[Bagger]

I have a pretty typical living room set up with TV, AV amp, and XBMC box which all the family use.
What happens is .... the TV, AV amp and XBMC box gets switched on, amp gets switched to XBMC input and sometimes XBMC will output 480p or just a totally black screen.

I think it has something to do with xbmc trying to detect the resolution and when the set up is turned on in the wrong order or delayed ( dunno ) its messing with it detecting what the output resolution should be.
1280x720p is selected in the system>video options

How can I force it to output a 1280x720p regardless of what it thinks it should be.

Frodo 12.2, All is running sweet apart from this minor annoyance.

Any idea's are much appreciated

[DaVu]

Hi Bagger...

Maybe there might be a better solution for this...

I guess you are on NVidia graphics?

If "no"....stop reading

If "Yes" it could be, that the order of switching on the devices (TV, Amp) is responsible for the behavior of XBMC. XBMC might not get the correct EDID informations from your Amp. In earlier versions of XBMC, NVidia graphics switchted off the HDMI if it can´t detect a monitor or anything else (or outputs the wrong resolution) if XBMC starts as the first device in the chain. If it starts as the last device, it might work better. So if you use a harmony or something similiar, you could change the order of switching on the devices. If this won´t help, you have the option to get the EDID informations from your Amp (or TV) an write them to the xorg.conf

I know a workaround for this on XBMCbuntu. Don´t know if it matches to your installation (even because we don´t know which graphic card you use ).

If you are on XBMCbuntu and NVidia, you have to boot your XBMC with the correct resolution. Then you could leave XBMC and login to XBMCbuntu. There you have to open the "Nvidia X-Server Settings". On the next window, there should be a "tree-view" and one of the categories should be called "GPU-0 (name_of_your_graphic_card)". Under this, you might have another point which is called "DFP-1 (name_of_your_amp_or_tv)" or similiar. Click at the "DFP-1"-option and you get some infos from the connected "monitor". To get the EDID´s from the connected device, you simple have to click on "acquire EDID", name the file to amp.bin (or anything else "*.bin") and save it to /etc/X11.

Now you have to edit the xorg.conf.

Open a terminal and type

Code:

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

in this file you search for the section "Device" an insert the following:

Code:

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option         "CustomEDID" "DFP-1:/etc/X11/amp.bin"
    Option         "ConnectedMonitor"      "DFP-1"
EndSection

Be carefull that "DFP-1" is the correct Monitor and the name of the *.bin-file matches exactly with your saved EDID-file.

So, with the correct EDID informations you should always get the correct resolution.

NOTE: This only works for me on NVidia graphics under XBMCbuntu, but works still fine under Frodo. Didn´t need it anymore, but it might help you.

Cheers
David

[Bagger]

Thanks for the reply.
I kind of worked it out that its the order that its turned on. You know kids....doesn't matter how many times you tell them, they'll do it as they please. Click, click click any order as fast as they can

yes I'm using a Nvidia card and the version is XBMCBuntu 12.2

[DaVu]

Yes, I can imagine

So give this a try, and maybe this will work

Greetings

[Bagger]

Thanks David.

Everything went straight forward and exactly as you described.
Thank you for a detailed reply.

Left the amp till last to turn on and it switched on at correct resolution ...But I cant tell you 100% if it has fixed the problem, as its difficult to reproduce. Heres hoping though, with no more "the pictures all fuzzy dad"

[DaVu]

You´re welcome

Glad I can help you!