Overscan? what is that?

[admin_exported]

During my long readings of What Hifi, I have been greatly confused to hear in reviews of 1080p televisions of a '1:1 pixel mapping' feature which apparently allows for a 1920 by 1080 source to be mapped, pixel for pixel, to the 1920 by 1080 display. Is this not hugely obvious?! What could possibly be an alternative? And what is 'overscan'? Why on earth would a signal be scaled to fit a screen with a perfect match of pixels?

Please could someone clear up this madness, and relieve me of this most vexing and irritating confusion?

 

[Anonymous]

Let the Wiki be your friend...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Halloway, but I'm still confused and I'm not sure if the 'overscan' in the Wiki entry was the same one that I was asking about coz it didn't really clear up the issue in my mind. What was really confusing me was the necessity of a "1:1 direct pixel mapping mode" (or something like that), when surely this is the logical way any television would work?

If anyone could educate me in plain English then it would be met with a most gracious appreciation. Safe blud.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe has something to do with Macrovision copy protection. Doesn't that show a flickering strip above the image but in the signal so that recorders struggle to get their tracking in place to record of an image from a DVD player?