Good day sirs. After years of frustration, i have finally taken the time to register, to file a complaint aimed for AMD's CCC developers; Why, for god's sake, is the HDMI Overscan-compensation option, OPT-OUT ??
Everyone with a HDTV/monitor and a ATI graphics card knows what i'm talking about, the borders which happen to appear every time whenever you change the resolution/refresh-rate of a display connected by HDMI, after which you have to navigate through the complete CCC menu, searching for those extremely unconventional hidden scaling options.
It already sucks, that i have to change the scaling options every time when the display enters a "new" combination of a resolution/refresh-rate. There is no option to disable underscanglobally. But it becomes even more fun, when having this ridiculous issue on a installation without the Catalyst Control Center (or on a fresh Windows installation, since WHQL drivers have this very same problem). You actually have to download a 60MB driverpackage, just to get rid of some immensely annoying borders !?! That is ... when you actually have access to internet (yes, even in 2010 there are still numerous possibilities why one wouldn't have access to internet at a specific moment), if you don't, you're out of luck, enjoy your black borders.
Thought that was pretty bad? Well, it gets worse.
Install a Linux based OS (gaining more popularity by the minute, especially as a OS for HTPC's (XBMC for example), which, obviously, use HDMI-connected displays). While the open-source drivers are impressive, anyone who's main interest is performance will be installing the Fglrx drivers. The moment you do that and restart X, you will be heartily greeted by those damned black borders. So, open up CCC to search for some options to disable Underscan, just to note, that THERE AREN'T ANY. (please correct me if this has been fixxed, my HD2900XT sadly passed away the day i tried to install Catalyst 10.11 on my Linux installation)
These are all realistic scenarios, i'm sure im not the only one who have these issues.
The problems stated above also influence non-private pc's, as a sys-admin i can tell you, there is nothing worse then dealing with computers using ATI videocards while you're remotely deploying a fresh installation. There is no option for scripting, to disable any sort of rediculous CCC option wich just might be enabled by Default (like Underscan). It might not surprise you that because of this nonsense, there are currently zero machines with dedicated or integrated ATI graphics in my working environment.
The reason why i'm even posting all this, is because since my 2900XT died (may ye rest in peace), i'm using my spare GF 8400GS as a temporarily backup, and i have to say: After going through two fresh installations (Windows and Linux), without dealing with all the asshattery of this rediculous OPT-OUT design choice, i'm actually hesitant to buy another Radeon graphics card, and even while i dislike NVidia with a passion, i'd currently rather choose the latter.
So, even while it might sound blunt; When will this get fixxed, ... and if not, why ?
It is quite frustrating having to do this manually for every single resolution and refresh rate. There should be a possibility to disable underscan globally to all resolutions and refresh rates.
Someone else has asked this too (over year ago) and no one replied...
Please fix this indeed. Including the bug that you can't apply the Over/Underscan settings.
I have this too many times, e.g. when a game with a 4:3 resolution crashed to the desktop, and the resolution changed back to native 1920x1080 16:9. I have to restart my computer to fix the overscan
And about the registry hacks, I looked at a Windows 7 installation where I disabled the bug using CCC, then I copied the affected registry keys to the Windows 8 installation, using this exported registry editor script:
1. As always, create a backup from regedit.exe before doing anyting else, by right clicking on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Video\ -> Export, and type video.backup as the filename for the backup. Creating a system restore point is also a good idea.
2. Copy the script above, between the two lines, to notepad
3. replace the {3311F0B9-A7EF-40D3-A80F-BB65FC6E14E5} string with the key corresponding to your display adapter, you can find it under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Video\ with regedit.exe, and it must contain a DAL2_DATA__2_0 subkey .
4. you may need toreplace the DisplayPath_2 with DisplayPath_1 or DisplayPath_0 etc. depending on the display you want to configure.
5. you may need to change MODE_1920_1080_60p_CEA861 if your resolution is not 1920x1080@60Hz. I don't know what CEA861 means.
6. Save the changes to underscan.reg, be sure to select All Files, not Text Documents, before saving.
7. Run it from explorer by double-clicking on underscan and anwsering yes to any questions.
8. Reboot.
9. If you have any problems, you can revert the changes by double clicking on the video.backup file created at the start. You may have to use windows safe mode if your computer doesn't start. Using system restore, using the restore point is an alternative.
Following this steps fixed my problem.
My driver is "ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5800 Series (Engineering Sample)", Date: 9/20/2011, version 8.88.5.3.
Great...another thread started about a problem no one who reads this forum can do one thing about. And you will have every *person who has the problem jumping in with their 2 cents. What does it take to make people understand that peer-to-peer means user to user? Everyone who tries to help on this forum is nothing more than a AMD card owner...just like you. AMD never.....repeat never reads what is written here. Right or wrong...they don't read what you are writing. What you post here you should be posting on your laptop manufacture's support forum. What you write here should instead be sent to AMD via their complaint/support form. Rant and rave all you want tho...I guess that's your right too. Just don't expect any "official" response.
@stumped, stop with the rage, I already complained directly to AMD several times. They seem to ignore us both here, and on the complaint/support forms.
I posted here to help others that might have the same problem.
Speaking of which, now I use Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and the driver is even worse, it doesn't read the registry settings related to underscan at boot.
The only way to apply the settings is to unplug/replug the cable after each shutdown/reboot.
black_zion Heavy Wizardry
Posts: 9755
Joined: 04/17/2008
Just my 2¢, but with my 5970, Catalyst 12.1 (as well as all previous), using an HDMI cable to attach to my 42" Vizio, it is scanned just perfectly, no black borders, no overscan. Now, as for why it defaults to underscan, it has to do with the fact that many televisions, especially older generation ones, do not have underscan/overscan selectable options and have quite a severe 10-15% overscan, which has to do with hiding transmission data relevant to the TV station (tune to a TV station and adjust the scan/position so you can see over the top of the picture, you'll see).
Having said that, this issue is not global, just like the "huge mouse cursor" issue or the "mouse lag in right corner" issue. Also, how the hell did this thread get dragged up anyway? Because someone wants to complain that a CONSUMER PREVIEW of Windows 6.2 doesn't work like Windows 6.1 RTM does? Really?
I know perfectly well why they do this. What I don't understand why this is the default.
I use my laptop at work, and I use it with an LG monitor. My collegues do the same.
My laptop is and not a console or set top box so I usually don't connect it to TVs, so it doesn't make any sense to make this the default.
My laptop also doesn't have a DVI output, only VGA and HDMI output. And obviously, I want to use the HDMI output, not the VGA.
Even if I occasionaly connect it to the TV, my TV has the option to disable overscan, so I wouldn't need the Catalyst Control Center bloatware if the default was to not to compensate for overscan.
Even with Windows 7, I have lost a few hours battling the underscan. My work monitor has a overscan feature, but even with that activated there are still smaller black borders, because the underscan of the ATI driver is too extreme. And it seems in each CCC version they find a better place to hide the advanced options.
There are multiple solutions for AMD to fix this issue. For example if CCC is installed, ask the user the first time he connects a new display if the picture is cropped, and if he answer yes open the configuration page for overscan compensation.
If that is too complicated, they could implement a simple kill switch that disables underscan globally for all displays and resolutions, and keep the current default. And a corresponding, documented registry setting (or a option in a configuration file on linux) for those of us who don't want or can't install CCC.
Instead, all this silence from AMD makes me consider avoiding AMD video cards in the future.
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12/10/2010 08:40 AM
