Raspberry Pi Forums

I'm trying to use my old raspberry pi for a web server... but I don't want to use my computer monitor, so I'm using a old composite flat-ish screen from emerson..... I cant find anything online about resolution, and the user guide and stickers on the tv don't say anything either... I'm getting a picture with it, but its very fuzzy... I'm wondering if the TV is too low resolution, but I think it might work if I change the config.

The exact model/type is a Emerson 20" Digital/Analog LCD TV Built-in DVD player

LD200EM8

If you are using composite, then the resolution is limited.

As you are in the USofA, I assume you will be using NTSC which will give you a resolution of 720x480.

You can check using the tvservice -s command in a terminal window.

rpdom wrote:If you are using composite, then the resolution is limited.

As you are in the USofA, I assume you will be using NTSC which will give you a resolution of 720x480.

You can check using the tvservice -s command in a terminal window.

Code: Select all

pi@raspi3 ~ $ tvservice -s
state 0x40001 [NTSC 4:3], 720x480 @ 60.00Hz, interlaced

I got the exact status in the console when I ran the command... I just changed the resolution to 1024 x 700 and it now fits the screen fine, but it still doesn't look good... I'm going to post a picture of what it looks like.

If you're connecting via composite then the resolution is around 720x480 for ntsc (x576 for pal) I think. Though some of that may be deemed off-screen (overscan) so ypu may have less.

The black borders sound like overscan settings to me.

There is an option in "sudo raspi-config" to disable the overscan options, or you can manually edit the /boot/config.txt file to set values that work for your TV.

Reading the manual for that TV, I see that the best resolution it can handle is 480p, which is what your Pi is outputting.

its getting better, Ill try changing the resolution now to 720x480

rpdom wrote:Reading the manual for that TV, I see that the best resolution it can handle is 480p, which is what your Pi is outputting.

Agreed. There's very little point in trying to force it to do anything other than 720x480 as that's what it's designed for. As it's a TV, not a monitor, you're going to have to play around with the overscan settings to get it spot-on. By design, it deliberately crops the outside edges of the picture, so that needs compensating for with overscan adjustment to fit the whole image on the screen.

ok so I disabled overscan, changed the resolution to 720x480... but its going off the screen...


I fixed the sharpness problem sortof... I'm going to turn on overscan and try and change the scale.

EDIT: I think its just the TV... no matter what I do I still am getting a distortion to the color and sharpness and if you look closely you can see the screen updating... distortion of the slightest white that caries up the screen and disappears...

aberts10 wrote:ok so I disabled overscan, changed the resolution to 720x480... but its going off the screen...


I fixed the sharpness problem sortof... I'm going to turn on overscan and try and change the scale.

EDIT: I think its just the TV... no matter what I do I still am getting a distortion to the color and sharpness and if you look closely you can see the screen updating... distortion of the slightest white that caries up the screen and disappears...

One problem I have had is that the graphics in many old programs seem to be hardcoded to a specific minimum VGA screen size which is larger than the composite screen. Menus go off the screen so it's impossible to see or navigate to all the menu choices or the playing field of a game goes off the screen which makes it impossible to play. Like you, I am in US so stuck with NTSC. PAL may be better in that regard.
I have heard that the frame buffer on RPi can be adjusted to help but haven't tried that.

Composite video was made for motion video and was never intended to show that much static images or text like is generated by a computer.
Text is typically jittery, blurry and hard to read. I find composite from RPi on an old CRT TV is almost unusable..... gives me a headache. Composite is a bit better when shown on a LCD screen.