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tutor Index
Alliance Director's Chair 95 Help Index

For explanations of the various features of Alliance Director's Chair 95, please click on the topic tittles listed below.

Alliance Director's Chair 95 Tab

Alliance Gamma Correction Utility

Monitor Control Button

Performance Button

TV Features Tab

For further information, please read your graphics board manufacturer's manual.


Alliance Director's Chair 95 Tab

The Alliance Director's Chair 95 tab displays important information on the configuration of your graphics board, such has graphics board driver version, video BIOS version, etc. In this help file, the company name, Alliance, in quotes is used in the following headings, such as "Alliance" Driver Information. The company name in the headings can be different from "Alliance" depending on your graphics board manufacturer.  However, the types of information displayed will be the same.   The Alliance Director's Chair 95 tab also contains the Monitor Control,  Performance, and About buttons.

The Alliance Director's Chair 95 tab offers the following information:

"Alliance" Driver Information

Driver Version	Displays driver version
Colors	Current color depth setting
Current Resolution	Current Windows Desktop resolution
Director's Chair Version	Displays Director's Chair version
Refresh Rate Set To	Current refresh rate setting

"Alliance" Card Information

Memory Size	Amount of video memory on the graphics board
BIOS Version	Video BIOS version
Manufacturer	This is the company that manufactures your graphics board, and the company that you should contact for product support.

"Alliance" Features

Desktop Gamma	If "Enabled" is displayed, the Alliance Gamma utility tab is available.  If "Disabled" is displayed, the Alliance Gamma utility is available on the System Tray on the Windows Taskbar.
Video Gamma	Same as above

"Alliance" TV Features

VGA Monitor	Displays computer monitor connection status
TV Monitor	Displays TV monitor connection status
Display property page	This will display "On" if a TV is connected to the graphics board's TV output or "Off" if no TV is connected to the graphics board's TV output.

If the driver is from Alliance, the About button displays the version number of Director's Chair 95.  If the driver is from the graphics card manufacturer, the About button may also display a hot-link to the manufacturer's technical support.


Performance Tab
Performance Button

The Performance button is located in the Alliance Director's Chair 95 tab and has two sections, Options and Monitor Control.  The Options section is for advanced users only and is used in special circumstances.  The Monitor Control section is for all users and is used to set different refresh rates for the computer display.

The Performance button offers the following functions:

Options

Warning:  The following options can adversely affect your computer system's performance and should only be adjusted by advanced users.

Disable PCI retries.

When this option is checked, the graphics board driver will poll a status register on the graphics chip when writing commands to the chip in order to minimize the occurrence of PCI retry cycles on the system bus when the graphics chip is busy.  Excessive PCI retry cycles may cause problems for other system devices, such as sound cards and modems.

Disable Pentium™ Pro/Pentium™ II Write Combine.

When this option is checked,  the frame buffer memory will be set to the Uncachable state as opposed to the Write Combine state, which is a form of display caching.  The Write Combine state may cause display artifacts when using older versions of the graphics board driver.  This option applies only to Pentium Pro and Pentium II systems.

Monitor Control

Current resolution is	Displays current Desktop resolution and refresh rate
For Desktop size	Displays current Desktop resolution
Set refresh rate	Sets Desktop refresh rate

I want to ignore Windows Plug and Play settings at my own risk!

If Windows already lists your monitor or you have a monitor installation disk, Windows will automatically set the highest refresh rate that your monitor supports. If Windows does not lists your monitor or you do not have a monitor installation disk, you should consult your monitor manual and choose a refresh rate that is listed in the manual.

Warning:  Setting a refresh rate that is beyond the range of your computer monitor can cause permanent damage to your monitor.


TV Features Tab

The TV Features tab allows the user to control the graphics board's display on a TV monitor.  If your graphics board has a TV output and a TV is connected to it, the TV Features tab will be available.  If your graphics board does not have a TV output or no TV is connected to it, the TV Features tab will not appear.  To hook up a TV to your graphics board's TV output, connect the TV to either the graphics board's S-video output (DIN type connector) or composite output (RCA type connector) and restart your computer.  If you simply hook up the TV to the graphics board's TV output when your computer is already on, you will not see a TV display.

