Resolution Of Video-out

[GregorR]

Realizing of course that few people can answer this question, I'll post it anyway

Presumably the video out on the Pandora will be 800x480 by default, which on an RCA or S-Video to a 4:3 display device will look ... well, stupid. So my question is, will it be possible to change the Pandora's video resolution to 640x480, such that the output is 4:3? Even in a configuration file requiring an X restart to take effect would be fine for me. Heck, even if it couldn't use the internal display while running at 640x480, that would be fine for my particular (peculiar) needs.

As an only-partially-related question, will it be possible to entirely disable the builtin screen while video-out is enabled, for battery-saving purposes?

 

[Etinin]

The two video outputs should be independent and turning off the screen should be possible but might be driver-dependant.

 

[GregorR]

The two video outputs are independent? Then if you type, or use a USB mouse, where does it go ...?

 

[typs lik dis]

Wherever you want. You should be able to configure it however you would configure any dual-monitor configuration in the desktop manager you choose.

Edit: Clarified.

 

[lippy]

The two video outputs are independent? Then if you type, or use a USB mouse, where does it go ...?

From what I gather it depends on how you set it up; you can choose:

Clone - both display same thing
Dualview(or the appropriate alternative) - you can have it as though both screens are side by side (imagine 2 monitors side by side) and your mouse can move from one to the other.

You may even be able to run 2 separate xservers on each screen, (similar to having 2 seperate computers)

 

[GregorR]

Rephrasing the question: I'm assuming what you mean by independent signals is that effectively I would run two X servers, one displaying on the builtin display, one displaying on video-out. But if that's the case, input devices are a giant hassle, as they would either end up associated with the wrong X server, or both (which is even worse).

Sorry, replied before the other reply. If that's the situation, that should work fine. The only wrinkle is that in my setup (which I'm not prepared to elaborate yet ), I won't be using the internal screen at all most of the time, so:

1) If it clones, the resolution will be wonky.
2) If it's side-by-side, in my experience (depending on the WM), the menu won't be availble.
3) If it's a separate X server, input devices will be confusing.

 

[likwidoxigen]

*sigh* forget it.

 

[lippy]

Rephrasing the question: I'm assuming what you mean by independent signals is that effectively I would run two X servers, one displaying on the builtin display, one displaying on video-out. But if that's the case, input devices are a giant hassle, as they would either end up associated with the wrong X server, or both (which is even worse).

Sorry, replied before the other reply. If that's the situation, that should work fine. The only wrinkle is that in my setup (which I'm not prepared to elaborate yet ), I won't be using the internal screen at all most of the time, so:

1) If it clones, the resolution will be wonky.
2) If it's side-by-side, in my experience (depending on the WM), the menu won't be availble.
3) If it's a separate X server, input devices will be confusing.

1) You could just clone it at the preferred resolution rather than pandora res; i.e in your case standard 4:3
2) Side-by-Side won't be much use to you in this situation, especially as the mouse will go off the screen which may get annoying. However from past experience on standard x86 linux computers, I vaguely remember limiting mouse to one screen, and setting up menus to particular screens, but this may have been extra NVidia card options which may not be available on Pandora
3) It may be confusing for a bit, but once you set it up, you won't have to do it again, and depending if you're using the external screen, or the internal screen you can load the appropriate config file(s)

Don't worry, it'll be fine!

EDIT: Tbh you'll probably be able to just output to external screen anyway, I thought you wanted 2 screens at the same time originally so went slightly off-tangent with workarounds rather than the straight to the point lol

 

[Swiss_Cheeseman]

Would scaling the video output from 800x480 to 640x480 16:9 be possible? It wouldn't be perfect but should be good enough for most things.

 

[typs lik dis]

Yeah, but what would that accomplish? Just set the output to the display's native resolution.

 

[White Demon]

Agree with typs lik dis. Most people have widescreen TVs now, and I for one do not want the display appearing in a box in the middle of the screen.

 

[GregorR]

Widescreen TVs, sure. Widescreen projectors? No. Widescreen head-mounted displays (GIANT CLUE HERE)? No (at least not with a good resolution). Yes, lots of things are becoming widescreen, but lots of things aren't (yet).

 

[Chip]

The TV-out is not fully sorted out yet. Everything is done in software, so in theory you could convert/letterbox/clone/do whatever you want. In practice, I don't know how many options will be available on day one. S-video is a pretty limited format. The only way to get widescreen out of it is to either letterbox the output (reducing your effective vertical resolution) or use non-square pixels, which not all TVs will be able to account for.

 

[CandidStan]

With the Pandora being delayed as much has it has, it's beginning to look like Pandora circa 2007 in terms of features with all the new technology that has come out as of late.

I don't know about you but I never had a TV with S-Video in to this day. It was always RF, Composite, RGB or HDMI.

 

[mali]

http://focus.ti.com/lit/ug/sprufa4a/sprufa4a.pdf

 

[cappuchok]

I don't know about you but I never had a TV with S-Video in to this day. It was always RF, Composite, RGB or HDMI.

I don't know where you're based but S-Video was never a big hit in Europe (as RGB beats it hands down) and consequently I've rarely seen (and never had) a European CRT set with S-Video (it was always RF, Composite and RGB). In fact, and somewhat ironically, it's only with the arrival of HDTV sets that I've seen S-Video become more commonly available as an input option here in Europe. :huh:

 

[Chip]

S-video/composite support is built into the SoC. Anything else would have been prohibitively complicated and expensive. I suppose we could have just said "screw it" and not had any video out like the Wiz, but something is better than nothing, and this something was free from a design standpoint.

 

[GregorR]

For me in particular, letterboxing would be the worst possible solution ... I don't have enough screen real-estate to waste any of it, which is why the resolution issue is still on my mind ... I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Polossatik]

I don't know about you but I never had a TV with S-Video in to this day. It was always RF, Composite, RGB or HDMI.

I don't know where you're based but S-Video was never a big hit in Europe (as RGB beats it hands down) and consequently I've rarely seen (and never had) a European CRT set with S-Video (it was always RF, Composite and RGB). In fact, and somewhat ironically, it's only with the arrival of HDTV sets that I've seen S-Video become more commonly available as an input option here in Europe. :huh:

Almost any Scart plug can handle S-video. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCART
so if you buy a S-video to SCART cable or adaptor you can use this also in Europe.

Note that S-video trough SCART will give a better image then composite.

Edit: schematics: http://pinouts.ru/VideoCables/scart_adapter_pinout.shtml

 

[cobaltage]

Hi,

I don't know much about anything, but I was looking into USB-VGA and USB-DVI adapters for an unrelated reason. It seems that the majority if not all USB-VGA adapters are USB bus-powered. User reviews suggest that the video quality is fine for document work and internet browsing and even videoback, but that things like moving the cursor quickly causes some lag. I have no real world experience with them.

Then I saw this thread and did a Google search to see if there were any Linux drivers for these sorts of adapters.

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddVGAAdapter

Unfortunately this method bypasses the GPU, does not seem suitable to games, and might not work for all I know.

Any help? :blink: