On Sat, 28 Nov 2009, Kristopher Browne wrote:

> I'm not sure the name of the setting elsewhere, but when I was running a 
> Mac Mini to my tv there was an option called "Overscan" which fit the 
> description of your symptoms.. If it was on, the edges of the desktop 
> were beyond the bounds of the screen.

Wow -- you totally nailed it.  I had no idea, but apparently this 
"overscan" thing is a perennial annoyance when using HDTVs with computers. 
For my TV, overscan was "on" by default.  I had to set the video out on 
the computer to 1920x1080 and then (only then and not before) go to the 
"advanced video" settings on the TV and set overscan to "off."  It looks 
like I'll only have to do that one time.

Now when I use 1920x1080 it all fits on the HDTV screen and it looks just 
right -- I have achieved the coveted "1:1 pixel mapping."  The only 
problem is that if I restart the computer it comes up with 1680x1050 for 
that monitor every time.  It's as if the /etc/X11/xorg.conf isn't enough 
to convince it to change to 1920x1080.  One of my current guesses is that 
the TV is, for some reason, reporting itself as 1680x1050, maybe because 
it was in that mode earlier.  I don't know.  Another good possibility is 
that the configuration is stored in places other than /etc/X11/xorg.conf 
-- is it?  This is a relatively small problem because I leave the computer 
on most of the time.

In case others have similar problems - My TV is one of the 42" Insignia 
sets from Best Buy and I found this page to be pretty helpful:

http://community.insigniaproducts.com/insignia/board/message?board.id=discussions-televisions-en&message.id=132

Mike