[michaelb]

Does anyone have any experience of plugging a PowerBook's DVI connector straight into the DVI-D input of a 1024x1024 (42") Plasma screen?

Is it simply a case of plug & play and the screen resolution will offer the native 1024x1024 resolution choice, or does something have to be done to adjust this?

(I'm asking because I may need to give a presentation on such a screen soon.)

[TimmyDee51]

I plugged an eMac into a 42" Gateway plasma last year. It would only grab a certain resolution (EDTV -- it was 800 something horizontal, that's all I remember). Even then, it was stretched to fit the screen. That was a VGA connection, but you'll likely have the same stretching experience with DVI unless the graphics card can somehow interpret the nonstandard resolution. Give it a go, though. It can't hurt.

Oh, and by the way, many people may have guessed it, but Gateway plasmas suck a**. The refresh rate is terrible and the color fidelity leaves a lot to be desired.

[Randman]

Check the PowerBook setup thread. One of the last posts had someone who had a PB running on a plasma. Don't remember who it was, but maybe you could contact them and get some info.

[audvidsvs]

Most plasma displays are capable of Multi-Sync'ing with a variety of sources with different resolutions.
If you go to the DVI input of a display you will have little control over the picture parameters that you are used to as this is the point of that imput. To give an unaltered straight digital input directly from the source.

There are a variety of other methods of input to the plasma that allow adjustment of the picture but they all use the analog inputs and by using a scan converter you can get full picture control depending on the features of the converter.

I would try the connection before the presentation to get a feel for it first,no surprises are good.

Plasma quality and color fidelity can vary widely and you really do get what you pay for.
Most plasma are OEM manufactures and the Gateway's are some of the cheapest Korean ones out there.

Sticking with one of the first tier makers always pays with better performance in my experience and I will only spec. these now.

Panasonic
JVC
NEC
Sony
Fijitsu
Pioneer

All consistently look and act better(hope I didn't leave any out)

The cheap sets also do last a long time so you get crap pictures that endure.
Many people really seem to not be able to tell the difference ??

[michaelb]

Thanks for the feedback!

I was most interested in whether the PowerBook's video is capable of driving a monitor at 1024x1024 (the native resolution of the plasma) so that the plasma can display at its native resolution without interpolation artifacts.

That is, if I scale a Photoshop image to 1024x1024 (taking into account the aspect ratio and oblong pixels) I'll get a beautiful image.

For PCs, people talk about using PowerStrip to adjust Windows to support this, so I was wondering if similar hacks have to be done for Mac OS X, or it just supports it out of the box?

[tooki]

Ummm, 1024x1024 isn't the plasma's native resolution -- 1024x1024 is square (1:1), while the plasma is widescreen (16:9). Even with the rectangular pixels, that's not the native resolution.

The PowerBook should be able to drive it, though.

I'd advise you to just try it first and see what happens. In fact, that's something I'd advise anyone to do before any presentation, regardless of what the specific equipment available is.

tooki

[MichiganRich]

Ummmm yes, 1024x1024 is the native resolution for some of the 42" plasma displays. Here at work we have a 852x480 Daewoo 42, and my sister yesterday asked me about her bosses' Sony Wega, which is native 1024x1024 from the Sony manual.

http://homepage.mac.com/richrobbins/.Public/SonyRes.pdf

Yes, I know that 1024x1024 is square, and the 42" is 16:9 (thereabouts). Go figure.

[Lizard7]

I've actually wondered about the 1024x1024 spec myself. You see it on some the sony plasmas (37 and 42 inch XS series I think). Are the pixels rectangular or something?