Resolution - Very confused

[AjayK47]

I have just purchased a new 24" Asus VH242H monitor.
My graphics card is a Radeon HD4670 Sapphire 1gb DDR3

Fisrt of all I better explain that I find all the terminology relating to resolutions and desktop properties very confusing and I would appreciate some help.

I have gathered that the native resolution of this monitor is 1920x1080. Using the change screen resolution within control panel this shows as the recommended resolution.

The problem is that this results in the text associated with all office programs and websites appearing blured.

Looking at the Win 7 Help and Support screens it suggests that a resolution of 1920x1200 would produce the best quality but I am unable to set this within control panel.

I have gone into the ATI Catalyst Control Centre and using the basic settings wizzard again I cannot set 1920x1200.

I have however been able to set 1920x1052 which gives a crystal clear picture of all text but there is a thin black bar across the top of the display which is not being used. This is not a problem to me.

Could someone please explain why 1920x1080 gives blured text when this is the native resolution of the screen?

Why can I not set the suggested resolution of 1920x1200?

Why does setting 1920x1052 work despite not being recommended or selectable in Win7 Control Panel.

Sorry for such a complex set of questions.

 

[MK2]

Hi,

If I look at the specs of the monitor the resolution should be set at 1920x1080
Did you try it at 1920x1080, 32Bit 60Hz?
What kind of connection are you using VGA or DVI?

MK

 

[Fumz]

Set your monitor to the correct resolution: 1920x1080. Then hit the Windows Logo key and enter into the Search, cleartype, hit enter. Run through the clear type tuner wizard and you should be good to go.

 

[fishnbanjo]

Do what Fumz said, another thing that could be the issue is if the size of your document is too large for your taste your eyes may find the font size to be blurry to you.

To put it back into a perspective that your eyes can resolve, i.e. make the font crystal clear, would be to simply use the scroll wheel on your mouse an the ctrl key.

Hold the ctrl key down and by scrolling the wheel forward the current screen will enlarge and by scrolling back it will decrease, the amount of increase/decrease is about 10% and your eyes will notice the difference.

 

[AjayK47]

Thanks for your replys.

I am using an HDMI connection.

I did indeed have the resolution set at 1920x1080 but this makes all text blured. Not just the text of a document but menus, web-sites etc etc.

I have gone through the cleartype procedure and although this makes some changes to the style of text it still remains blured.

All text is absolutely crystal clear when I have the resolution set to 1920x1052 so it's not my eyesight or imagination.

I remain very confused and any further help appreciated.

When I first installed the graphics card a month or so back (before getting this monitor) I did update the drivers from the ATI web-site. Could I possibly have installed the incorrect drivers?
Would it be worth me trying to go back to the drivers on the CD that came with the card?
Am I missing a setting in Catalyst Control Centre?

 

[Fumz]

hmm... where to find the missing 28 pixels? Can you tell us the model number of your monitor?

 

[fishnbanjo]

Well AMD (ATi parent company) has updated CCC to version 10.4 and 10.5 within the last month so I'd try 10.5 to see if that solved the issue. I am on 10.3 and did not ind 10.4 as good so I went back, 10.5 supposedly is very good but have not loaded it on my PC since I spend more time on the laptop.

 

[fishnbanjo]

Your system specs show you have the Radeon X600 GPU. I did a quick search on the AMD ATi drivers for the X600 running Windows 7 32 bit and it shows there is no driver support for your video card with Windows 7 but there is support running Vista 32 bit using CCC version 10.2 so disregard my previous post and perhaps you have the wrong driver installed???

 

[Rik55]

His specs han't been updated

-initial post from Ajay
'I have just purchased a new 24" Asus VH242H monitor.
My graphics card is a Radeon HD4670 Sapphire 1gb DDR3'


Ajay -

probably better off just using a DVI cable if you don't need audio through the monitor. DVI should give you a 1:1 picture ratio.

There are also some extra settings in the Catalyst Control Centre regarding Underscan/Overscan for HDMI conections.

CCC - Desktop & Displays - Right Click small picture of HDTV/Monitor at the bottom - Configure - Scaling - then set the Underscan/Overscan to 0%

 

[fseal]

There may be some other neferious goings on when using the HDMI output which is meant to be connected to a TV. The radion may in fact be blurring the image on purpose so that it looks better on a television or something.

Use a DVI cable to the monitor and see if that makes any difference.

 

[MK2]

That's what I was thinking, better try it on DVI
Most times there is a DVI cable included with a new monitor, so should not be a problem.

 

[Joshatdot]

I have the VH242H and using DVI from my GF9600GT, no text blur @ 1920x1080. I have my 360 hooked up to it via HDMI, no bluriness there.

 

[AjayK47]

hmm... where to find the missing 28 pixels? Can you tell us the model number of your monitor?

Asus 24" VH242H

Sorry - I have updated my profile now.

 

[AjayK47]

There may be some other neferious goings on when using the HDMI output which is meant to be connected to a TV. The radion may in fact be blurring the image on purpose so that it looks better on a television or something.

Use a DVI cable to the monitor and see if that makes any difference.

Brilliant - I have connected via the DVI-I cable and the image quality is crystal clear at 1920x1080 and fills up the complete screen without any black borders.

But now I am still really puzzled as I thought HDMI was the best possible connection to use. Could it be a fault of the HDMI connection of the graphics card?

Is the DVI-I connection actually High Definition?

Should I carry out any further checks?

Thanks for everyones help and I have now updated my profile.

 

[Fumz]

DVI and HDMI are identical in terms of quality. They're both digital and the output will be high def as long as the input is. The only difference between the two cables is that HDMI also carries audio... so if you have a capable Radeon (geforce doesn't do audio yet) , you can use an HDMI directly to your TV.

However, if you use a stereo receiver, and not your tv's speakers, like I do with my htpc, you want to use a dvi - hdmi cable from the video card to the TV, and an optical cable, from the s/pdif to the stereo.

 

[fseal]

My "fear" with HDMI is that it was made to connect computers to "TVs". To replace the component or even the old S-Video jacks on graphics cards. SO there is every possibility that the output is handled differently on HDMI than the DVI because the card manufacturers are assuming two distinct roles for the connectors. This may vary by card.

Another possibility I suppose is that your HDMI cable is not very good and at certain frequencies has a lot of croisstalk or something...

But personally I would stick with DVI for any normal computer monitor and HDMI when hooking up to a TV.

 

[AjayK47]

Thanks for everyones help in resolving this problem. I may well use the HDMI to connect to my 32" LCD TV in the adjacent room. It will be interesting to see if I get the same problem.

The question that comes to mind is that the TV is 1080i. Will this mean that I will have to have different resolution settings and therefore not be able to "Clone" what is on the monitor to what is on the TV?