HDTV/Monitor thread #3

[XOrionFE]

Angus is a great guy.   I met him last summer at the FDS Open House and he gave some great pointers on preparing for takeoff and approach briefings.   Also a great presentation about his sim and how he uses it to help young pilots get going.     It would be nice to see him over here on Cockpitbuilders.   If anyone has his email perhaps send him an invite!

Scott

[Maurice]

Yep. That's a classic example of how a generic sim can be terrific still.

It's not generic...it's strictly a 737 with a few 'liberties' like the throttle which is home made 

Maurice

[andarlite]

Angus is already a member here ..... he's posted in the past.

Maurice, apparently he's waiting on a 777 style throttle from FDS right now.

Eric, I can assure you that the bezel will "disappear" as you are flying. Considering that Angus is using CRT's instead of LCD, and CRT's have a slightly bigger bezel, I was not in the least bothered or even noticed the bezel when I flew his cockpit. By the way, this has been a very interesting thread as I also will have to resort to using HDTV's instead of projectors due to space. Thanks for starting it.

Regards,
Henry

[NeoMorph]

Have to admit that I am using a single 43" plasma atm and the visuals are pretty amazing as they are... I decided that because of space I would have to use monitors rather than projectors.

Then today I read about the fact that they are working on glasses free 3D monitors. They are not there yet but the TV's lock onto a single users eyes and create the 3D effect. If they manage to make them work for 2 users it will make cockpit building that much easier.

Progress on video tech has lept ahead with definitions higher than 1080P definitely on the way... I just wonder what it will be like in another 10 years. One thing is for sure... by the time you finish your cockpit it will already be out of date, visuals wise. 

[ETomlin]

Have to admit that I am using a single 43" plasma atm and the visuals are pretty amazing as they are... I decided that because of space I would have to use monitors rather than projectors.

So, I finally made one more step closer to deciding that I may just go with HDTVs for visuals vs. the projectors (the point of this whole thread series). What was it? Like Neo said above, I got a chance to connect my FS PC up to our 42" Panasonic plasma screen and MAN o' MAN how incredible that looked. I can now see why everyone loves the graphics of FSX. Ive been using it mainly on my sim's projector system and it looks not so great, but on the 42" plasma, the details were incredible. Still not a huge fan of FSX, but can definately see how great it looks on these high def screens. Here's the great part (and I know you guys think Im crazy) but FS9 with REX, Ground Enviro, Ultimate Terr., the Russian bloom effect, etc. looked incredibly better than on my ancient projectors. As Maurice said earlier, with today's tech. there's no way that any projector can match the detail of an HDTV and I see how that's so now. Anyhow, Rant OFF, but I do have a question:

I connected an HDMI cable that has a DVI input from my DVI video card output to the HDMI input on the TV. I then selected 1280x720 on the video card settings and made sure that the format on the TV was set to FULL. However, the desktop or anything else was always cut off on all 4 sides of the screen, meaning the Windows Start button, along with any folders or menue bar was partially cutoff/hidden. Now, I do not have a VGA input into this TV, only HDMI and component. A friend has the same TV as I but it's a 1080p version (mine's 720) and his has a VGA input. He had the same problem until he perused the "PC Adjust" function that I dont have.

So- Is it imperitive to purchase a screen with the VGA input to avoid this issue with part of the screen hidden at the edges? Im hoping that any input from those that know will help others that are contemplating the same thing for their visuals.

[Ricardo Carvalho]

Have to admit that I am using a single 43" plasma atm and the visuals are pretty amazing as they are... I decided that because of space I would have to use monitors rather than projectors.

