Hi,
so I'm in the market for a large LCD display intended to take direct
DVI input, coming from the DVI port of a most recent generation 15"
apple powerbook (tech specs at bottom) I went over to a local
electronics store stocking large flat displays of all types, and
display in particular seemed to fit the bill: The Samsung LT-P326W
display (link at bottom) which sports among other features, a DVI
input and 1280x768 resolution. Upon plugging my notebook's dvi cable
into the dvi input for the display, I begin by setting up my PB to
mirror its own display onto the LCD. The PB offered a range of
resolutions - of which 1280x768 was not an option - however 1280x720
came close with only minor vertical stretching required to fit,
HOWEVER there was a problem. Approximately 15 pixels ended up being
cropped off of all sides of the display. No matter what resolution I
try or what display mode (as a mirrored display or extended desktop) I
was unable to get the signal to fit the screen properly. As I have
been told, this problem is known as overscan, and is a commonplace
phenomenon among tvs and displays of many kinds.

So given this introduction, here's where the question begins: Is there
any way to remedy this problem I presume to be overscan (or in other
words, the minor cropping of the displayed image) for this particular
display, such that using a direct DVI -> DVI connection, the LCD panel
displays the signal within the confines of the panel, using the full
screen - no more, no less?

Secondary question: Does this problem lie within the ability of the
powerbook and its ATI graphics card to send a signal of acceptable
resolution to the display, or is the problem in the display's ability
to handle incoming signals. I.e. might a computer with some other
graphics card be able to work without this cropping problem?

Bonus question: If there is no remedy for this particular display
using my powerbook as input, what of the Samsung Syncmaster 323T?

PB Graphics Tech details: (15" 1.5ghz model, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
with 128MB of DDR SDRAM, just for reference).

Samsung display link:
http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?eUser=&prod_id=LTP326WX%2fXAA

how about...you're using a macintosh (not a pc) with your samsung dvi
display.  I purchased hlm507w samsung's dlp dvi monitor and noticed
the manual was specific about pc's only-no apple.  I call up cs and I
am tersely informed 'not even to attempt' to hook my mac in thru the
dvi. Something to do with compatibility issues that the samsung hq is
working out...

Look, a DVI signal is a DVI signal no matter if it's emanating from a
mac, a windows machine, a linux box, or flipper the bloody dolphin
(although last I checked, dolphins don't have a digital video
interface).

My point is, the interface is platform blind, and as such should be
functional assuming the graphics card is capable of generating an
acceptable signal which the display can process - and it was capable
of this *except* for the overscan. My ATI Radeon 9700 (a fairly common
gpu architecture for all major OS and hardware platforms) was sending
out a 1280x720 signal which was a full 48 pixels below maximum high
resolution, and the image still ended up being vertically cropped on
the display. Higher res outputs could even be made to be displayed
entirely within the screen, however exhibiting a problem of extreme
image flicker and improper scaling (as a centered image, they'd take
up perhaps 50% of LCD panel area, far from expanding to the edges of
the screen)

I'm not too inclined to believe it's as simple as "no macs".