I'm using a dvi to hdmi cable to connect my nvidia 8600 gts to my 42LG52.

When I use the resolution 1366x768 I can see the entire desktop but I would like to use 1080p (1920x1080). When I switch to 1920x1080 the edges of the desktop are not on the screen which makes it kind of hard to use the menus.

I have the same problem on windows and the way I remedy the problem is by going into the nvidia control panel and resizing the desktop to 1842x1030. I tried messing with the panning area under the advanced settings in the linux nvidia control panel but it doesn't let me apply it as 1842x1030 and I'm not even sure that would fix the problem.

I did a bit of googling and found that some people were making modelines for xorg.conf to underscan to fix the problem. I couldn't find a particular modeline for my display when searching.

So my question is, is it possible to resize the desktop area like the nvidia control panel does in windows and if so how?

I'm using ubuntu 10.04

edit: and here's my current xorg.conf file

Well I think I found a solution it's not linux related though, on the tv itself there's an option called "just scan" as one of the options under aspect ratio, instead of forcing 16:9 I switched it to just scan and the problem is resolved.

If this doesn't help other people I found another possible solution in that you can use awn instead of the default gnome panels and have them offset, kind of a crappy way to fix it but might work for other people.

Right on!!! Fix my issues after hours of screwing around. Thanks!

The other way is to use 'nvidia-settings' go to DPF-0 or the name of the display you want to fix, it is usually in parentheses there. There is an option called 'Overscan compensation', mess with that and it will fix it.