[mactropolis]

Hello,
i would like to know if anyone knows of a way that i can get my display resolution down to 640x480 @ 67Hz?

I've got an Summer 2000 iMac DV SE with Mac OS 9.1. In the Monitors control panel, for the Resolution field, the only opton next to "Show" is Recommended -- and recommended has the lowest at 640x480 @ 117Hz. The Monitor Resolution Control Strip Module shows the same three options.

i remember that you used to be able to hold down some keys (option + command i think) while pressing down the Monitor Resolution Control Strip Module and it will show ALL available resolutions -- not just the Recommended onces.

so does anyone know a way i can accomplish this? any 3rd-party software that will allow me to do this?

thanks!

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Mac OS 10: not just a new OS, but a new concept!

[spicyjeff]

Hold down the control key as your click on the control strip module to see all available resolutions.

[oscar]

Ok, I'll bite, why make the monitor less sharp, and more eye numbing?

[This message has been edited by oscar (edited 02-08-2001).]

[spicyjeff]

If you are trying to sync your monitor with a video capture device or to record your screen with a video camera and want to reducing the "flicker" you get from the variation between the screens refresh frequency and the cameras capture frequency, you want to try to get them as close to matching as possible. (capture equipment uses lower frequencies usually)

[ginoledesma]

Ugh! I wouldn't be able to tolerate anything lower than 75Hz.

spiffyjeff, what's the average frequency of most capture devices? What would happen for example if the monitor frequency is 2x or 3x the capture device's frequency? I noticed that a Sony videocam I used (forgot the model) got a good, low-flicker capture when my monitor was set at 640x480 @ 120Hz.

[ginoledesma]

Originally posted by spicyjeff:
Hold down the control key as your click on the control strip module to see all available resolutions.

This works on my Power Mac G4, but it didn't seem to work on a demo iMac "Snow" running Mac OS 9.0.4. Pressing control while accessing the refresh rate list showed only the recommended settings. Does multiple user have control over this? Hmm...

[mactropolis]

hey,
sorry for taking so long to reply, the mactropolis is back...

anyways, i tried holding down the control key while clicking on the resolution control strip module and unfortunately it didn't work:-( any other ideas? does anyone know of a shareware solution that will solve my problem? can I make an AppleScript to change the resolution? Is anyone up to creating a little app that will help me accomplish my goal? I'm using Mac OS 9.1. I can install a 9.0.4 or 9.0 System Folder to see if it makes a difference. But from another post, it still doesn't work with 9.0.4. can anyone verify if it works with 9.0.

so why do i want to do this? i'm crazy...:-) :-)

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Mac OS 10: not just a new OS, but a new concept!

[spicyjeff]

Well, i looked into the fact that people with imac are reporting that they cannot control click on the monitor resolution control strip and get the entire resolution list. It looks like because of the fact that the iMac uses built in video this feature is somehow disable/unavailable. It is probably done for a reason, maybe because of the hardware used and heating concerns...

[mactropolis]

Its possibly that Apple does not want iMac users to change the Hz because of hardware concerns, but i know its not because of heat. The lower the Hz, the less power it uses, thus the less heat. so techniaclly, it should be possible. i just don't know how.

Update: i did install 9.0.4 and it does indeed not work with 9.0.4. I also tried to install 9.0, but the installer complained that 9.0 wasn't supported, so i wasn't able to check it. it appears the earlest Summer 2000 imac's support is 9.0.4. If i want, i can use TomeViewer, and go searching arround the 9.0 cd-rom for the older control strip module. does anything think this will help? is it simply the 9.0.4/9.1 version of the modeule that doesn't all acesss?

any thing suggestions?

thanks

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Mac OS 10: not just a new OS, but a new concept!

[[email protected]]

If I remember right, iMovie requires 800x600 to run. Are you not able to run iMovie on your machine? [email protected]

[mactropolis]

yes, i am able to run iMovie on my Mac -- and it works fine.

I'm not actually having any problems with my display at all, it works perfect. I just would like to try and get it down to 640x480x67Hz @ 8 bit color-- mostly for curiousity's sake.

any ideas?

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Mac OS 10: not just a new OS, but a new concept!

[ginoledesma]

Remember, however, that both the video card and monitor must support a certain resolution/refresh rate before it can be used. Perhaps Apple disabled that feature for... well... some concerns (simplicity?!?).

I'll try to look for some software that allows for changing of resolutions/refresh rates.

[spicyjeff]

Yes, for whatever reason it seems to be disabled on iMacs to change the resultion other than the choices provided. There can be many reasons, for simplicity, for hardware concerns, etc. But whatever the reason, it seems to be a dead end until we find where the limit was placed: in the software, in the ROM, in the video circuitry?

[mactropolis]

its a software related issue, i'm certain of that. its not hardware or ROM related.

OK, i'll speak:
the real reason i wanted to get my Mac resolution down to 640x480x67Hz @ 8 bit color is so I can adjust where the screen image is.

You see, in XFree86 3.3.3.3 (in Linux off course), I can set it to 640x480x8 bit color, and i later found out it was using 67Hz. The problem is that the whole screen image itself was not centered and actually the right screen margin was 2X the size of the left. And being a [proud] Mac perfectionist freak like myself, i wanted the screen image to be complety centered.

So after conducting some experiements, i saw that if I had set the mac to the same as Linux, Linux would keep the new setting. So my rational is that if I get my iMac's resolution to 640x480x8bit color @ 67Hz, i could then _easily_ adjust where the screen picture is using the Monitors control pannel (OS 9.1), and then XFree86 will work how I want it.

Basicaly, i just got FED UP of trying to configure XFree86, and i though this would be an easiler route, but apparently this route is impossible... :-(

another question I have is what exactly is 8bit color?? i know:
16=thousands of colors
24/32=millions of colors
so does 8bit color= 16 colors? 8 colors? X colors???

so why do i want Linux at 640x480x8 bit color? well I haven't gotten XF86 3.3.3.1accellerated yet (using FrameBuffer), so its slow (s ... l ... o ...w!) & unusable @ anything but 640x480x8bit. Why don't I just upgrade to XFree86 4.X which has excellant Rage 128 Pro support?? I will it time; using 3.3.3.3 means alot to me for several reasons...


so anyone have any other ideas I could try? please help:-)

thanks
mactropolis
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Mac OS 10: not just a new OS, but a new concept!

[This message has been edited by mactropolis (edited 02-16-2001).]

[zac4mac]

8 bit = 2^8(2 to the 8th power)=256

I have seen several shareware monitor controls, try versiontracker.

[the siren]

check out switchres at http://www.versiontracker.com. Careful though, you could fry your tube. The reason that you can't access those other resolutions is because they could fry your whole machine, and in the process effectivly void your warrenty.