Widescreen Gaming Forum

I haven't seen a thread like this, so I'm gonna make one.

I wanted to gather some information on pillarboxing (adding black bars on the sides and maintaining aspect ratio). I myself always wondered how many cards support it, and what drivers.

I want to know because many times I see conflicting reports from everyone. Some people can get pillarboxing on ATI cards, while some have trouble. Same thing with Nvidia- 7900 users often report they can't use the pillarboxing support built in to the Nvidia drivers. And often searching the Internet wields the same conflicting results.

The purpose of this thread is really an information gathering one, and I believe the information can be really valuable.

So, my questions for you guys are:

1) What video card are you using?
2) What driver version are you using?
3) Can you get pillarboxing?
-please be sure it's not your monitor doing the pillarboxing
-please indicate the setting you used to get it

Here's my examples:

1) XFX 7800 GTX
2) 93.71
3) Yes, by using "fixed aspect ratio scaling"

Another example:

1) Sapphire x1900xtx
2) 6.10
3) No

1) eVGA 7900 GT KO
2) 84.21, 91.31, 91.47, 92.91, 93.71
3) NO, never has worked
4) Westinghouse LCM-19w4 monitor (1440x900)

Check out http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/6996 for a similar list....

Oh ok, thanks for the link. I never venture out of the general or widscreen solutions forum. Well, this thread may be a little pointless now..

But, a new question for everyone (since we got tons of Nvidia information in the other thread): Has anyone managed to get their ATI card to support pillarboxing?

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Gaming_with_Blackbars_%28Pillarboxing%29

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Gaming_with_Blackbars_%28Pillarboxing%29

Thanks for the link, but for ATI it leads to a link to a thread where it leads to the same conflicting information I was talking about (and the thread is pretty much dead, last post was in August). Some people say they have support.. others say they don't. Just like with the Nvidia thread, we could use an ATI thread that covers which setups support it. (which, admittedly, will probably be a short list).

Also, the link is somewhat outdated and doesn't really give the true picture of pillarboxing support, considering several Nvidia users are reporting they cannot pillarbox.

1) Sapphire x1800xt
2) 6.14
3) Yes "use centered timings"

With my 7800GS using the 93.71 drivers, I do NOT see any centered timings / force aspect ratio options. The wiki link to pillarboxing shows a section called Display Panel Properties. From there you could do force aspect, center, etc.

Does anyone know the most recent driver that contained that? I don't mind rolling back a few versions if it means I can avoid headaches and eye strain from uber stretched images (I'm on a 27" LCD TV with 1280x720).

Hi all, and thanks for the great resource you provide!


If any Nvidia users are still reporting that they can't achieve pillarboxing, here's how to do it using the 93.71 drivers:


Using Classic View

* First select 'nView Display Settings' and click on the 'Device Settings' button. Deselect "Treat digital Display as HDTV"

* Next, select 'Screen Resolutions and Refresh Rates' and click on the 'Advanced Timing' button.

* You'll find the Flat Panel Scaling options in the third dropdown box, and can alter them as you wish.


Using Nvidia Control Panel

* Choose 'Display'

* Choose 'Manage Custom Timings' and then deselect "Treat as HDTV"

* Click the Up button to go back to the previous screen, and then select the "Change Flat Panel Scaling" option which should now appear.

* Make the changes you want.


For the record, I'm using a pair of SLI'd 6600GT cards with an Acer AL2216W monitor, and the above solution works a treat. Took a bit of fiddling about to find it, though :D

catweazle:

You seem to know alot about this, so ill post this question to you. I have just bought the 22inch widescreen from Acer. I am running a 3700 amd, 7800gt vid card, 2gig ram. I have found that the dvd picture is very crappy on this wide screen and I dont think its the montior, I think its the settings. Im wondering if you know how to tweak this thing correctly to get it to look good for video? I bought it at xmas, and have been searching the web for solutions ever since. Hope you can help