Note:  When your graphics board is showing both a computer monitor display and a TV display, your computer monitor display may shrink and run at a lower refresh rate; this is normal behavior. To reset the computer monitor's display size and refresh rate, remove the TV connection cable from your graphics board's TV output and restart your computer system.

The TV Features tab offers the following functions:

TV Centering

Left Arrow	Moves TV display left
Up Arrow	Moves TV display up
Right Arrow	Moves TV display right
Down Arrow	Moves TV display down
Center Button	Moves TV display to its default location

Note:  Pressing the ESC key will move the TV display to its default location and close the "Display Properties" window.

TV Enable

On	Turns on the TV display
Off	Turns off the TV display

Display Tuning

Sharpness	This allows the user to set to "Low" or "High" the "Edge Sharpness Boost"  feature and set to "On" or "Off"  the "Enhanced Text" feature.
Fine Tuning	Adjusts the level of sharpness
Contrast	Adjusts the difference between the black and white areas of the TV display

Note:  If the your TV monitor's sharpness control is already set to a high level, the user should not set the "Edge Sharpness Boost" to "High" or set the "Enhanced Text" to "On" since this will cause the edges of letters and objects in the TV display to "ring."  Also, if your TV monitor's contrast control is already set to a high level, the user should not set "Contrast" to a high level since this will cause the TV display to "bloom."

TV Setup

TV Type is configured for:

This displays the type of TV, either PAL or NTSC, that the user should use with the graphics board.  This is configured by your graphics board manufacturer and cannot be changed by the user.

Video output is auto detected as:

If your TV is connected to the graphics card's S-video output (DIN type connector), "S-video" will be displayed.  If your TV is connected to the graphics card's composite output (RCA type connector), "Composite"  will be displayed.  If  one TV is connected to the S-video output and a second TV is connected to the composite output at the same time, only the TV that is connected to the S-video output will show a display.

Current display resolution:

This displays the current Desktop resolution.  If the Desktop resolution is set higher than 800x600, the TV output will automatically turn off and there will be no TV display.  Lower the Desktop resolution to 800x600 or 640X480, and there will be a TV display.


PM Gamma Utility
Alliance Gamma Correction Utility

The Alliance Gamma Correction utility is available on the right side of the Windows Taskbar.  The Alliance Gamma Correction utility adjusts the gamma of the three primary colors, red, green, and blue, of the computer display.  In simple terms, a high gamma setting will make the screen image look sharper, but there will be a lack of subtle shades of gray in the image.  A low gamma setting will make the screen image look softer, but there will be more subtle shades of gray in the image.  The user should feel free to adjust the gamma to the settings that the user finds most aesthetically pleasing.  The user can set independent gamma settings for the Desktop and Video playback.

The Alliance Gamma Correction utility contains the following functions:

Desktop Gamma Correction

This adjusts red, green, and blue gamma for the Windows Desktop and Direct3D titles.

Video Gamma Correction

This adjusts red, green, and blue gamma for video playback (MPEG, AVI, etc.) and Glide titles.

About

This displays the version number of  the Alliance Gamma Correction utility.


Monitor Control Button

The Monitor Control button is located in the Alliance Director's Chair 95 tab and allows the user to change the position of the computer monitor display. The Computer Screen Centering controls change the position of both the computer monitor display and the TV display.  Only five clicks on the arrow buttons are allowed in one direction.  If the user wants to change only the position of  the TV display, then the user should use the TV Screen Centering controls in the TV Features tab.

The Monitor Control button offers the following functions:

Computer Screen Centering

Left Arrow	Moves computer display left
Up Arrow	Moves computer display up
Right Arrow	Moves computer display right
Down Arrow	Moves computer display down
Center Button	Moves computer display to its default location (does not function above 1152 x 864 graphics modes)
Note:  Pressing the ESC key will move the computer monitor display to its default location and close the "Display Properties" window.

Warning:  Excessively pressing the positioning controls can cause some monitors to go out of sync and to lose the screen image.