Having spent considerable time with the very helpful folks at the AV Science Forum, I was finally successful in getting my new HTPC to play well with my Pioneer 16x9 (1.78:1) HDTV. A lot of people including myself wanted to know what resolutions certain games support, so I decided to create this chart and share what games I have been able to get working using my particular setup. There is also an online thread which discusses this chart.

Can I submit my own info and/or test results?
Yes! In fact, several people already have. But before you submitany info or test data to me, please do the following:

- Try to test the game against all of the resolutions listed below.

- Make note of which ones worked for you and which ones did not. (If not, include "why", such as "my monitor doesn't support this res", or "the game does not natively support this res", or "I currently do not have the proper timings for my particular TV to test this res", etc.)

- Mention whether or not your TV is widescreen (16x9), or not (4x3). If widescreen, was the image stretched horizontally at a particular res, or not?

- If the game required the editing of a particular file in order to use custom resolutions, please include the file name and describe the steps you took to edit it.

- Please be as detailed as possible. Accuracy is key. See the current entries for examples.

This is some pretty cool stuff. How can I get more info on the subject?
I'm glad you asked. Both the Home Theater Computers and Home Theater Gaming sections over at the AV Science Forum are one of the best places to start. That's where I gathered all of my knowledge and information. Everyone over there is incredibly helpful. Another great resource is HTPCnews.com.

And the new Widescreen Gaming Forum is not only dedicated to the subject, but they also have some great custom-made hacks for games that normally don't support custom resolutions!

Anything else I should know?
Yep! You can never tell what resolutions a game supports just by looking at the box. If possible, and if one exists, download and try the game's demo first before you buy it. Screenshots and video clips can be made using FRAPS. Lastly, I highly recommend using TextPad for editing .cfg and .ini files as it is far superior to Microsoft's Notepad.
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As you probably know, the higher the resolution the game runs, the better (i.e. sharper, cleaner) it looks. But, depending on the game, frame rates may suffer and therefore I sometimes have to compromise by running it in a lower resolution. (See RalliSport Challenge and Unreal Tournament 2004 below as examples.) Some people feel that high-definition resolutions are a priority, while others feel that high frames rates are. It's all a matter of personal preference.

I currently run Windows XP Pro at 856x480 and it looks great (here's a screenshot). I recently discovered 856x480 when it was offered as a "wide" choice in Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Now I run Unreal Tournament 2004 in that mode too! Here's why:

A) At 856x480, my HDTV is in 480p (non-interlaced) mode. At 1776x1000, my HDTV is in 1080i (interlaced) mode. Believe it or not, I can often see the annoying interlacing of certain textures and horizontal lines flickering at 1080i.

B) My frame rates in UT2004 max out at 59-60 FPS since VSYNC is enabled. At 856x480, my frame rates would stay at 59-60 FPS with all Details set to HIGHEST. I had to get into a room filled with 30 frag-happy nutballs before rates would start to drop to the 20's. Whereas at 1776x1000 I was getting somewhat choppy performance with all Details set to NORMAL. Frame rates would drop into the 20's and 30's just walking around checking out the scenery in highly-detailed maps with no other players in view.

C) I can easily reduce the aliasing ("jaggies") found in the lower resolution by simply setting my Radeon's Control Panel to "2X" AA and "4X" anisotropic (performance). In this particular game, the difference in detail between 856x480 and 1776x1000 just isn't that noticeable to me. (In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, however, I can see a bigger difference. So I still run Vice City at 1776x1000.)

D) The game menus in UT2004 are far more legible (larger) at 856x480. At 1776x1000, they are quite a bit smaller, but still legible. In other games (like Half-Life), they can be much, much smaller. Sometimes they can be microscopic and unreadable.

[hr]TigerDave's Current Config (full specs and pics here)

- Intel Pentium 2.8CGhz (800FSB)
- 1GB Crucial RAM
- ATI Radeon X800XL Retail
- ATI Catalyst 7.4 with both Direct3D and OpenGL set to 4xAA and 8xAF, VSYNC set to Always On.
- Pioneer SD-643HD 16:9 widescreen rear projection HDTV
- Windows XP (SP-2)
- Microsoft DirectX 9.0c
- Entech Powerstrip 3.74

Nov. 2007 Update - Entire system completely revamped

I originally wrote the above post in 2003 after building my first HTPC and connecting it to my 300-pound Pioneer Rear-Projection HDTV.

It's now November 2007 and boy have things changed and technology improved. First and foremost, in September 2007, the Pioneer RPTV was replaced with a new Sharp 52" LCD TV model LC-52D64U with a native resolution of 1920x1080p. That means no more fighting the display using Entech PowerStrip (which to this day is still an awesome tool) nor being limited to a fixed number of resolutions (3, to be exact). The Sharp will accept just about anything I send to it (within reason).



It has a cool Sanus articulating arm mount that allows you to move the TV away from the wall and swivel it horizontally left or right almost 90 degrees.







In October, I replaced the 4-year old HTPC with a new Shuttle XPC. It weighs less than half (11 vs. 22 pounds) and has the perfect footprint to fit into the new rack. More importantly, it supports PCI-E so I am now able to play (errr "test") new games at higher resolutions.



I still run Windows XP as I have not found a compelling reason to switch to a slower OS like Vista. Although lately, now that DirectX10 games are coming out, I might rethink the idea.

I am currently running Windows XP at my preferred resolution of 1360x768. Most games also run at the same resolution although I am capable of running some games at 1920x1080 with no lag.

I should add that after fighting with several ATI Radeon cards, I have switched over to nVidia and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. 1920x1080 right out of the box. No probs at all.

My current HTPC configuration:

- Case: Shuttle SG33G5B
- Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS PCI-E 256MB
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor
- RAM: G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
- Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
- Optical Drive: NEC ND-3520A DVD-R, DVD+R, IDE
- Windows XP (SP-2)
- nVidia ForceWare Version 163.75

I've also replaced the surround sound speaker system in 2006 with a Polk Audio setup, added a PlayStation 3 in July '07 (my first console purchase since PS1 in 1995), and finally, an Onkyo TX-SR705 HDMI THX Receiver that ties it all together.