cheers!
CJ

[nixer]

This "new" overscan compensation is just over my head.  I would like to ask for some help.

I have a 47" HDMI TV that works well with the nvidia 295.xx drivers running in 1920x1080dpi mode (as shown in the nvidia settings) with an overscan compensation at 93.  However, I can't get the new drivers to display the entire view on the monitor.  I tried several lines in the xorg.conf file which only prevented the machine from booting to the kde login screen.  Obviously this operator has some errors.

I have an identical install on a second partition that is not updated to the new drivers, yet.  It works fine and shows a resolution of 1600x1000dpi (as shown in PCC), which, I think, is the same aspect ratio of 1920x1080.  I tried to set the resolution in PCC to 1600x1000 but it produced no change at all.

Can anyone recommend what I need to add to the xorg.conf file?  It was just so easy in the old driver file.  Simply slide the bar over a little and it worked fine.  How this new driver file can be considered an improvement is beyond me.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

[CJ]

nixer, could you post the output from command 'xrandr' so we can see what displays you have connected?

Cheers!
CJ

[nixer]

Sure, here goes:

[craig@HTPC ~]$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
DVI-I-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-I-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-0 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 1600mm x 900mm
   1920x1080      60.0*+   59.9     24.0     30.0     30.0
   1440x480       30.0
   1280x1024      60.0
   1280x720       60.0     59.9
   1024x768       60.0
   800x600        60.3
   720x480        59.9     30.0
   640x480        59.9     59.9

And thanks for your help. 

[CJ]

I only see one (the HDMI) display connected; I understood your post to mean that you had a TV (HDMI) and a monitor connected. Did I misunderstand?

Cheers!
CJ

[nixer]

Yes, sorry for the misunderstanding.  I only have the HDMI TV acting as a monitor.