zvmanager calibration

Walt:

Our FAQs address this. TVs do something called "overscan" which can crop the image. ZvManager's calibration wizard adjusts for this (it will end up being an odd resolution as you discovered). If you manually change the resolution, you will lose the ability to adjust for this. Don't worry, your resolution will go back to the optimal resolution when you use the computer directly. The other thing to check is whether your HDTV is in "normal" viewing before you adjust your image with the calibration wizard. I had a problem once when I had my HDTV in "zoom" mode when I was viewing the Zv channel and lost the system tray at the bottom of my desktop.

Hope this helps.

-Brian

Hi Brian,

Thank you but, unfortunately, it does not help. My Sony V2500 LCD TV has no overscan. It's set for 1-1 pixel mapping. I don't use zoom. I have the 1096x616 picture centered on the TV with a large black border around it. I need to get 1280x720 out of the ZvBox and do not want the zvmanager to adjust for non-existing overscan. How do I do that? Btw 104 pixels all around seems rather much for overscan.
Thanks,
Walt

Hi Walt,
By default ZvBox will use 1280x720 when it is in the "ZvCast PC to TV mode". To set it back to this default go to ZvManager> Launch ZvBox settings> adjust picture size.
The first step of the adjust picture size wizard will reset resolution settings to the default. At that point, cancel out of the wizard. Next time you ZvCast PC to TV it should use 1280x720.

From your original post it sounds like at one point it was more than just the resolution that was the issue. You described the bottom of the screen being show at the top of the TV. This does sometimes happen, to fix it use the "recalibrate" option. This option appears in the ZvManager menu when you are in ZvCast PC to TV mode.

Melanie

Thank you, Melanie. That did the trick.

Glad to hear it, enjoy!

Melanie,

I was wondering what is the recalibarate setting doing when it runs , sometimes I will have mutliple TVs on when starting ZV casting , will that confuse it? I regualry run multiple TVs in the house when SZV casting, it seems to grab my 42 westinghouse first most of the time. thanks!..

TVS being used with ZV cast
SONY XBR 55"
Visio 23"
Westinghouse 720p 42"
3 more coming soon

Having multiple TVs on should not make any difference. What the recalibrate is doing is more on the PC side than TV side. We basically are capturing the PC video as if brand new to ensure corners are in the right place, etc. So it is more about the PC than the TV.

Hi melanie, would it be adjusitng for the VGA display? I was just wondering if I cycled it mroe than once would it possible change settings, ( the over scan on my 23 inch TV seems different than the 42 inch westinghouse).. . I wanst sure if it was comminicating with the TVs at all thanks!

calibration tunes ZvBox to the VGA output of your PC. Every VGA card is slightly different (they are analog) and some can even change slightly over time due to temperature. Normally, ZvBox adjusts as it needs to, but sometimes it can get out of sync. Calibrate is just like the auto-adjust feature on your monitor.

Overscan compensation adjusts the size of the image that your PC generates so that it will fit on your TV and not get cropped. We call the resulting resolution (often something like 1208x712) an "underscan resolution". Right now ZvBox can only 'remember' one underscan resolution, but soon it will allow you to have 3 and we will make it easy to switch.

jlm@ZV