Console Text Became Garbled

Discussion about displays and related hardware including MiSTer filters and video settings.
deimos256
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 1:38 pm

Console Text Became Garbled

Unread post by deimos256 »

So last year I built a system with a USB board as well as an analog I/O board to connect to my CRTs, and all has been well until I believe some time this year, and now when I run scripts while connected to a LCD TV via hdmi, all the text in the console is blurry and or garbled looking, whereas it used to be really crisp. Not a huge deal but it does make reading the text a little harder and clearly something changed and I’d like to know how to fix it. I am attaching a photo as well. Has anyone else seen this?

7F873E15-4497-483D-AFBB-531CA7ADF4B4.jpeg
7F873E15-4497-483D-AFBB-531CA7ADF4B4.jpeg (2.97 MiB) Viewed 823 times
deimos256
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 1:38 pm

Re: Console Text Became Garbled

Unread post by deimos256 »

I downloaded a default ini file and still get this text, so perhaps there is a setting elsewhere that I need to check?
FoxbatStargazer
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Re: Console Text Became Garbled

Unread post by FoxbatStargazer »

Do you have a video_mode set that matches your monitor's native resolution?

Mister recently added EDID detection, so if you don't supply a video_mode, it will negotiate with the monitor to pick. That may not yield best results all the time, especially with say 1440p monitors it will probably default to 1080p output. (Since the reported supported resolution will be 2560x1440 not the Mister's 1920x1440.)

Resolution information has been added to the HUD now, so while in the menu core, press home and push left. You can verify whether the lower of the two numbers (hdmi/scaler output) is appropriate resolution for your monitor.
deimos256
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 1:38 pm

Re: Console Text Became Garbled

Unread post by deimos256 »

This display is just an average run of the mill LCD TV which is capable of 1080p, I just tried 720p, same result, 1080p, same result, AND my TV is still in 720p. 99% of the time I use the VGA port with a CRT, I only pull out this TV to run the update_all script, since I cannot get it to play nice with a CRT, but that's a whole other conversation.
deimos256
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 1:38 pm

Re: Console Text Became Garbled

Unread post by deimos256 »

It must be the TV that is being a PITA, because when I hook it up to my living room TV the text looks fine.
deimos256
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Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 1:38 pm

Re: Console Text Became Garbled

Unread post by deimos256 »

Ok so it looks ok on a 4K screen, but testing with another 1080p TV the garbled text is back. On the resolution portion of the OSD it says-
529x240 15.68khz 59.8Hz
1920x1080 148.50MHz 60.0 Hz

I’m guessing the top number is my analog output and the bottom is the digital output?
FoxbatStargazer
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Re: Console Text Became Garbled

Unread post by FoxbatStargazer »

Yes, bottom number is the current scaler output.

This is extra weird because the 4K TV was likely also receiving a 1080p signal. If that had text looking finde then it's the TV that is suspect.

Should note that some of the old, earlier rounds of HD TVs could have weird resolutions. Had a projection LCD with a 768p panel that would downscale from 1080i or upscale from 720p, so it was hard to ever have it look sharp. You might want to confirm your TV panel's true resolution if you can, it may not be directly related to what resolutions it can accept.

Another potential problem would be a 1080p TV doing any kind of scaling, like maybe zooming in to compensate for overscan. Be sure it's set to "just scan" or the largest screen size setting or 0 overscan or something, every TV manufacturer seems to enjoy labeling it differently.
deimos256
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 1:38 pm

Re: Console Text Became Garbled

Unread post by deimos256 »

What's odd is I've been using that TV in my screenshot since I first built my MiSTer and I never had this odd issue with text in the terminal until sometime this year. It also seems to only be an issue with terminal text, as all the cores seem fine. I know at some point we got all the updated shaders etc and I think this started around that time.
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