MOTUnation.com

Yesterday I upgraed my Mac Intel machine to Snow Leopard. When it rebooted after the load, one of my 2-Samsung SyncMaster 213T flat panel LCD monitors ceased to work in DVI mode. I tested it on other machines but it only works in VGA mode now. Of course the Mac Pro video card doesn't have a VGA output (besides I'm spoiled with DVI).

I spent the day today at three major retailers trying to sort out which 40" flatscreen LED flatpanel to buy. I bought a Samsung 5550 series, hooked it up with a DVI to HDMI adapter and tested it out. In preferences, the Mac shows 1080p among the other resolutions. Great, but the screen has an 1 1/4" black border around it. If I check 'overscan', it pushes the borders off the edge of the screen so I can't reach the dock or bar across the top of the screen. all the other resolutions are unsuitable because everything is rendered too big.

After trying every possible combination of flatpanel and Mac settings I took the Mac into the house and connected it to our 47" VISIO flatscreen TV. It worked perfectly.
I went online and searched for ATI Radeon 2600 HD XT updated drivers and couldn't find any at all. Only old drivers, and none for that specific video card.

Exhasperated, I returned the Samsung and switched to a Sony Bravia EX 621/40 LCD flatpanel. I thought that since the Visio worked fine that it might be inherent with Samsing TV's. However, the Sony is giving me the same problems.
Anyone have any ideas about how I might resolve this? I'm at my wit's end.

I figured it out.
Set the display to 'full pixel' and the Mac to 1080P with overscan checked. Fills the screen completely with a small enough rendering to yield a lot of net screen real estate.

Thanks for the info... resolutions are always nice to know about, and you may have saved a fellow MOTUnian a lot of time.

MOTUnian... hmmm.

This appears to work with any flat panel tv as long as it has a "full pixel" mode. I ended up with the Samsung 5550 series (about $850.00 tax included from Sam's Club). Different manufacturers use different terminology (Just Scan or Screen Fit to name a few) which amounts to the same thing- it matches pixel for pixel from the video source to the screen.
My Mac Pro Intel machine lists (among others) 1080p as the resolution, my MDD G4 Mac (with Lepopard OS) lists 1920 x 1080 as the resolution. Both Macs must have overscan checked for the image to fully fit the screen with no blacked out borders. This leaves the 'upscaling' to the video card (source) and not the TV.
I haven't run any of the available video tests, and don't really feel the need. For this application the picture is just fine. I did tone down the picture by selecting 'Movie' mode from the picture selection list. This has a much more natural color rendition and is a less intense setting (so you don't need wear welding goggles to prevent retina burn out).
Just remember that you'll need an HDMI x DVI adapter. They are available online for under $10.00. Because of time constraints, I had to buy a "Monster Cable' brand at a local Radio Shack for $30.00. I don't know if the quality of the adapter makes any difference or not (seriously doubt it).
Also, I'm still using my one surviving Samsung 21" display. It's nice to have for a but of extra screen real estate to park lesser used windows.
I have long wanted to upgrade to a larger display but hesitated because of the lack of authoratative information available. Just thought I'd pass on my experiences to other 'nationers'.
Once you are set up with a large display such as the 40" LED that I bought, you'll not believe the difference and will never want to go back to a smaller display- fantastic!