2012-09-12, 08:41
So, I've been wondering for a while now why SBS or OU (TAB) 3D MKV movies that I have just don't look very good on my 51" Samsung D550 lately.
In fact, some movies were so bad that they were unwatchable.
The thing is, some of those really bad movies were watched on this SAME TV by me previously, via my old Mede8er, and they were literally perfect.
Now suddenly, via XBMC, on a dedicated HTPC, they are horrible ?
I started doing some research and I found the problem: Overscan / Underscan
So on my system, I had to actually do THREE things to sort this out properly:
1. I logged into uBuntu itself, went to the Catalyst control center for my ATI card, and checked the Overscan / Underscan setting. It was set to 10 and needs to be at 0 ! So I changed that.
But, if you change that on my setup, you are basically overscanning a LOT. To the extent that the entire Linux task bar dissapears off the bottom of the screen.
Regardless, I left it at 0 and went back into XBMC.
2. In XBMC itself, in the System menu, under Video Options, there is a "Video Calibration" option where you can move the top left and bottom right corner markers to make the picture fit on the screen properly.
Any normal person assumes this is the right thing to do and does this. WARNING: If you are going to watch 3D content as well as 2D content DO NOT DO THIS.
This is actually another way of adjusting Overscan and Underscan. You MUST have all co-ordinates set to 0 here too in order for 3D to work properly.
So after that, I had an XBMC menu / UI that didn't fit on the screen properly BUT my 3D movies were now PERFECT. And I mean perfect. It went from so bad that I couldn't watch, where left and right or top and bottom images were 5cm offset and it was a complete disaster to a PERFECT 3D image without ANY ghosting or crosstalk AT ALL.
It's dramatic.
But now obviously you don't want your XBMC UI and 2D movies not fitting on the screen properly with parts of the image missing, so we get to step 3.
3. On my TV there is a specific setting for the "Screen Mode". It can be "16:9", "4:3", "Zoom to fill screen" ... OR "Fit source to screen". That last one is the solution to all my problems.
If you set it to that, it takes the incoming signal and makes sure it fits on the screen EXACTLY. It does NOT mess with your aspect ratio or anything else, it adjusts for the overscan on the TV. But by letting the TV do it, you don't affect the image at all and you DO NOT affect the 3D image overlay for SBS and OU content.
This was an epic find for me because my 3D viewing just went from appalingly bad / unwatchable to literally perfect for every 3D movie I've tried so far.
And obviously all 2D normal stuff is still perfect, I wouldn't accept less.
Read this, know this, understand this if you have XBMC on an HTPC and you are into 3D.
In fact, some movies were so bad that they were unwatchable.
The thing is, some of those really bad movies were watched on this SAME TV by me previously, via my old Mede8er, and they were literally perfect.
Now suddenly, via XBMC, on a dedicated HTPC, they are horrible ?
I started doing some research and I found the problem: Overscan / Underscan
So on my system, I had to actually do THREE things to sort this out properly:
1. I logged into uBuntu itself, went to the Catalyst control center for my ATI card, and checked the Overscan / Underscan setting. It was set to 10 and needs to be at 0 ! So I changed that.
But, if you change that on my setup, you are basically overscanning a LOT. To the extent that the entire Linux task bar dissapears off the bottom of the screen.
Regardless, I left it at 0 and went back into XBMC.
2. In XBMC itself, in the System menu, under Video Options, there is a "Video Calibration" option where you can move the top left and bottom right corner markers to make the picture fit on the screen properly.
Any normal person assumes this is the right thing to do and does this. WARNING: If you are going to watch 3D content as well as 2D content DO NOT DO THIS.
This is actually another way of adjusting Overscan and Underscan. You MUST have all co-ordinates set to 0 here too in order for 3D to work properly.
So after that, I had an XBMC menu / UI that didn't fit on the screen properly BUT my 3D movies were now PERFECT. And I mean perfect. It went from so bad that I couldn't watch, where left and right or top and bottom images were 5cm offset and it was a complete disaster to a PERFECT 3D image without ANY ghosting or crosstalk AT ALL.
It's dramatic.
But now obviously you don't want your XBMC UI and 2D movies not fitting on the screen properly with parts of the image missing, so we get to step 3.
3. On my TV there is a specific setting for the "Screen Mode". It can be "16:9", "4:3", "Zoom to fill screen" ... OR "Fit source to screen". That last one is the solution to all my problems.
If you set it to that, it takes the incoming signal and makes sure it fits on the screen EXACTLY. It does NOT mess with your aspect ratio or anything else, it adjusts for the overscan on the TV. But by letting the TV do it, you don't affect the image at all and you DO NOT affect the 3D image overlay for SBS and OU content.
This was an epic find for me because my 3D viewing just went from appalingly bad / unwatchable to literally perfect for every 3D movie I've tried so far.
And obviously all 2D normal stuff is still perfect, I wouldn't accept less.
Read this, know this, understand this if you have XBMC on an HTPC and you are into 3D.