HTPC - video issues

[Craig-Rogers]

desktop: No matter what resolution I set my video card to, I have cut off on all sides of my desktop. It makes things as large pain in the butt, as the edge of windows are off screen, making them hard to move/open/close etc. The menu bar at the bottom of the screen is cut in half, with the bottom half not accessible, etc. The Nvidia driver package has a utility which allows you to resize your desktop. It has no effect. When you select "resize desktop" an image comes up on the screen with large arrows pinpointing each corner, and white borders all around. You can resize this to fit within your screen. Regardless of how I set this, it doesn't take effect on my desktop. I can resize to an obsurdly small size, and apply, and my desktop doesn't change at all.

standard def dvd: image isn't sharp or clear, very bad aliasing is evident. It just looks overall like poop. This was playing back the just release Lowry Digital restored version of 'Die Another Day'. Image quality on that disc is superb, so the issue is NOT the disc.

blu-ray dvd: image is not sharp, noisey image, stuttery playback, aliasing on sharp edges. Overall image quality is just as bad as standard def dvd. It just doesn't alias as much. Image is not centered on screen. A 2.35:1 image rests at the bottom of the screen, leaving all the empty space on my 16:9 tv at the top, rather than evenly split top and bottom.

Let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks again.