interlace modes support for intel driver

[Beat Kneubuehl]

Hi

I own a Philips  37PF9731 TV, with HDMI input, which can do 1080i or
720p HDTV modes.
When i connect this TV to the HDMI output from my GA-G33M-S2H Gigabyte
mainboard, i don't get a picture on the TV, because he prefers 1080i
mode in his EDID information.
He does not even include the 720p mode in the EDID information, here is
the output from Xorg0.log:
-------------------------------------------------------------
(II) intel(0): EDID for output TMDS-1
(II) intel(0): Manufacturer: PHL  Model: 0  Serial#: 16843009
(II) intel(0): Year: 1990  Week: 0
(II) intel(0): EDID Version: 1.3
(II) intel(0): Digital Display Input
(II) intel(0): Max H-Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 64  vert.: 36
(II) intel(0): Gamma: 2.20
(II) intel(0): No DPMS capabilities specified; RGB/Color Display
(II) intel(0): First detailed timing is preferred mode
(II) intel(0): redX: 0.640 redY: 0.330   greenX: 0.290 greenY: 0.600
(II) intel(0): blueX: 0.150 blueY: 0.060   whiteX: 0.289 whiteY: 0.299
(II) intel(0): Supported VESA Video Modes:
(II) intel(0): 640x480 at 60Hz
(II) intel(0): 800x600 at 60Hz
(II) intel(0): 1024x768 at 60Hz
(II) intel(0): Manufacturer's mask: 0
(II) intel(0): Supported additional Video Mode:
(II) intel(0): clock: 74.2 MHz   Image Size:  640 x 360 mm
(II) intel(0): h_active: 1920  h_sync: 2448  h_sync_end 2492 h_blank_end
2640 h_border: 0
(II) intel(0): v_active: 540  v_sync: 542  v_sync_end 547 v_blanking:
562 v_border: 0
(II) intel(0): Supported additional Video Mode:
(II) intel(0): clock: 65.0 MHz   Image Size:  400 x 300 mm
(II) intel(0): h_active: 1024  h_sync: 1048  h_sync_end 1184 h_blank_end
1344 h_border: 0
(II) intel(0): v_active: 768  v_sync: 771  v_sync_end 777 v_blanking:
806 v_border: 0
(II) intel(0): Monitor name: Philips FTV
(II) intel(0): Ranges: V min: 48  V max: 62 Hz, H min: 15  H max: 50
kHz, PixClock max 90 MHz
(II) intel(0): Number of EDID sections to follow: 1
(II) intel(0): EDID (in hex):
(II) intel(0):  00ffffffffffff00410c000001010101
(II) intel(0):  00000103804024780ae692a3544a9926
(II) intel(0):  0f4a4c21080001010101010101010101
(II) intel(0):  010101010101011d80d0721c1620102c
(II) intel(0):  258080682100009e6419004041002630
(II) intel(0):  18883600902c11000018000000fc0050
(II) intel(0):  68696c697073204654560a20000000fd
(II) intel(0):  00303e0f3209000a202020202020019d
(II) intel(0): Using EDID range info for horizontal sync
(II) intel(0): Using EDID range info for vertical refresh
(II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
(II) intel(0): Modeline "800x600"   40.00  800 840 968 1056  600 601 605
628 +hsync +vsync
(II) intel(0): Modeline "640x480"   25.20  640 656 752 800  480 490 492
525 -hsync -vsync
(II) intel(0): Modeline "1024x768"   65.00  1024 1048 1184 1344  768 771
777 806 -hsync -vsync
(II) intel(0): Modeline "1920x540"   74.25  1920 2448 2492 2640  540 542
547 562 interlace +hsync +vsync
(II) intel(0): Modeline "1024x768"   65.00  1024 1048 1184 1344  768 771
777 806 -hsync -vsync
(II) intel(0): EDID vendor "PHL", prod id 0
-------------------------------------------------------------

So i added the following modeline for 720p, which gives me a pretty good
HDTV quality:
Modeline   "1280x720"     74.25   1280 1388 1468 1648    720  725  730 
750 -hsync -vsync

But almost all German HDTV channels are broadcasting in 1080i mode and
thus almost all my DVB-C recordings are in 1080i mode, and it might be
better to connect in 1080i mode to the TV and let the TV do all the
nasty deinterlacing work!

According to the README from the 2.2.0 Intel driver, interlace modes are
currently not supported by the Linux Intel driver.

I know that the hardware (G33) is perfectly able to do 1080i with my TV,
because it works with the Windows driver, thus i'd like to know if there
are any plans to support interlace modes with the Intel driver?
My programming skills are not good enough to send you a patch, how can i
help you otherwise in implementing?

I think it might be a valuable feature to support interlace modes,
because lot's of TV screens are floating around which are not 1080p
capable,  and even when they support 1080p, it might be easier to let
the TV screen to the deinterlacing work and send him a 1080i signal.

A lot of HTPC mainboards are using Intel onboard graphic chips and might
be also very thankfully.

Regards,

Beat