Mythbuntu wins me over...

My original reason for switching MythTV-based distributions was better integrated support of [proprietary & open source] Nvidia drivers (for a Nvidia Geforce FX5200 ) to accomodate larger displays, which in my case is a Sony Wega SXRD 50" television. I was running into a few problems updating driver packages in my Knoppix-Debian fused distribution (Knoppmyth R5C7 & above) so I decided to plunge back into the world of MythTV-based distributions and make a choice between the two newer options: Mythdora & Mythbuntu. I've been an avid user of the Knoppmyth distro for the past 2 years, but I'm certain I'll be utilizing Mythbuntu as long as it's maintained. Read on for some quick info detailing my trip through the mud of setup...

Filling that Screen:

Yeah, I was hoping for an auto-detect of my new Sony SXRD HDTV, but that didn't happen with the VGA cable or the DVI-to-HDMI cable I purchased from Newegg.com. Instead, the final solution involved configuring X with the Nvidia proprietary driver (after adding a "magical," modeline to permit a non-default resolution accommodating my circumstantial need for underscan). I appended the following two lines to my xorg.conf's  

    ModeLine       "1216x684@60" 74.5 1216 1272 1400 1664 684 685 688 746 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine       "1280x720@60" 74.5 1280 1336 1472 1664 720 721 724 746 -hsync +vsync

However, this still permitted X to start with a 1280x720 resolution (which was, for some reason, out of my viewing range). When I decided to let the nvidia-settings panel write my xorg.conf, it added to following line to the "Screen" section:

    Option         "metamodes" "1216x684_60 +0+0; 800x600@60 +0+0"

This permitted my screen & resolution settings to stick after reboots. You'll find my entire xorg.conf file below, though I'd recommend using nvidia-settings to auto-generate one of your own (after you've tweaked your settings).

 

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder3)  Wed Sep 12 14:30:30 PDT 2007

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "SONY TV"
    HorizSync       15.0 - 70.0
    VertRefresh     58.0 - 62.0
    ModeLine       "1216x684@60" 74.5 1216 1272 1400 1664 684 685 688 746 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine       "1280x720@60" 74.5 1280 1336 1472 1664 720 721 724 746 -hsync +vsync
    ModeLine       "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce FX 5200"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce FX 5200"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "1216x684_60 +0+0; 800x600@60 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection