TV Native Resolution not listed??

[TiniestCosine65]

Hey guys, I have a pretty weird question. Just built a new HTPC for my parents living room. Here are the specs:

Case- Fractal Design Node 202 + Integra SFX 450w PSU

Motherboard- MSI A68HI AC

APU- AMD A8-7600

RAM- G. Skill Ripjaws X 16GB 2133

SSD- Samsung 850 Evo 120GB

OS- Windows 10 Home

So here's the problem I'm having. Their living room TV is a Vizio E320VP, http://www.walmart.com/ip/VIZIO-32-Class-Edge-Lit-Razor-LED-LCD-720P-60Hz-HDTV-1.33-Ultra-Slim-E320VP/13904832. It's native resolution is 1366x768. When I plug the computer into it using the onboard HDMI port it sets the resolution to 1920x1080. This is cool and all, but it isn't its native resolution, so I feel like it could be a little buggy at times. And it is a living room TV, so they are accessing it from the couch. 1080p is tiny from a couch. So I would much rather it run it at 1366x768, but when I go into the display properties, 1366x768 isn't listed, and it is saying 1920x1080 is it's native resolution, which it is not. So I did a little experiment. I unplugged the HDMI and instead hooked up the computer to the TV with a VGA cable and Aux cord for the sound. With the VGA cable, 1366x768 is listed in the Display Properties as the "Recommended" native resolution. But I have a few complaints about using this method. For one, this makes us use two cables, the VGA for video, and the Aux for sound. Two, I feel like HDMI would be faster and more reliable. And three, for some reason their surround sound system does pick up the sound coming from the Aux like it does the HDMI, so the sound only comes from the TV. If yall could help me figure out why 1366x768 is not listed when using the HDMI cord, that would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

[79wjd]

With HDMI it says the native resolution is 1080p, but it doesn't give you any other options in the drop down menu? That makes no sense -- regardless of what the native resolution is, there should still be a drop down menu full of resolution options that you can manually choose from. 

[TiniestCosine65]

6 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

With HDMI it says the native resolution is 1080p, but it doesn't give you any other options in the drop down menu? That makes no sense -- regardless of what the native resolution is, there should still be a drop down menu full of resolution options that you can manually choose from. 

I'm sorry, I forgot to say that. When plugged in with the HDMI, the only resolutions listed are:

1920x1080

1776x1000

1680x1050

1600x900

1280x1024

1280x720

1152x648

1024x768

800x600

[TiniestCosine65]

Also, when using 1366x768 through the VGA cable, the screen is much clearer. I think this is due to the HDMI trying to push multiple pixels through one pixel running at 1920x1080, making the picture look almost blurry.

[mariushm]

The TV has a LCD panel that has a resolution of  1366 x 768 pixels.  That's its native resolution.

If you send any resolution different than this through HDMI, the TV has to resize it or stretch it to fit in these 1366x768 pixels. Any resizing can induce some blurring or loss in quality of the image. Well, it will resize any resolution that has a height or width different than the native resolution, 1024x768 probably won't be stretched, just centered on the screen.

 

So ideally, you'd want to configure the HDMI output on 1366 x 768 or if you really can't get it to work, to 1024 x 768 - you'll have some black bars on the side, but  the image will be crystal clear.

If a resolution isn't listed, usually you can create custom resolutions from the video card's control panel  (for AMD, click on the radeon icon near the clock,  Radeon Settings > Preferences > Additional Settings > My Digital Flat Panels > Custom Resolutions)

 

PS. also make sure the tv doesn't mess around with the image it receives from hdmi, go through options and check for something called Scalling (set it to 1:1 or None, which means don't do anything to the picture) or Input format : PC if there's option to choose between several (for example Bluray, VCR, PC etc)

[TiniestCosine65]

4 minutes ago, mariushm said:

The TV has a LCD panel that has a resolution of  1366 x 768 pixels.  That's its native resolution.

If you send any resolution different than this through HDMI, the TV has to resize it or stretch it to fit in these 1366x768 pixels. Any resizing can induce some blurring or loss in quality of the image. Well, it will resize any resolution that has a height or width different than the native resolution, 1024x768 probably won't be stretched, just centered on the screen.

 

So ideally, you'd want to configure the HDMI output on 1366 x 768 or if you really can't get it to work, to 1024 x 768 - you'll have some black bars on the side, but  the image will be crystal clear.

If a resolution isn't listed, usually you can create custom resolutions from the video card's control panel  (for AMD, click on the radeon icon near the clock,  Radeon Settings > Preferences > Additional Settings > My Digital Flat Panels > Custom Resolutions)

Thanks! That is progress. I'm used to Nvidia, so I couldn't find that in the AMD settings. Problem though.....The Radeon Additional Settings tab doesn't open anything for me. I'm running version 2016.0624.1251.21301

[TiniestCosine65]

1 minute ago, TiniestCosine65 said:

Thanks! That is progress. I'm used to Nvidia, so I couldn't find that in the AMD settings. Problem though.....The Radeon Additional Settings tab doesn't open anything for me. I'm running version 2016.0624.1251.21301

UNder the system tab it actually says Radeon software version 16.6

[TiniestCosine65]

Downloading Crimson Edition 16.7.3, I'll see if it lets me change the resolution.

[mariushm]

I'm not sure I can help you more. I have a slightly older version 16.2 because it doesn't really make sense to install newer versions as AMD is unlikely to make improvements for my video card ( 7770 Ghz edition, which is basically a R7 260 or something like that).. all the improvements on the new drivers are usually for the RX series.

 

When you click on Additional Settings, the old style Control Panel is supposed to open and the section i'm talking about looks like this:

 

 

Anyway, it's still kind of difficult because beginners don't know for example what values to put in the Total: fields , as those apply only for 1920x1080 ... and front porch could also be different for lower resolutions (i don't remember, haven't played with custom resolutions in a very long time).

Anyway, there are other shareware tools out there which makes this process much easier ... don't remember one of them off the top of my head though.

 

 

[TiniestCosine65]

1 minute ago, mariushm said:

I'm not sure I can help you more. I have a slightly older version 16.2 because it doesn't really make sense to install newer versions as AMD is unlikely to make improvements for my video card ( 7770 Ghz edition, which is basically a R7 260 or something like that).. all the improvements on the new drivers are usually for the RX series.

 

When you click on Additional Settings, the old style Control Panel is supposed to open and the section i'm talking about looks like this:

 

Well, that's what I figured it should have done. If this newer version doesn't open up that menu, I may just have to find the version you are using and download it.

[TiniestCosine65]

It opens with the new update, so now I just have to figure out how to work it