Old TV's edges cut off from a video adapter. Any devices to adjust it?

May 19, 2014 8:26 PM

Is there any kind of adapter to change the size or resolution (not sure exactly what I need) of my RGB-out video feed? I've got an old TV from a roommate who moved awhile ago that only has those RGB-in ports (not sure what they're called either... save me from my ignorance!). I use an HDMI-to-RGB adapter to put stuff on the TV. The quality dip doesn't bother me, but the video comes out so there's just enough of every edge cut off to be annoying. None of the TV's menu options do anything for it. Any proposed solutions (apart from a new TV, for the time being)?
posted by dubadubowbow to Technology (3 answers total)

Best answer: What you're experiencing is called overscan.

Depending on the age of your TV, there might be a secret menu where you can adjust it, or it might even be in the regular menu.

Alternatively, look at your video card settings on your computer; it will probably have overscan compensation options that will shrink the video slightly and put a black border around it.
posted by Hatashran at 9:06 PM on May 19, 2014

Response by poster: Awesome, thanks. I'll get back to fiddling with it now.
posted by dubadubowbow at 9:14 PM on May 19, 2014

Another option might be to disable overscan on the HDMI to RGB converter - many of them also include scalers, and have options like this. Yours will, of course, vary.
posted by jaymzjulian at 2:27 AM on May 20, 2014