[The-Boxhead]

Search function on this forum is not working goog for me.
So if this has been asked allready please accept my appologies.

In the xbmc wiki it's stated that you should use your desktop resolution
for now since xbmc is in alpha stage.

I just wonder is everyone using desktop resolution. i have my computer hooked up to my tv with a standard vga cable. i have a samsung 42" 1080i tv.

my max resolution is 1360x768 i guess my little crappy onboard graphic card is the cause that i dont get higher resolutions. ?

1080i is 1920x1080 pixels i understand

[onclebob]

Hi,

1080i is not real 1080. Search for more information but 1360*768 is your tv maximum resolution. You can't have higher resolution.

[ShabbyDog]

Well.
I'm pretty sure on a computer 1920x1080 is progressive, not interlaced.
So, you got to check out your manual for your TV to see what's the max suppoted resolution it accepts over VGA.

[Cam73]

Hi BoxHead,

1080p is 1080 lines progressive scan
1080i is 1080 lines interleaved


Full HD means a display capable of displaying 1080p natively (there is some dispute about this, but generally most manufactures agree Full HD means a native support for 1080p).

HD just means able to accept and display 720p / 1080i...but doesn’t guarantee the native resolution of the screen.

Prior to Full HD many HD TVs were 1360x768...but they used internal video processing to accept the 1080i and 720p (and all the rest of the resolutions) and squash or stretch them to fit in their native panel resolution.

So, if your TV is not Full HD but it is HD then the 1360x768 resolution is the native resolution of your panel.

Most CE devices don’t negotiate with displays the same way PCs do...so, for example, if you connect a HD TV Tuner to your TV and set it to output 1080i, then it will output 1080i and it is up to the TV to squash / stretch the picture to display on its panel.
PCs on the other hand negotiate with the display device to determine what resolutions it can display, and that is the reason you only see 1360x768.
Ultimately if you are to play video o one resolution on a digital display device of a different resolution then there needs to be a size conversion somewhere along the line. It could be in the output device...like on the PC, it could be on the display device (i.e. the TV)...or in my case my receiver does this for me. It comes down to which of the devices has the best scaling hardware/software.
My TV is full HD..which means that everything is displayed in 1080p...so if I plug in a BluRay player and output 1080p, then there is no scaling required, the video comes straight from the player and to the display – unaltered (at least not scaled...there may be image processing......but let’s not get into that!!). If I play a DVD on a progressive scan DVD Player (576p output... I’m in a PAL region... its 480p for NTSC) then it is delivered to my TV as 576p and the TV has to upscale from 576p to 1080p. If I play a non progressive DVD then the signal is 576i and the TV had to de-interlace and upscale.
In my case I have a receiver with this capability. So I connect the receiver to the TV with HDMI and I plug all my video sources into the receiver. Whatever signal is sent to the receiver is up scaled (de-interlaced too if needed) and passed as 1080p to the TV...so the TV doesn’t need to do anything to it. Since the receiver does a better job than the TV I get a better picture quality for all my sources (except 1080p..as it is already 1080p)
Also, FYI, 1080i is the maximum resolution that is supported by Component video connections...you need HDMI for 1080p.
I hope that wasn’t too long... but this is a big issue and a short answer may leave you without a graps of what is really going on.

[sn0ut]

i tried a dvi to hdmi converter for my gfx card and was able to output at HD resolutions (1080, 720) but the picture is crappy and washed out

I switched back to dvi outputting at 1360x768 and it looks much better xbmc looks amazing at this res anyway and a lot sharper

S