Widescreen Gaming Forum

I'm about to dive into my review of the new wide modes in the DTH2Go. I haven't had any problems, but I know others have. Can folks provide a summary of the current (still existing) problems? I don't want to hear about issues that have been fixed.

I'm hoping to get some time with a Matrox support person, and want to have a list of issues/questions to address with them.

57Hz output requirement. (Why can't they double up every 19th frame?)

Unintuitive setup process with poor (or hard to find) documentation.

ATI does not support the widest resolutions. (Get a clear statement from both Matrox and AMD on this issue if possible)

I think some people have had problems with heterogeneous display setups but I can not be certain.

I think thats it, do good. BTW how do you pronounce your user name? Is it your real name?

Bezel management on the left screen is broken.

Desktop divider often needs resetting after every reboot.

57Hz output requirement. (Why can't they double up every 19th frame?)

Or reduce the bit depth (and therefore bandwidth) to 22bit from 24bit, ala 3DFX.

Aren't there some issues with Vista x64 or updates to the NVIDIA drivers.

I think thats it, do good. BTW how do you pronounce your user name? Is it your real name?

No, it is an old D&D character name. It's pronounced "Ib-ren" not "Eye-bren"

Aren't there some issues with Vista x64 or updates to the NVIDIA drivers.

Yeah, the Matrox GXM doesnt add the 5040x1050 res to the nVidia control panel automatically. I assume this is Vista x86 and x64.

DirectX 10 isn't supported...

[quote]Aren't there some issues with Vista x64 or updates to the NVIDIA drivers.

Yeah, the Matrox GXM doesnt add the 5040x1050 res to the nVidia control panel automatically. I assume this is Vista x86 and x64.

It did for me, when I first installed it. There hasn't been a driver update for my 9800GX2. Is the issue with beta drivers and/or release drivers?

[quote]57Hz output requirement. (Why can't they double up every 19th frame?)

Or reduce the bit depth (and therefore bandwidth) to 22bit from 24bit, ala 3DFX.

I wonder if this is because whatever protocol they are using (probably GTF or CVT-RB) has an overhead? Or maybe signal loss? While ideally we should easily be able to get up to 60Hz, we don't live in an ideal world.

Still, I would love to find out..

The question is which does more monitors support: a non standard frequency (57) or a nonstandard bitrate (i.e. 22?)?

It did for me, when I first installed it. There hasn't been a driver update for my 9800GX2. Is the issue with beta drivers and/or release drivers?

Sorry, to clarify, only with newer drivers (primarily 180 series, public beta, soon release, the next big "range" of drivers from nV). These do work, very well infact, on GX2s as it happens.

The question is which does more monitors support: a non standard frequency (57) or a nonstandard bit depth (i.e. 22)?

Good point. Perhaps only the output from the PC could be dithered to 22bit, while the output from the TH2G maintains a 24bit signal (which is really lower bitrate but sent as higher). Based on the assumption the bandwidth limitation is in the input.

Of course the hardware may not be capable of this, it was designed to do a pretty straight forward task and not much more.

Either that or they can't afford the dev costs to make it work.

5040x1050 is a crapshot with monitors..

some work and some don't, u never know.

my BenQ have specs that say hz 56-85 and it get a bank screen at 57hz :x

while the cheaper soyo and dell e248wfp works fine :(

[quote]
It did for me, when I first installed it. There hasn't been a driver update for my 9800GX2. Is the issue with beta drivers and/or release drivers?

Sorry, to clarify, only with newer drivers (primarily 180 series, public beta, soon release, the next big "range" of drivers from nV). These do work, very well infact, on GX2s as it happens.

I guess I'm confused, but I thought people were having trouble with the 178 series.

[quote]

The question is which does more monitors support: a non standard frequency (57) or a nonstandard bit depth (i.e. 22)?

Good point. Perhaps only the output from the PC could be dithered to 22bit, while the output from the TH2G maintains a 24bit signal (which is really lower bitrate but sent as higher). Based on the assumption the bandwidth limitation is in the input.
Ah, hmm.. you made me think of something. The output bandwidth is definitely short on the video card -> Th2Go since that's the part that it served by only one dual DVI cable.

However, the th2go -> monitors are using 3 DVI cables which easily handle 1680x1050 easily on their own.

So what they need to do in the next update is bump the Th2Go to output 1680x1050 at 60Hz instead of 57Hz. They can do this either by outputting some frames twice (three times over a second), or by using a lower bitrate like 22bpp (but then the video card drivers itself might not support that?) and upconverting it to 24bpp at the Th2Go (a trivial byte shift in a few places, quite easy to implement).

Either way, the monitors should be getting 60Hz, since it's unacceptable to most that people are buying monitors which end up not working with the Th2Go (even if the specs do say they support less than 60Hz, the monitor manufacturers clearly don't always test lower frequencies).

I guess I'm confused, but I thought people were having trouble with the 178 series.

Them too, same issue, but who cares when the 180 series can be made work? It should work just like on older drivers however (ie automatically adding Custom res's)


@Downtown, actually, when its spelt out in this thread it does seem there are indeed several more elegant and compatible solutions than the one currently on offer.

Aren't there some issues with Vista x64 or updates to the NVIDIA drivers.

[quote]I think thats it, do good. BTW how do you pronounce your user name? Is it your real name?

No, it is an old D&D character name. It's pronounced "Ib-ren" not "Eye-bren"
Ha I was pronouncing it right all along!

Anyway there are issues with all NVidia Vista drivers beyond 177.92 (upto the latest 180.43). When you install those drivers you cannot select 5040x1050 out of the box. You must set a custom res that seems to work for most people but NOT all; and setting it up is a pain. However every time you restart the res gets deleted; uninstalling the GXM prevents this but that is also a real pain! I know this issue is in 64 bit but not sure about x86 (cos most of us use 64bit)

Also in XP you cannot select 1920x1200 in games with those drivers. You can set it up as a custom res but not select it in games.

The bezel error is also there (when you use bezel management the left hand screen is warped and stuff)

DX10 does not do 5040x1050 on any games tested so far.

Thats all I can think of at the moment :)

Cheers M1.9P

(ps Ibrin can you tell what book that is on the left of my desk here ;)

I can't get anything above 175.19 working with 5040x1050 on my 8800 GTS. I'm running Vista 32bit Ultimate edition.

(ps Ibrin can you tell what book that is on the left of my desk here ;)

4E PHB. I was actually a playtested for 3E. My crew was the only allowed e-mail / virtual playtest team. I had playtested for the Ravenloft line before that. They used a lot of our suggestions for multiclass and critcal hits (though others may have suggested similar things).

I got in with TSR/WotC after I was asked to help Monitor the Ravenloft-L Listserv. I ended up being the Moderator for a while. Stopped doing that a few years before starting the WSGF.

Hoping to start playing again soon. Played 2x a month before the first kid was born.

Yeah I have just got back into DnD, quite enjoying the new edition...although it is certainly not every ones cup of tea! I hadn't played since 2E and half of the others. One guy did some 3E; one 1E (20 odd yrs ago?) but that is it.
Nice to do some social face to face gaming every week :)

Yeah I have just got back into DnD, quite enjoying the new edition...although it is certainly not every ones cup of tea! I hadn't played since 2E and half of the others. One guy did some 3E; one 1E (20 odd yrs ago?) but that is it.
Nice to do some social face to face gaming every week :)

More like 30-35 years ago...