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Revision as of 20:03, 14 August 2008


Enhanced HDTV Support

Summary

The X server in Fedora 10 has been enhanced to support HDTVs better.

Owner

Current status

  • Targeted release: Fedora 10
  • Last updated: 2008-08-14
  • Percentage of completion: 30%

Detailed Description

HDTV displays often include additional EDID data that describes their preferred video timings for non-native resolutions. For example, a 1080p display might list only the native timing in the base EDID block, and leave the 720p or 480p modes for the extended block. It is important to use the device's preferred timings, since they are padded to allow room in the signal for HDMI audio.

Benefit to Fedora

  • Using the display's timing will allow HDMI audio to work without fiddling.
  • Allowing the display to scale video will take the scaling load off the CPU, saving power and thus the planet.

Scope

The first part is the act of fetching EDID blocks beyond the first from the monitor. This is mostly accomplished in upstream X server, and is a straightforward backport. The second part is parsing the additional data, which is also straightforward but not written yet. Should be a weekend hack if we're lucky.

Drivers using the RANDR 1.2 infrastructure for setup should be able to pick up this enhancement mostly for free, since the EDID fetch code is called from within the RANDR core itself. Legacy setup drivers would need to be patched to use this additional information, but those drivers are relatively rare for modern hardware, and can be done last and as a best-effort.

Test Plan

The test matrix is basically a 2 by 2 square: RANDRful and legacy drivers, against monitors with simple and extended EDID.

RANDRful drivers include intel, radeon, and nv when running on GeForce 8 and newer. Legacy drivers is everything else.

Known extended EDID monitors that I have easily accessible include:

  • Sharp PN-G655 (industrial signage)
  • Westinghouse 42W2 (consumer TV)
  • Apple 23" Cinema Display (single-link DVI PC display)
  • Apple 30" Cinema Display (dual-link DVI PC display)

This gives pretty broad coverage across a range of display types. Simple EDID monitors are still the vast majority, so will be easy to find.

User Experience

More "Just Works" for HTPC users, and for presentation screens that use large-format LCDs instead of projectors.

Dependencies

Pretty self-contained to the X server and a handful of drivers. Should be zero-impact for the normal case.

Contingency Plan

If it doesn't work, back it out. It's all backport.

Documentation

There should be some, yeah.

Release Notes

None needed, hopefully, although a reminder about gnome-display-properties being super awesome now is probably a good idea.

Comments and Discussion