Digital Signage Portal

I've got a player that outputs (via dsub) resolution at most widescreen ratios ie. 1280x720, 1360x768, etc.

My issue is with most, if not all, LCD TVs nowadays their tech sheets don't support most widescreen ratios, with a lot of them displaying only 1360x768.

What will happen if the designers create their templates for 1280x720?
Will the TV crop it, show scroll bars, flicker?

Or should I be asking how does the compatibility work between player output and TV input?

(Forgive my lack of technical knowledge)

If your ratio between the content and the screen is the same (16:9) then it will fit the screen (depending on the CMS solution you use).

It is better to have higher res in content than screen in your case as reverse will stretch the content and get quality loss.

1366x768 is the number of pixels on your display. Using TV instead of real monitor creates sometimes issues within compatibility between the PC graphic driver and the screen resolution selection. In that case, you have to select and lock manually the input selection and then play with available resolution of the graphic card (ex. put the screen on 1366x768 in DVI but the PC will be set as 1280x720)

I would have thought that if the LCD screen did not support 1280x720 it would either display a black screen or a flickering screen.

well, all depending the software used.

Excellent discussion guys. Maybe more registered members are able to share their thoughts on this topic.

thanks for the replies guys.

Claudio, so you're saying to always calibrate the player with each screen it is paired up with?

I'm fine with that, as i understand each screen manufacturer is different.

So that means I need to find a common resolution that matches both the digital signage player and all tv screens.
Digital signage player is fine, since it acts like a pc and can output at almost any resolution. But what about the LCD TV? What would be the most common widescreen resolution to work with?
So that the designers don't have to create 5 different templates for different screens.

Generally you can go for 1366x768 or 1280x720 (if you are using DVI input with HD panel) which are used by common of the LCD panels on the market today (Pro & Consummer). Excepted small screen size (under 32") and 4:3 screens, you should be able to have the same content for all the screens.

In reply to jared, from my experience with all the LCD TVs that I have come across, 1360x768 seems to be the common resolution across all screen manufacturers, and then you get the other widescreen ratios at a higher resolution from 1600 and up.
So as a safe bet, I would say design for 1360x768 - assuming that your digital signage player is able to output that ratio (being pc based i'm sure all should), otherwise you may find your image distorting.

Others, feel free to provide your experiences.