VS X7 and HDMI

[Davidk]

This is a request for info/help re display of the VS X7 user Interface (UI) on a large HD wall screen via HDMI, and specifically any related info on HDMI operation as it affects the resolution display.

I have an HP g6 pavilion 64-bit laptop running Win7, 8Gb RAM, with both X6 and X7 installed. The laptop screen is 15inch, 1366x768 resolution. I use it to display VS projects and demonstrate techniques in a class environment, using a meeting room in the local library, where the laptop is connected to a large, HD wall mounted screen via the HDMI interface. The wall screen itself is fairly new - maybe 8 weeks old, and is a much better screen - resolution and colour - than the one it replaced. However, today 2 new students pointed out an issue with the display of the UI. Because its a class activity I use the laptop screen to address/talk to an item and that way I'm facing the students at the same time as they are seeing the image on the wall screen. Some of their questions about the ripple padlocks and the track scroll bar did not make sense until I looked at the wall screen and noted it was not displaying a range of data that was on the laptop screen.

Specifically, while the UI was centred on the wall screen, it trimmed the UI image on the left and right hand sides. In essence, the ripple edit track padlocks on the left and the track scroll bar on the right, and all other elements of the on each side in that physical "bar" (from top of the UI to the bottom) were just not displayed. There wasn't any horizontal scroll bar shown by the screen itself. At the same, time the whole UI was being displayed on the laptop screen.

After class, I connected the laptop to my home large HD screen using the HDMI interface - A Soniq E42Z10B, 1.06Metre or 42inch display, with a panel resolution of 1920x1080. This was in the way of a test to try and isolate a possible cause - laptop or wall screen - of this issue. Opened VS X7 on the laptop, and the whole VS UI was displayed on the HD screen.

So I am somewhat confused. As far as I know, the HDMI spec isn't "adjustable" - what is on the source screen should be displayed on the target screen. Completely. Yet in the case display on the library screen, it wasn't.

The library staff are just that - users of technology, rather than knowledgeable about it. So I need to know what questions to ask them (and thus their support contractors) about their new screens that might fix this and get the wall screen display to be what it should be. Are there any thoughts or suggestions about what those queries should be?

Davidk

[BrianCee]

Displays on TV's have always been a mystery to me - why do some videos with supposedly the same format display as slim 'letterboxes' and some overfill the screen.

Anyrate - can you not get round the problem at the library by simply resizing the whole VideoStudio window on your laptop so that is does not completely fill your laptop screen - and thence hopefully not filling the TV screen

[skier-hughes]

It is down to the tv and the laptop.
What you need to do is match the settings on your display resolution on the laptop so that all of the screen can be seen on the tv.

[erdna]

Many flatscreen TV's and projectors are set to slightly overscan by default (for historical reaons, no longer needed these days). Look in the projector settings for "just scan", "1:1 scan", "full screen",..Can you post the projector brand and type?

[skier-hughes]

Many flatscreen TV's and projectors are set to slightly overscan by default (for historical reaons, no longer needed these days). Look in the projector settings for "just scan", "1:1 scan", "full screen",..Can you post the projector brand and type?

I took it he was going from laptop via hdmi to tv.

[Davidk]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The only control on the wall screen is a separate touch screen LCD panel that seems just to turn it on or off. There are a few other functions (like sound volume, up/down, and mute) but frankly they don't work and there are no speakers apparent on the screen. The overscan remark from erdna seems to fit the bill.

I've trapped the screen image from the laptop for VS - the X7 UI as it displays on the laptop, the cropped appearance of that on the wall screen, and an approximation of what that cropping would do to the windows desktop image. See images below, all trapped on the laptop. The cropping effect was created by saving the screenshot as a jpg image and then "cropped" using a photo editor to yield the effect I saw on the HD wall screen. All re-sized to fit the limits of the forum.

1. the VS UI on the laptop (as everyone sees it but included here just for a ready comparison)

2. The cropped image I saw on the HD wallscreen. Note the effect of removing the ripple edit padlocks (left) and the track scroll bar (on the right). Insidious in that it isn't really apparent until they are the subject of discussion and cannot be seen by the audience.

3. What the cropping effect would look like on the windows desktop (best approximation. Unless looking really hard - eg around the start button and the RH systray icons - it would be hard to tell that it was there).

So, could erdna beta bit more specific about the corrective adjustment he is suggesting?

Thanks
Davidk

[BrianCee]

What do you see on the library TV when your laptop screen looks like this :-

[Davidk]

Hi Brian,

I take it that this is the VS UI re-sized you mentioned - on "restore" tab (top RH, between minimize and maximise) and the sides/top/bottom grabbed and extended so the UI actually fills most of the screen?

Short answer, I don't know. I won't have access to that wall screen device until next Wednesday (class is Wednesday's of each week for 2.5hours during school term periods). But I will certainly find out then and report.

Davidk

[BrianCee]

Yes once you click on the 'resize' icon between the 'minimise' and 'close' icons you can treat VideoStudio just like any other windows application and drag to any size and any position on the screen.

Didn't use to be able to do it - for many versions VS grabbed the whole screen and couldn't be changed - but since V5 it runs in a standard resizeable movable window.

[skier-hughes]

Could you tell us what the wallscreen is?

[Davidk]

About the wall screen - I've asked about brand and model, described the effect and supplied the same screenshots that are in this post. Might take a few days for the librarians to respond. Details TBA.

About the means of display - no projector, it was all by HDMI - cable from laptop direct to the display. A good description in wikipedia about how this interface is supposed to work. And based on that, the overscan remark by erdna still seems to me to be the best explanation (a slightly oversize image set in the electronics of the wall display itself and centred on the screen, would give the effect I see), and I'm waiting on a response to my request for more info on how to set/re-set this, given that it's just a wall display. Changing the display config presumes some sort of remote with a menu capability and settings that can be changed.

Davidk

[erdna]

Based on the screenshots, the HDwall seems to be a 16:10 (1920x1200) type, set to "full screen" (filled screen) and "keep aspect ratio". I would change the "full screen" to e.g."just scan" in the set-up menu.

[Davidk]

No response from the librarians or their AV sup[port group yet, and silence on this and another matter related these screens suggests they might want me to just "go away".

So, an update after class today.

The screen is an NEC multisync unit, at least 42in and possibly 46 or 55 inch. Being mounted on the wall the actual model number was not visible (label fixed to the rear of the unit) but a troll thru the images on the NEC website suggests from the the indicators and their placement on the front panel that it was a value unit, possibly V423, V463 or V552.

Close comparison of the display on the laptop and the wall screen indicates that the trimming effect is also apparent on the top and bottom on of the image. For example when displaying the windows desktop, on the bottom of the image on the wall screen only the top 1 or 2mm of the system tool bar is visible. Similar on the top of the image.

I've passed on the suggested configuration change to the librarian in charge of these items.

Displaying the full VS UI using the restore button and re-sizing handles on the resulting image (as suggested by Brian) to arrange the UI to be within the the wallscreen limits works fine.

Thanks for the help.

Davidk

[skier-hughes]

It is down to the tv and the laptop.
What you need to do is match the settings on your display resolution on the laptop so that all of the screen can be seen on the tv.

Have you tried changing the display settings on the laptop?

[Davidk]

No. Seems no point to that - the UI display on the laptop displays everything it is supposed to. Bastardising the computer to compensate for the misdemeanors of the wall display is an odd approach, altho re-sizing the application UI approach outlined by Brian and implemented goes pretty much to do that, just only affects the application in use and easily reverted.

What I was after was the proper operation of the HDMI interface on this wall screen - it should not be doing what it is.


Davidk