LCD and Hz

If I turn on my PC and look at the BIOS (before the operating system
and graphics card driver get a chance to load), the screen looks
blurry. If I press the menu button on my LCD monitor, the resolution
and refresh rate is displayed, and it says: 720x400/70Hz.

Why does this not default to "better values" such as 800x600/60Hz?
Can I change these values? (I've looked through the monitor's menu
options, and couldn't see anything useful that I could understand.)
Are these values used because of the graphics card, or the monitor, or
perhaps both?

Graphics card = Matrox G450 DVI, connected to 15-pin dsub cable using
a DVI to DSUB converter cable. Monitor = Sony LCD.

(I've tried not using the converter cable and just used a DVI cable,
but I get a really odd "squashed screen" appearance, with large top
and bottom letterbox black borders, and everything in the middle all
scrunched-up looking.)

Thanks very much for any comments.
Best regards, Robert.

On or about Tue, 20 May 2008 10:26:36 -0700 (PDT) did rpgs rock dvds
<rpgsrockdvds@hotmail.co.uk> dribble thusly:

>If I turn on my PC and look at the BIOS (before the operating system
>and graphics card driver get a chance to load), the screen looks
>blurry. If I press the menu button on my LCD monitor, the resolution
>and refresh rate is displayed, and it says: 720x400/70Hz.

It's showing text mode, and it looks blurry because the picture is scaled from
the native resolution.

>Why does this not default to "better values" such as 800x600/60Hz?
>Can I change these values? (I've looked through the monitor's menu
>options, and couldn't see anything useful that I could understand.)
>Are these values used because of the graphics card, or the monitor, or
>perhaps both?

The monitor should be telling the graphics card what modes it's capable of
displaying, and the graphics card should then be creating a compatible signal
from what's in its frame buffer. In your case, the monitor is able to display
the text-mode resolution generated by the BIOS, so the card sends it on in.

In my case, my monitor only displays 1280x800@60Hz or 2560x1600@60Hz, so the
BIOS text-mode display is scaled automatically by the graphics card.
--
- Mike

Ignore the Python in me to send e-mail.

On 21 May, 16:02, Mike Ruskai <BUTthann...@DONTearthlinkLIKE.netSPAM>
wrote:
> On or about Tue, 20 May 2008 10:26:36 -0700 (PDT) did rpgs rock dvds
> <rpgsrockd...@hotmail.co.uk> dribble thusly:
>
> >If I turn on my PC and look at the BIOS (before the operating system
> >and graphics card driver get a chance to load), the screen looks
> >blurry. *If I press the menu button on my LCD monitor, the resolution
> >and refresh rate is displayed, and it says: 720x400/70Hz.
>
> It's showing text mode, and it looks blurry because the picture is scaled from
> the native resolution.
>
> >Why does this not default to "better values" such as 800x600/60Hz?
> >Can I change these values? *(I've looked through the monitor's menu
> >options, and couldn't see anything useful that I could understand.)
> >Are these values used because of the graphics card, or the monitor, or
> >perhaps both?
>
> The monitor should be telling the graphics card what modes it's capable of
> displaying, and the graphics card should then be creating a compatible signal
> from what's in its frame buffer. *In your case, the monitor is able to display
> the text-mode resolution generated by the BIOS, so the card sends it on in.. *
>
> In my case, my monitor only displays 1280x800@60Hz or 2560x1600@60Hz, so the
> BIOS text-mode display is scaled automatically by the graphics card.
> --
> *- Mike
>
> Ignore the Python in me to send e-mail.

Thanks a lot for the info.

Is it ok for an lcd display to be in a higher rate than 60hz?
Sometimes I notice mine is either in 70 or 75.

Thanks, regards, Robert.

On or about Thu, 22 May 2008 13:04:41 -0700 (PDT) did rpgs rock dvds
<rpgsrockdvds@hotmail.co.uk> dribble thusly:

>On 21 May, 16:02, Mike Ruskai <BUTthann...@DONTearthlinkLIKE.netSPAM>
>wrote:
>> On or about Tue, 20 May 2008 10:26:36 -0700 (PDT) did rpgs rock dvds
>> <rpgsrockd...@hotmail.co.uk> dribble thusly:
>>
>> >If I turn on my PC and look at the BIOS (before the operating system
>> >and graphics card driver get a chance to load), the screen looks
>> >blurry. *If I press the menu button on my LCD monitor, the resolution
>> >and refresh rate is displayed, and it says: 720x400/70Hz.
[snip]
>
>Is it ok for an lcd display to be in a higher rate than 60hz?
>Sometimes I notice mine is either in 70 or 75.

It depends entirely on the display. Some (like mine), want only 60Hz. Some
will handle 60-75Hz. I'm not away of any that go higher.

With an LCD, in general, sticking to 60Hz is best. There's no flicker as with
CRT monitors, so there's little reason to go higher. One exception is with
some "overdrive" displays, which delay output significantly (from 20-60ms). It
seems they have less severe lag with a higher refresh rate, which supports the
idea that the cause of the delay is frame buffering for image processing.
--
- Mike

Ignore the Python in me to send e-mail.