NVIDIA Ion Overscan Rendering & Settings Retention Problems

[Samir Unni]

I'm encountering 2 related issues with overscan on my HTPC (Zotac NVIDIA Ion mobo), which I'm using with a 73" Mitsubishi DLP TV. The machine's running Xubuntu 12.04 x64. My NVIDIA driver version is 295.40-0ubuntu1.

First, overscan settings are not retained across reboots at times (there is no clear pattern for when they're lost). When they're not, the overscan adjustment option is no longer available in the NVIDIA settings app, as can be seen in the following sets of screenshots:

http://i.stack.imgur.com/lXg2s.png (option is available)

http://i.stack.imgur.com/uBIRc.png (option is lost after reboot)

Second, when playing video using VDPAU hardware decoding (in SMPlayer, in my case) with overscan correction applied, after a short (~10 mins) but arbitrary period of time, display output is almost completely lost from the screen, except for a small strip at the top. The size of the strip depends on the amount of overscan correction that has been applied. When no correction is applied, this does not happen at all. When full correction is applied, the output is completely lost. Since my DLP TV's screen is slightly curved, full overscan correction is not applied, meaning that a small strip of display output can be observed at the top.

If I manage to blindly return to the NVIDIA settings app and reduce the overscan, the size of the visible strip will increase, until the whole screen is visible when overscan has been removed entirely. The problem goes away entirely when X is restarted.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: nvidia-current 295.40-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Jun 8 22:02:49 2012
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)