So, I finally made one more step closer to deciding that I may just go with HDTVs for visuals vs. the projectors (the point of this whole thread series). What was it? Like Neo said above, I got a chance to connect my FS PC up to our 42" Panasonic plasma screen and MAN o' MAN how incredible that looked. I can now see why everyone loves the graphics of FSX. Ive been using it mainly on my sim's projector system and it looks not so great, but on the 42" plasma, the details were incredible. Still not a huge fan of FSX, but can definately see how great it looks on these high def screens. Here's the great part (and I know you guys think Im crazy) but FS9 with REX, Ground Enviro, Ultimate Terr., the Russian bloom effect, etc. looked incredibly better than on my ancient projectors. As Maurice said earlier, with today's tech. there's no way that any projector can match the detail of an HDTV and I see how that's so now. Anyhow, Rant OFF, but I do have a question:

I connected an HDMI cable that has a DVI input from my DVI video card output to the HDMI input on the TV. I then selected 1280x720 on the video card settings and made sure that the format on the TV was set to FULL. However, the desktop or anything else was always cut off on all 4 sides of the screen, meaning the Windows Start button, along with any folders or menue bar was partially cutoff/hidden. Now, I do not have a VGA input into this TV, only HDMI and component. A friend has the same TV as I but it's a 1080p version (mine's 720) and his has a VGA input. He had the same problem until he perused the "PC Adjust" function that I dont have.

So- Is it imperitive to purchase a screen with the VGA input to avoid this issue with part of the screen hidden at the edges? Im hoping that any input from those that know will help others that are contemplating the same thing for their visuals.

Just keep changing picture format on your remote until you find one that fits, my samsung hdtv needed to use the adapted mode to solve that.

[Maurice]

Just keep changing picture format on your remote until you find one that fits, my samsung hdtv needed to use the adapted mode to solve that.

I was just going to tell Eric the same thing. My remote has a button to stretch or zoom the picture to fit the screen, so that may be your answer as well Eric.

Maurice

[NeoMorph]

Richard, if you have an nVidia graphics card you can shrink/stretch the image to fix the screen. Open the nVidia Control Panel and under Display there is an entry called "Adjust Desktop Size and Position". That should fix your problem straight away.

[ETomlin]

Hey, thanks guys. Actually, I cycled thru the Format button and none of them work to fit the entire desktop on the screen. However, I do have an Nvidia 9800GT and although I didnt see the adjustment that Neo suggested, I will go back and look again as I cannot see how it doesnt have that option since it's just a new card (well- two years ago.)

I did read after posting this morning that it could be an issue due to the card having DVI out and then running into the HDMI convertor, and that others had this same issue vs. running into a VGA/PC input or straight HDMI. Since my card doesnt have a HDMI output and the TV has no VGA/PC input, then if the desktop stretching via the card's software doesnt work, I know for certain to look for TVs that have a PC input just to be safe.

[jskibo]

Eric

I've been using NVIDIA cards and tv displays for several years now. With the exception of a 32" that was vga, i had to adjust desktop size on all (40" lcds and several 50" plasmas)   was fairly easy, just drag and align the corners using the NVIDIA control panel. DVI to HDMI hasn't been an issue except wake from sleep on one Panasonic panel.

[ETomlin]

Thanks John. I will connect it up again and take another look.

[NeoMorph]

I'm running straight HDMI from my GTX460... Maybe that's it.

OK, went onto my Flight Sim PC that outputting to my Pioneer plasma screen and two LCD's via analogue and got this...



Notice it has "Resize Desktop"... Now look it it on another machine that is outputting via a DVI to an LCD...



... and now all you can do is move the desktop about but not resize it.

Hmmmm.... 

[astron]

Hey Eric, you will get it all figured out,  not sure if you were using fs9 or fsx for your tests with the tv set,but dont forget there is also a setting in the fsx cfg file called (wide aspect) it must = true   not sure if that has anything to do with your situation.    but anyway like i told you on the phone the other day, i think the 3 60" sets will work just fine for you beings as you are using them with the lear,like i told you the only reason im getting projectors for the new 737 sim is the airplane is much bigger and the  big monitors i have just wont do the job for that airplane,im sure i will be somewhat disappointed when we first set it up as compared to the 3 52 lcd monitors we are using now,  but the immersion factor will be huge.  and also there are some other settings in fsx itself that can bring out better clarity you just have to play with them a little bit.  but when we get the lear pit done i will use the 3 52 monitors for that cockpit.  you were asking me about the angle of the monitors, its not so much a certain angle that you set them at, you really want each monitor to be the same distance away from your eyepoint,this way they will all look the same to you.   

anyway good luck with your endeavor,Tom