My new HTPC - Or Not?!? (Help with different resolution mirroring Bay Trail)

okashira

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 7, 2005
Messages
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Hi all,

I had an idea - that the ideal HTPC would be a tablet with HDMI connected and high speed wireless streaming from a NAS. The need for "remote" would be eliminated as you have the fully functional screen - right in front of you - with touch.

Then Bay Trail came out, I got excited, and purchased a Toshiba Encore WT8 tablet for $270 after tax.

The screen is 1280 x 800, not ideal, but I tried someone's macbook pro at 1280x800 and works great as a HTPC with mirroring XBMC in 1080p.

So I figured it would be a minor inconvenience.

Apparently not. No matter what I try, I can not get this damn thing to mirror with 1080p on the TV. The only thing that works is Ultramon, but that only works on the desktop, wont work with XBMC and is horrible and useless with refresh rates. It's not a solution.

With the standard intel drivers, only extended desktop will work. Mirroring will simply not enable. I can get it to mirror 1280x800 in a small window on the TV - but obviously this is not acceptable.

After much googling, I discovered a method for netbook owners to get higher then native resolutions to work on their ~1024x600 screens. They simply enable a registy key that allows "resolution down scaling" allowing to display 1280x800 on a lower res screen. Perfect. This is what I need, and this is what my GF's macbook does AUTOMATICALLY.

But it just doesn't work. I enabled all of the reg keys, and the new higher resolutions do not appear.

I have also tried to create a custom monitor INF file, where I specified the ideal and max resolution for the internal display as 1080p; no dice. I simply can't select higher then 1280x800 in the display settings.

I tried adding custom unsupported resolutions via the intel tool in windows/system32. No dice. They add, but can't select them.

Anyone have a clue, or do I need a 1080p tablet? :-(
 
Last edited:
Why not use widi to send the signal to the TV?

Truthfully, I think your HTPC solution is not much of an HTPC. Using the tablet the way you propose just ties up the tablet and limits your options. IMHO, you'd be better off getting a WD LIVE or Roku to stream files assuming your media is not on your tablet.
 
Why not use widi to send the signal to the TV?
Are you kidding ? This is going to be used in an actual home threature, not to show off baby pics at a friend's house
Truthfully, I think your HTPC solution is not much of an HTPC. Using the tablet the way you propose just ties up the tablet and limits your options. IMHO, you'd be better off getting a WD LIVE or Roku to stream files assuming your media is not on your tablet.
So a full windows 8.1 computer with HDMI w/ bit streaming audio and USB support is not an much of an HTPC? Care to explain ?
And what do you mean "tie up the tablet," it's not like it's a rare natural resource... :-P
 
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