Raspeberry Pi 2 is not using the full resolution of the screen

Question

Once I installed Rasbian in my Raspberry Pi 2 there were black bars on the top, bottom, left and right of the screen.

After searching I found that in order to remove them you have to edit the config file /boot/config.txt. In it you should uncomment the line disable_overscan=1 and then comment all the lines that mention overscan as well as change the line disable_overscan=0 to disable_overscan=1.

My question is why doesn't Raspberry Pi 2 by default using the full resolution of the screen and you have to "fix" it yourself manually? Also is it safe to do so or can this fix cause any problems?

Answer 1

My question is why doesn't Raspberry Pi 2 by default using the full resolution of the screen and you have to "fix" it yourself manually?

I think it's because this does not in fact happen with most contemporary HDMI displays. I'm aware of the issue, but I've never had the problem myself using a variety of TVs, monitors, and projectors. This is why they say in the documentation, etc., "if...".

https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/blob/master/configuration/config-txt.md#hdmi-mode-options

disable-overscan is actually further down that page (under "Generic display options") where there is a link to a further explanation here.

Also is it safe to do so or can this fix cause any problems?

You can't physically damage anything by doing that or setting the wrong resolution. It just won't work or will look wrong.