XP + 1080i + Olevia 27" = poo

[Lestat]

ok so i grabbed a refurbed Olevia LT27HVX from the egg for 499 a week ago and she works fine... except.. 1080i.
using DVI or Component on the TV out, the picure is horrible.
out of focus/fuzzy larger than the screen itself.
fonts have a rainbo tint to them
basically it seems like either windows cant handle 1080i properly or the nvidia card can't spec out 1080i properly.
there are no windows drivers for this monitor. i have tried a few in the driver database of windows for different monitors and nothing works.

now the kicker to all of this, and this throws a monkey wrench into everything.
so far, if i set 1080i, i can start a game and choose 1920x1080 for the game resolution and it looks great. wtf i think to myself......

this leads me to believe that windows itself isnt handling 1080i properly. like maybe its not setting the proper font dpi or some other dpi.

720p is nice and crisp but things are too big. it doesnt take much to fill the entire screen up, open cpu-z takes 1/3 of it pi takes another. and outlook is so large its like running 800x600 on a small monitor know what i mean you have to use the scroll bars to view anything.

has anyone messed around with HD LCD TV's with windows enough to know that 080i DOES infact work or it doesnt work and if so how do you make it work.

any help is much appreciated.
ive went thru and adjusted what i can in the custom resolution section even tried powerstrip but cant make that work either.

[Lestat]

here is a good way to describe it.

take a picture of something with a bunch of text on it or small gif's or icons.

ok now zoom out so the picture gets smaller and smaller, until the text starts looking bad and crappy im sure you guys know what i mean.

[Lestat]

ok well this was a short lived thread lol
i was on the phone with support while i was typing this.
so he put me on hold for like a half hour and came back and said very politely and honestly.
1080i on this monitor doesnt work, we know it doesnt work, they put ou the 32" monitor that fixes this issue. I'm sorry.
so, in return to his honesty i remained calm, and said very honestly.
"i purchased this monitor in good faith that it did what you guys are advertising it to do. And even today you are still selling this monitor as a 1080i HD monitor and it very clearly doesnt support 1080i properly. I purchased this monitor for the sole purpose of 080i in windows. 720p looks ok. not great but very usable. What do we have to do to get this monitor replaced with a model that does work. The simple fact is, and again i purchased this in good faith, that you are falsly advertising tjos display as a 1080i and its not. Frankly if this ever went so far as a class action or other legal suit, the law is on my side. The monitor clearly doesnt support 1080i modes from a pc or other device. (my xbox doesnt look right either).

he was very understanding, and polite and so was i, and i simply said "i can not leave this conversation tonight without a resolution to this issue". i repeated what i said above, thanked him for being honest and reminded him that he openly admitted to me that 1080i doesnt work and Olevia knows that it doesnt work. again i repeated what i said above and he has me on hold again.

this is the type of support that i like, honest, helpful and straight forward.
i could care less if a product has an issue as long as the manufacturer stands up and takes responsibility for their screw up and tries to fix it.
the reason you all see me get so blatantly beligerant is when companies deny it, tech support people are rude and beligerant. and not helpful to a client who spent their hard earned money and the product is faulty.
THIS right here is what i like. his honesty keeps a person calm, and resolved. his honesty and willingness to work this out is why i wont return this monitor.
but at the same time i wont let this issue just go away. i want a working replacement whether is a new version of the 27" or a 32". i said i dont care if its a NIB unit or a refurbed but i want a monitor that works with 080i and if the 32" is the only one then so be it.

so here i sit, on hold for the last ohh 5 min's or so. aiting to hear his response.

[Lestat]

well i got to talk to the manager cuz "he can better explain it"
and i got the typical response.
" there isnt an issue, i don't know why that other guy told you that. There isnt a version 2. I'll take your info and pass it along to the R&D dept. to test it, and that will take a minimum of 2 weeks."
basically he told me that other tech didnt know what he was talking about. there isnt an issue and there isnt a resolution. which really started to piss me off. but i remained calm. even though every website out there shows a version 2 and even their own website lists a ver2.
he did mention that the monitor does a pulldown at 1080i that brings it down to 720. ok wtf. brings it down to 720... 1080i is 1920x1080 Interlaced or 1920x540 standard mode. so why is it reducing it to 720 ? that would explain, possibly why it looks like crap, the stupid monitor isnt doing a proper pulldown ratio.

i also explained you cant be ignorant of this issue there are Olevia specific forums where people are complaining about the very same issue. so. how do you explain that ? of course i got to play ring around the rosie with him and listen to his excuses.
the guy basically didnt know anymore about HD than i did which was frustrating and i very much was brushed off. started making me mad but again i remained calm.

so anyways back to trying to make it work.

anyone got any ideas ?

