Coming back to my old question, where I have not managed to bring the main idea of my post. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/15094266-2a3c-46a8-b61b-b1b1a328d2df/high-ppi-support-multiple-monitors-how-it-comes-that-remote-desktop-implements-the-hight-ppi?forum=w8itprogeneral

So here is the Problem:

Windows 8.1 scales horrible some applications, which for some people are the everyday passenger in their work and their free time.

However, for some reason, the "Remote Desktop Connection Manager" has a scaling implementation which works almost perfect on the same resolutions and devices and delivers a sharp image. I don't want to confuse you with my multiple monitor practices like in my post above, where an article from dell's website about how to set up multiple monitors became marked as an answer for my problem... Here are some screenshots which describe the problem just on the same display of my Dell XPS 15 with native resolution of 3200x1800.

Please do not tell me, that the problem can be fixed by setting the scaling factor to 100%, like in this topic. Using 100% size or disabling the scaling option in the compatibility settings just break your eyes! You only can work using magnifier then - it is not how it is supposed to be. It is just a workaround which could work if you use 125% scaling factor, but not on resolutions like mine, where you need 200% scaling in order not to stress your eyes.

So let us see, how RDCM can compete vs Win8 native scaling:

http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/RDCM-vs-Win8-Scaling-Eclipse.png
http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/RDCM-vs-Win8-Scaling-Fraps.png
http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/RDCM-vs-Win8-Scaling-Administration-Win.png
http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/RDCM-vs-Win8-Scaling-Eclipse.png

The difference in the quality (sharpness) are speaking for themselves. While Remote Desktop Connection Manager somehow manages to display graphics in the sharp way, where you don't break your eyes while working with it - normal windows only works properly with software, where developers added the high PPI support. Like you can see on the screenshots, even native "Windows Administration" is not being scaled properly to 200%. The text appears blurry on Win8.1, while it is sharp on RDCM!

Another good example is Eclipse - look at the screenshot - how am I supposed to work with those small images? Don' get irritated that the screenshots are very large and at the first view everything seems to be ok. If you scale the image to 100% - it looks fine on your monitor. But if you have a high PPI monitor - it just looks very small. Here is a good example. Compare the screenshot and the real picture:

Here is the screenshot:
http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Origin-Screeshot.png

And here is the real picuture:
http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Origin-real-picture.jpg

So you understand what I mean, when I say, that you cannot work without a magnifier?

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The other interesting fact is, that normal remote desktop delivered as windows tool does not scale properly either! Or I should better say - it cannot scale at all. The only two possibilities to work with RD are
1st - full screen 3200x1800: http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/RemoteDesktop-3200x1800.jpg
2nd - any other resolution, which cannot be scaled further on....: http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/RemoteDesktop-1600x900.jpg

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The Point

The point is - RDCM seems to use the original 100% (1600x900) resolution on the target machine and scales it up to 200% (3200x1800) on my notebook. I came to this conclusion as I took the screenshot over RDCM on the target machine and checked it resolution - it was 1600x900. And yes - it was scaled properly on my notebook! This screenshot seems to prove my assumption.

http://skovalev.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/RDCM-Scaling-Perfectly-from-1600x900-to-3200x1800.png

To the left you see the original picture (in 1600x900) as being created by the graphics adapter of the target machine. To the right you can see the scaled up picture form the RDCM. Like you can see the picture stays sharp! And sharpness - it is the key not to break your eyes. I can live with sharply drawn pixels, but I cannot work with blurry characters which should make the impression of smooth scaling...

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So, dear Microsoft: Please, implement the RDCM  scaling algorithm and make it native for windows 8.1.

If you manage somehow to start something like Origin in 100% mode and scale it up to 200% using RDCM algorithm - the picture stay sharp - and that is the key. And if you are not sure whether a user need sharpened pixels or blurry smoothness - just make it as an option in control panel and let the user decide himself.

With best regards,
Sergey Kovalev

• Edited by eXti.de Sunday, June 15, 2014 8:34 AM mistake
• Changed type Brandon RecordsModerator Friday, June 27, 2014 3:39 PM Feedback

Modern version of skype cannot share screen... which makes it totally unproductive for me :(

but back to the topic: does anybody has any idea how RDCM manages to get clean graphics and how to make windows to do the same?