Recommended HDTV Resolution for connection HTPC?

[Saint]

I've got mt HTPC hooked up to my Hitachi 51" RPTV. It has MANY MANY resolutions available.

Depending on the resolution, I get a lot of overscan or underscan. Right now I'm at 1776x1000 because it gives minimal overscan and fills the screen. Movies look great but desktop is virtually un-usable.

What are some good resolutions to try?

[Mike McGann]

Good rule of thumb:

Match the native resolution of the display, if it's a digital device.

If it's a CRT...then it depends on the dot pitch. If it CRT, you have to be getting more than minimal overscan from 7-inch tubes — they max out at about 508 lines of viewable resolution (my guess is that you're at double the screen's resolution, and missing every other line if you using a CRT).

When it comes to CRT, often, less is more.

[W9TR]

Saint,
Look for sticky post by 'Karnis' titled "Custom Resolution Guide for 1080i HDTV-HTPC-POWERSTRIP-RADEON" in htpc section of avs forum. Most CRT RPTV's are 'native' 1080i, and use internal scalers for other resolutions. So the trick is to feed them a signal from your HTPC that exactly resembles a 1080i HDTV signal. Powerstrip is your friend if you don't have a video card that supports custom resolutions from it's stock drivers.

Regards,

Tom

P.S. I know that CRT's don't really have a 'native resolution' like panel projectors do. It's just that most RPTV's like to be fed standard resolutions.