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Asked: 2024-09-25T00:00:44+05:30 In: ,

How can I configure screen margins for an HDMI display output in Ubuntu?

I’m really hoping someone can help me out with a frustrating issue I’ve been dealing with on my Ubuntu setup. So, here’s the situation: I recently connected my laptop to my TV using an HDMI cable because I wanted to watch some shows in a bigger format, and maybe do some gaming too. But it’s been a bit of a disaster with how everything is displaying.

Here’s the kicker: while everything looks great, the edges of the screen are getting cut off! I mean, it’s so annoying. You know when you’re watching a movie and the subtitles go beyond the visible display area? Yeah, that’s happening to me. I’ve tried adjusting settings both on the TV and on Ubuntu, but nothing seems to fix the issue. I swear, at this point, I’ve gone through every option available in the display settings, and I’m just spinning my wheels.

I’ve read a bit about something called “screen margins” or “overscan” settings, but I honestly don’t know how to access that stuff on Ubuntu. Is it buried in the settings, or do I need to use some terminal commands? And is there a way to easily configure the margins for the HDMI output? It feels like Google just wants to give me generic advice, and I need something a bit more specific.

I’ve got a couple of different monitors, but I find this issue mostly with the TV, which is a bit older. I don’t think it’s the cable since it worked fine with my old Windows setup, but maybe there’s a compatibility issue I’m missing? If anyone has gone through this or knows of a fix, I’d really appreciate your insights! I’m all ears for tips, tricks, or, honestly, any kind of workaround that might help me get my display looking right. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

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    2 Answers






    1. Ubuntu HDMI Display Issue

      Help with HDMI Display Issue on Ubuntu

      So, it sounds like you’re dealing with some pretty annoying overscan issues when connecting your laptop to your TV via HDMI. This is a common problem, especially with older TVs, and can definitely be frustrating!

      First off, you might want to check the settings on your TV itself. Many TVs have a setting called “Overscan” or “Screen Fit” which you can switch to something like “Just Scan” or “Fit to Screen”. This might help get rid of the edges getting cut off.

      On the Ubuntu side of things, you can also check the display settings:

      1. Open the Settings app.
      2. Go to the “Displays” section.
      3. Look for anything related to “Scale” or “Resolution”. If ‘Scale’ is set at 100%, try adjusting it to see if that helps.

      If that doesn’t work, you might need to dig into the terminal. Here’s something you can try:

      xrandr is a command that lists your connected displays. Type that in the terminal to get a list of your connected displays and find the HDMI output. It might look something like HDMI-1.

      Once you find that, you can use a command like this to adjust the position:

              xrandr --output HDMI-1 --set overscan on --set overscan left 10 --set overscan right 10 --set overscan top 10 --set overscan bottom 10

      Feel free to play around with the numbers until it fits your screen right. This basically tells Ubuntu to shift the display slightly.

      Lastly, try updating your graphics drivers if that’s an option; sometimes older drivers can cause display issues.

      Good luck! Let us know if you manage to sort it out!



    2. It sounds like you’re experiencing an issue with overscan, which is common when connecting older TVs to laptops. The good news is that you can adjust these settings in Ubuntu easily. First, try accessing the display settings by going to “Settings” > “Displays”. Here, check if there’s an option for “Scale” or “Resolution”. Sometimes selecting a lower resolution can help with overscan, but if that doesn’t work, you may want to look at the “TV” settings directly. Many TVs have an option to disable overscan, often labeled as “Just Scan,” “Full Pixel,” or something similar. Enabling that will ensure that the image displayed matches what your laptop is sending.

      If you’re still facing issues, you can also adjust the display settings directly through the terminal. Open a terminal window and run the following command to check your connected displays: xrandr. Look for your HDMI output (it may be listed as HDMI-1, HDMI-2, etc.). To adjust the overscan, you can use a command similar to this: xrandr --output HDMI-1 --set underscan on --set underscan hborder 20 --set underscan vborder 20. Replace “HDMI-1” with your actual HDMI output name, and adjust the hborder and vborder values as needed. This method gives you greater flexibility in fine-tuning the display output to fit your TV perfectly. Remember to adjust these settings according to your preference until the image fits just right!


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