[jimmyz]

do you have any other source for 1080 such as another pc w/ ati brand to see if it is windows or the nividea drivers since it works ok gaming?

[Lestat]

yeah ive tried my x700 pci-e same thing (it even is touted as having hd and includes the hd dongle)

this is where i start to get a little peeved at windows and or the drivers.

games and such look fine from what i can tell. i have no issues at all.
Flatout 2 looks great. but the desktop looks like crap.
so its gotta be the way either the monitor is handling the aspect ratio in corrilation with the dpi,,, or the phase lock of the monitor or something along that lines. and there is where i start to hit the limits of my knowledge.

he offered no explanation other than its doing a pulldown to 720 which is find VERY bad since 720 is not 1080i so its pulldown is nearly 500 pixels off.

i dont know.

keep the ideas coming jimmy and others.

[Vapor]

If it's doing a pulldown....well, :(

That would also explain why games look good....it's doing an anti-aliasing of sorts (SSAA 1.5x), but when you pulldown an interlaced image to a progressive image by a non-factor-of-two, it just gets ugly for small text or details. Moire becomes a problem, detail loss is a major issue, etc.

Your original approach of getting the 32" as a replacement might be the hand to force with Olevia.

[Lestat]

yeah after speaking with them i dont think they are going to do it, i may call tonight and speak withthem again and try to force that hand and find out more about why that guy told me very bluntly that "this is a known issue and 1080i doesnt work properly on this monitor"
the managers excuse of he didnt know why that tech said that is 100% typical as he has to protect olevia and he tried but im not foolish enough to fall for it since there are plenty of other forums that show the exact same issues.

i definately aint waiting around for 2 weeks. i'll return it long before that time arrives.
newegg wants a bloody $75 restock fee so i will have to call them and ask that it be waived since the monitor doesnt work properly at 1080i.

[ewitte]

Don't use interlaced for a monitor. It looks like crap period. Use the native progressive resolution of the monitor. You really don't think fitting 1920x1080 worth of information on a 1280x768 ( or around that) is going to look good do you? Movies and games will look fine. Text is going to be blurry as hell and you'll notice a slight flickering (really badly for CRTs, LCD is at least better for that).

Another thing is LCD TVs are not perfect for PCs. You will very easily get some kind of overscan/underscan and or not be able to fill the entire resolution. I could only use 1280x768 of my 32" LCD TV that was 1366x768. That gave me 30" viewable. It was a DMI limitation and its virtually impossible to force current drivers outside of DMI settings. Powerstrip or not.

Remember Interlaced is crap for desktop/text use. Its virtual a virtual resolution. LCD needs to run at native resolution. There is nothing wrong with the TV.

Eric

[FUGGER]

I have a 32" LCD with the same problems running 1080i being that it is an interlaced signal it would not be good.

Stick with the lower resoltions and your display might be able to handle other non standard resolutions. Try them all above 720p, some will work and be sharper in quality.

[Lestat]

hhmm odd. my Westinghouse 32" handles the 1080i desktop beautifully.

didnt i read somewhere long ago that 1080i wasnt displyed properly on a monitor until you got to 32 inches or above ? maybe it was something else, but for some reason im thinking it was the 1080i

720p is just fine, but since everything is so big... ugh..
im trying to go thru and find higher resolutions that are supported by dvi or VGA.

games so far are playing 100% ok in 1080i so.

i guess hindsight is telling me that had i done enough deep research into windows at 1080i i may have avoided this ordeal.

[ewitte]

hhmm odd. my Westinghouse 32" handles the 1080i desktop beautifully.

didnt i read somewhere long ago that 1080i wasnt displyed properly on a monitor until you got to 32 inches or above ? maybe it was something else, but for some reason im thinking it was the 1080i

720p is just fine, but since everything is so big... ugh..
im trying to go thru and find higher resolutions that are supported by dvi or VGA.

games so far are playing 100% ok in 1080i so.

i guess hindsight is telling me that had i done enough deep research into windows at 1080i i may have avoided this ordeal.

Well if you think it looks bad. I tried an interlaced resolution on a CRT monitor back around 1990-1992 and OMG it was crap :shock2: I've also tried on several much more recent CRT TVs and rear projection TVs. Because of lack of refresh rate LCD looks better but its still not good for text. If you can get a 1080p TV thats your best bet but I quickly switched to a 24" Dell 2405 because I wanted more than 1280x768.

Eric

[Lestat]

yeah im thinking of maybe seing if anyone wants to trade this for a 2405...