When we got the Sony 32v300A, I chose to connect it to our MacBook via a mini-DVI-to-VGA adapter, as I had read on some forums that people had VGA working well in 1080p mode for their bigger TVs.
Insurance replaced the 32V300A with a 32V4000, but I still could only chose 1360 x 768 @ 60 so was quite unhappy. Earlier in the week I had read on the NZ MythTV mailing list people were talking about setting up their TVs and ignoring the EDID data. By hand setting the resolutions to <60Hz timings you can get 1080p, as VGA/ VESA are only 60+ Hz timings.
With this extra information I went re-reading forums (via google) and found SwitchResX which lets you manually set you monitor timings. You only need to use SwitchResX Control Panel
Initially I was trying to get 1920 x 1080 @ 60 working. I got it mostly working, but the screen was horizontally squashed ~10% (underscan) and hard right justified. Lots of value tweaking and unpluging/pluging latter, I didn’t really have the problem solved.
I then re-read the EDID page and noticed the 1080p @ 50Hz settings, so tried those settings, and it was full screen, but overscanned.
I originally used the simplified GTF settings with 1920 x 1080 and vert 50Hz as input. But the bottom 5mm of the screen would flicker every five seconds. I then noticed the vertical total lines was 2 less than my other attempts that didn’t flicker, so after I increased the vert back porch from 35 to 37, it stopped flicking.
So here are the SwitchResX settings I use:
With settings I lose ~0.5% of the side of the screen. Thus with this 1920x1080 test picture I get this:
Things look much better at 1080p, yippie!
Geek Alert!, here’s the TV’s EDID:
DDC block report generated by SwitchResX version 3.8.6 for display
SONY TV (2)`
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- RAW DATA ------------------------
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
0 | 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 4D D9 00 FF 01 01 01 01
1 | 14 12 01 03 08 A0 5A 78 0A 0D C9 A0 57 47 98 27
2 | 12 48 4C 21 08 00 81 80 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
3 | 01 01 01 01 01 01 66 21 50 B0 51 00 1B 30 40 70
4 | 36 00 40 84 63 00 00 1E 0E 1F 00 80 51 00 1E 30
5 | 40 80 37 00 40 84 63 00 00 1C 00 00 00 FD 00 39
6 | 3F 1E 31 09 00 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 FC
7 | 00 53 4F 4E 59 20 54 56 0A 20 20 20 20 20 00 5A
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
< 00FFFFFF FFFFFF00 4DD900FF 01010101 14120103 08A05A78 0A0DC9A0 57479827 12484C21 08008180 01010101 01010101 01010101 01016621 50B05100 1B304070 36004084 6300001E 0E1F0080 51001E30 40803700 40846300 001C0000 00FD0039 3F1E3109 000A2020 20202020 000000FC 00534F4E 59205456 0A202020 2020005A >
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
Valid EDID block: checksum passed
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- MAIN EDID BLOCK -----------------
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
EDID Version........1.3
Manufacturer........SNY
Product Code........255 (00FF) (FF00)
Serial Number.......01010101
Manufactured........Week 20 of year 2008
Max H Size..........160 cm
Max V Size..........90 cm
Gamma...............2.20
Display Supported Features:
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
Display type:
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
RGB color display
Display is non continuous frequency
Default color space is not sRGB standard
Preferred timing mode includes Native Pixel Format
Input signal & sync:
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
Analog input with: 0.700V / 0.300V
Composite Sync
Color info:
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
Red x = 0.625 Green x = 0.280 Blue x = 0.155 White x = 0.283
Red y = 0.340 Green y = 0.595 Blue y = 0.070 White y = 0.298
Established Timings:
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
640 x 480 @ 60Hz
800 x 600 @ 60Hz
1024 x 768 @ 60Hz
Manufacturer Reserved Timings:
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
Standard Timing Identification:
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
#0: 1280 x 1024 @ 60Hz (8180)
Monitor Description blocks:
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
Descriptor #0 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1360 x 768 @ 60.015Hz
Pixel Clock............. 85.50 MHz Non-Interlaced
Horizontal Vertical
Active.................. 1360 pixels 768 lines
Front Porch............. 64 pixels 3 lines
Sync Width.............. 112 pixels 6 lines
Back Porch.............. 256 pixels 18 lines
Blanking................ 432 pixels 27 lines
Total................... 1792 pixels 795 lines
Scan Rate............... 47.712 kHz 60.015 Hz
Image Size.............. 1600 mm 900 mm
Border.................. 0 pixels 0 lines
Sync: Digital separate with
\* Positive vertical polarity
\* Positive horizontal polarity
Descriptor #1 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1280 x 768 @ 59.870Hz
Pixel Clock............. 79.50 MHz Non-Interlaced
Horizontal Vertical
Active.................. 1280 pixels 768 lines
Front Porch............. 64 pixels 3 lines
Sync Width.............. 128 pixels 7 lines
Back Porch.............. 192 pixels 20 lines
Blanking................ 384 pixels 30 lines
Total................... 1664 pixels 798 lines
Scan Rate............... 47.776 kHz 59.870 Hz
Image Size.............. 1600 mm 900 mm
Border.................. 0 pixels 0 lines
Sync: Digital separate with
\* Positive vertical polarity
\* Negative horizontal polarity
Descriptor #2 is Monitor limits:
Horizontal frequency range.......30-49 kHz
Vertical frequency range.........57-63 Hz
Maximum bandwidth unspecified
Descriptor #3 is Monitor name:
SONY TV