Graphics card to TV - any way to fix it?

Plonking · 27-09-2005, 11:11

Heya everyone,

I've been messing about lately with plugging an old pc of mine into the tv and hifi in my bedroom - the hifi has stopped playing cds, so the pc can play music instead, and the pc also has a dvd-drive so that will hopefully be ok for watching dvds too.

I've been having some problems with the video output of the graphics card. It only seems to want to output in black and white. I tried updating the graphics card drivers (no luck), I read somewhere that the newer ones were buggy, so tried older ones (no luck), changed the output of the video card from PAL to NTSC in the BIOS (no idea why, but worth a try - still no luck), messed about with it in windows me and about three different versions of linux (no luck).

So, I was wondering - is there anything else that I can try? My only thought is that either the card is dodgy, the cables that came with it were dodgy (I've read some people saying that these can be pretty poor quality), or that it's a software-controlling-the-card problem.

The main reason I think that it could be the last of these is that I'm using windows ME on the pc at the moment, and the display properties window crashes whenever I try to get to the tab to control the settings of the card's output.

I got paid last week, so was thinking of running out and buying a new version of xp, which I was hoping would not mess up when I'm trying to control the settings of the card - but before I did that, I figured I would check with the experts here.

Shall I try xp, or is there something I have missed? It's an Nvidia GeForce 440 MX - on an old HP pc (I say this because the POST screen has some HP advert covering it up, and the background of this should be blue, but is in fact black, which makes me wonder whether or not is could be the cables).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Graham · 27-09-2005, 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plonking

It's an Nvidia GeForce 440 MX - on an old HP pc (I say this because the POST screen has some HP advert covering it up, and the background of this should be blue, but is in fact black, which makes me wonder whether or not is could be the cables).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

By co-incidence, that's the graphics card I'm using at the moment and, by even more of a co-incidence, I've been experimenting with outputting to TV (via my video's Video/ L/ R Audio phono sockets) and it comes up in colour fine.

I'm using Win 2k, I don't know if that would make a difference.

Have you downloaded the Nvidia drivers and software? Are they what are crashing when you try to get to the Display Properties tab?

Are you using S-video out or the phono connection?

27-09-2005, 14:50

could it be in the settings? the card needs to be set as Pal I (but you crash here i noticed )
as graham asks are you trying to connect via svideo? did the card come with a svideo to composite? this would be the best way imo then use a 3.5 mm stereoi jack to phono adapter to take sound and connect via a scart to phono adapter

Plonking · 27-09-2005, 15:07

heya,

well I reinstalled windows and am about to install the drivers again, hopefully I'll have more luck this time around

sorry to say I'm not all that good with cables and connectors, but what I have done is connected the s-video out to the tv by using a converter to switch the s-video to scart... if that makes sense. the audio is gonna go through the sound card and hi fi, at least that was the plan!

the part it was crashing was basically the dialogue box where i could set up the output and control it properly, as you describe- the nview section or something like that.. when I clicked on the tab, none of the contents of the tab appeared, it just threw up an error with a control panel file of some sort, then closed the control panel window, as well as the display properties window.

right, off to install the drivers fresh and new, let's see what i can do this time

wish me luck!!

Graham · 27-09-2005, 15:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plonking

wish me luck!!

Good luck!

27-09-2005, 15:10

good luck

Plonking · 27-09-2005, 16:19

woohoo, it worked!

the reinstall stopped the advanced display controls from crashing - however, I then had the problem of it being in black and white still. I tried all sorts of pal output formats, and then discovered controls for telling the program which output plug I had the TV plugged into.

First of all, I tried telling the truth, and told it the output was going from the s-video out. That didn't work... and I thought I had been wasting my time

Then I decided to lie to it, and told it that the output was coming from the composite, and, hey presto - I have colour output, but no idea why. Maybe I have misunderstood the way these things work, but never mind

Graham · 28-09-2005, 00:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plonking

woohoo, it worked!

Huzzah!

Quote:

I have colour output, but no idea why. Maybe I have misunderstood the way these things work, but never mind

Don't knock it if it works...!

patrickp · 28-09-2005, 09:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plonking

woohoo, it worked!

the reinstall stopped the advanced display controls from crashing - however, I then had the problem of it being in black and white still. I tried all sorts of pal output formats, and then discovered controls for telling the program which output plug I had the TV plugged into.

First of all, I tried telling the truth, and told it the output was going from the s-video out. That didn't work... and I thought I had been wasting my time

Then I decided to lie to it, and told it that the output was coming from the composite, and, hey presto - I have colour output, but no idea why. Maybe I have misunderstood the way these things work, but never mind

The s-video-like sockets on video cards are not usually actually s-video pin configurations, and may be composite only or s-video and composite. Most manufacturers usually provide input and output connectors (or a combined connector) with their cards: for best results and, particularly if you want to get proper s-video out, it's best to use these connectors.

Incidentally, PAL-I seems to be the TV standard used in this country.

Graham M · 28-09-2005, 09:12

I had this problem with my last laptop and a rubbish old TV, with a S-Video output, the colours are split into 2 Channels, Chrominance and Luminance, it is seen as a component video source. For this reason, you need a Television set that supports S-Video over scart if you use an adaptor or whatever. 90% of Television sets support Composite Video (Yellow RCA Jack)

28-09-2005, 09:14

Actually I think you will find most low end cards will come with a svideo lead or an svideo to composite adapter lead,These cards do have svideo pin configurations,Vivo cards and higher end cards tend to have more pin configs, but on lot of none vivo cards you will find they will take svideo leads as well as there higher pined combo connectors

Plonking · 28-09-2005, 09:29

ahh ok, well whatever is going on with my odd assortment of cables and connectors - like graham said, it's working, so I am definitely not gonna knock it

I learnt a fair few things in the process, so it was quite a useful experience!

Graham M · 28-09-2005, 09:32

OK Svideo normally has 2 live and 2 ground pins, connect the luminance and chrominance live to the central pin in an RCA Phono jack and the luminance and chrominance ground to the ground plate on the RCA Phono jack and you have an S-Video to Composite video convertor (albeit a pretty crude one)