How to set screen dimensions in windows? (NOT resolution)

[CHollman82]

I am trying to use my HDTV Monitor as my computer monitor but the overscan is so bad I cant see the taskbar or the top of windows that are maximized. I'm losing a good inch on all sides. My TV is a 30" Phillips widescreen HDTV and it is connected to my computer via a DVI to HDMI cable connected to my Radeon 9800pro. I found that 1280x720 is the best resolution (highest text-readable res) and doesn't cut off as much as others but I still lose almost all of my taskbar and half the start button off the left side. I've tried using powerstrip to modify the geometry of the TV screen but my TV is not very cooperative and tends to go black and have to be reset whenever I make any changes. I was wondering if, instead of modifying the way the tv displays things, it would be possible to simply tell windows that I don't want things to extend all the way to the edges of the screen. I've tried a few different windows shell replacements that are supposed to be completely customizable (such as aston and blackbox) but they both still have taskbars that can't be moved away from the edges of the screen. Does anyone know of any program that would let me set something like virtual edges of the screen that windows won't draw past?

 

[Komataguri]

I am trying to use my HDTV Monitor as my computer monitor but the overscan is so bad I cant see the taskbar or the top of windows that are maximized. I'm losing a good inch on all sides. My TV is a 30" Phillips widescreen HDTV and it is connected to my computer via a DVI to HDMI cable connected to my Radeon 9800pro. I found that 1280x720 is the best resolution (highest text-readable res) and doesn't cut off as much as others but I still lose almost all of my taskbar and half the start button off the left side. I've tried using powerstrip to modify the geometry of the TV screen but my TV is not very cooperative and tends to go black and have to be reset whenever I make any changes. I was wondering if, instead of modifying the way the tv displays things, it would be possible to simply tell windows that I don't want things to extend all the way to the edges of the screen. I've tried a few different windows shell replacements that are supposed to be completely customizable (such as aston and blackbox) but they both still have taskbars that can't be moved away from the edges of the screen. Does anyone know of any program that would let me set something like virtual edges of the screen that windows won't draw past?

I don't know if the vanilla Catalysts have them.

But the Omega drivers have an option under Display Settings > Settings > Advanced > Displays > Your TV here

That allows you to shrink and stretch the image to make it fit fully on your monitor. Had to do the same adjustments when I started outputting to my 27" SDTV

 

[ameoba]

What resolution is the display supposed to be capable of? I've a lot of HDTVs are only physically capable of 720p (1280x720) resolutions and then downsample everything to that. If this is the case you probably want to either drop the resolution to this point or bump the resoultion up to the next HDTV standard resolution (1080i which is 1920x1080 interlaced).

Since you're at 1280x720 and are losing parts of the screen, that means (unless your adapter is wacky) your TV isn't properly adjusted.

edit : configuring TV displays is a little different than configuring a digital display - with analog, it's pretty easy to shift the display sync around a bit but you don't really have that sort of flexibility with a digitally-driven display.