Let me start by saying thanks for KnoppMyth. I can't even classify myself as a Linux newbie as that would mean I know something. Without this disk, I would be stuck with TiVo or ReplyTV.

Whenever I use the svideo on the nVidia MX440, I see everything (command line) fine until the (GUI?) starts. It seems as if the sync is off? If this makes sense, please help me. I am not sure what to search for in the forums. If this has been addressed already, I will keep looking (hopefully with a link to it). Thanks in advance for your help.

have you tried moving the XF86Config-4.nvidiatvoutsample or something similar to /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 ? basically what you are seeing is that the refresh rates in the default config file are too high for your tv, so it is not working.

The mode lines in the sample don't work very well for a lot of TVs. The XF86Config-4 that I posted here http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1150 contains a couple extras that I stole from another example which seem to work better for a lot of people. I tried to use the sample again on Sunday when I installed R4V4 but the TV wouldn't sync.

Thanks for your help. I doubt I will be able to attempt to do what you suggest. I guess I can always reinstall.

Does anyone have the nVidia MX440 working with the TV out?

erbert, have you ever logged into the terminal of your Myth box? You can do everything these guys have suggested by getting access to the terminal. You have to learn sometime and now is as good of time as any. There are a couple of common ways to get to a command line interface on your KnoppMyth box.

1) Just exit out of Mythfrontend by hitting esc until a window asks you if you realy want to quit. Select yes. Then right click on the desktop background and select XTerm from the popup menu. Viola.

2) You can also ssh into your box from another computer connected to your network. SSH is just a secure form of telnet, that you may be used to from Windows. For example, I use my laptop to ssh into my Myth box to make changes. I use a program called PUTTY. You can get that program from here: http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/lat ... /putty.exe

Let's start there. If you are interested I will post step by step instructions on how to modify you XF86Config-4 file. Just let me know.

By the way, I do have an nvidia mx 440 card and TVOut is working like a charm.

yes unfortunately at this point the configuration for tvout HAS to be done from a command line. you either have to copy the sample config over the original, or you have to edit the original and change two lines and save. it's really not that hard. if you don't know any command line text editors I would suggest you run vimtutor and just go through the first couple of sections. that will get you enough to know how to open a file move around edit it and save the changes which is all you need for this.

I'll echo what Xsecrets says, most of the stuff we're telling you try isn't rocket science. Setting up a MythTV box, even with KnoppMyth, is definitely a do it yourself project, like changing a faucet or replacing a sash cord. You're going to get your hands dirty and maybe bark a knuckle, but you'll probably learn something new along the way.

Learning to use a command line is actually EASIER than learning to navigate anything put the most trivial GUI and it's certainly faster and easier once you learn it. They've done a number of studies on this and there are sound Human Factors/Usability Engineering/... reasons behind it.

My own experience on this count is far more gut level, having worked on an early WYSIWYG word processing system which despite huge amounts of effort to make the UI intuitive, quick, and shallow (Nothing should take more than N steps where N is a small number, the most common actions should take 1 step, ...) cut peoples word processing productivity by nearly a factor of 4. Everyone agreed it was simple and intuitive and easy to navigate and looked great, and did everything the old nroff like system did and more ... but in the end it distracted from the basic task of getting text entered and formatted.

hey, i got the same problem but with a MX420 :/

masonjd if you could post up step by step instuctions that would be AWSOME as i am a real noob at linux but now is as good a time as any to learn

ok if you are just wanting to move the files over then log into the command line. you may have to hit ctrl+alt+F1 to get to it.

then type
cd /etc/X11
then cp XF86Config-4 XF86Config-4.orig
then cp XF86Config-4.nvidia.sample XF86Config-4 (note do ls to get a list the nvidia.sample may be wrong I can't get to my mythbox right now.)
then reboot

if that works great, if not you will have to edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file you can do this with vi. if you don't know how to use vi type vimtutor and that will teach you how to use vi. you probably only really need the first leson or two.

Note that everything in linux is case sensitive meaning xf86config-4 is not the same as XF86Config-4

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

XSecrets' response is very good. You can also get to the command line by exiting out of MythTV by hitting 'ESC' over and over until it prompts you to exit. Then right-click on the desktop and select XTerm from the popup menu, as I mentioned above. In addition, if you don't want to use the nvidia.sample config file or for some reason it doesn't work then you can just modify your XF86Config-4 file using vi and make sure that your device section looks like this:

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
# sw_cursor is needed for some ati and radeon cards
Option "sw_cursor"
#Option "hw_cursor"
#Option "NoAccel"
#Option "ShowCache"
#Option "ShadowFB"
#Option "UseFBDev"
#Option "Rotate"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT, TV"
Option "TwinView" "1"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "Clone"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-50"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "60"
Option "MetaModes" "800x600, 800x600"
Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
Option "NvAGP" "0"
#Option "RenderAccel" "on"
Identifier "Card0"
# The following line is auto-generated by KNOPPIX mkxf86config
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "All"
BoardName "NVidia GeForce 4 440MX"
# BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

You'll notice that I am using Twinview so that I can connect my montior as well as my TV up to the system at any time to fix problems if necessary. But whether or not you do that this setup should work for you.

I just used the default XF86Config-4 file and added the few lines up above that are missing. I've been using it for months now. It may also be good to mention that you need to have run install-nvidia.sh

thanks SO much for your help.

the install-nividia.sh ran automatically as i did auto install.

although some probs i have come accross :S

when i tried doing :
cp XF86Config-4 XF86Config-4.orig

it said permission denied.

i assumed this was because i wasnt logged in as admin or something.
i tried using Username:admin, administrator and the password was the same as my user login but didnt want to log in :s so what is the admin's username supposed to be ?

root

hey, yeah i made the selection look like that.

and i did the command "mv /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.nvidia-tvout.sample /etc/X11/XF86Config-4"

still a no-go :S