I have a Radwon 9000 Pro and am trying to get the TV-out to work. It works when I go through the boot cycle, but once I enter Knoppmyth I get crazy vertical line flicker nonesense. It's exactly the same thing I encounter when I set my stand-alone DVD player to progressive scan and send the output (of any sort) to my NTSC TV. In other words, I think that it's because the TV out is non-interlaced or at too high a refresh rate. I've searched the forums and have encountered a few others with the same problem and suggestions have related the problem to driver issues. I believe that if I can set the resolution to interlace or a lower refresh rate my problem will be solved. Could someone please provide a clear step-by-step guide on how to change resolution/ refresh rates/ color depth? I haven't been able to find one anywhere (just vague pointers) and I've searched these forums pretty thoroughly. Maybe I missed it. The keywords here are "clear" and "step-by-step." Another keyword here would possibly be "newbie"

All of this is controlled by your "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4" file. If you use XF86Config-4 as your search term you should come up with most of the info you need. The critical bits are defining your "Monitor" section correctly for TV specs, your "Device" section for your video card, and your "Screen" section to use the right resolution for the combination of that "Monitor" and "Device". The Screen is where you chose your "DefaultColorDepth" and resolution.

Search the forum for more details, we just went through this all a month or so ago.

Are you seeing a badly-rolling image? Or you're seeing an OK image but the flicker is annoying you? What resolution are you running at? You connected via composite or S-Video?

The TV out will always be interlaced, because your TV wants interlaced (unless it's a HDTV). That's why your TV goes crazy when you turn your DVD player's progressive scan on... again, unless it's an HDTV, it can't handle a non-interlaced signal.

The fix is likely in your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. Post your monitor settings and that will help. Did you use the nVidia sample config file found in /etc/X11/ ?

I would hope he didn't use the sample file with a radeon.

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Xsecrets

D'oh, sorry about that. Never mind.

I am seeing a very rapidly rolling image, to the point that no image is discernable. I can vaguely tell when I have my VGA monitor on next to the TV that the same colors are being displayed. On this I assume that the Refresh is too high. It is not true that the signal will always be sent interlaced just because the TV "wants" an interlaced signal, but the TV itself does interlace it. The reason I am drawing the comparison between my current problem and the DVD player problem is because I suspect that when I switch the DVD to progressive scan, it also sends the signal at a higher refresh frequency. I am not at home so I can't tell you what the settings are, but they are Default and they look like 800x600 @75Hz. I assume 75Hz because my LCD can only accept 60 or 75Hz, and if it were 60 I'll bet the TV would be able to display that. Now, how do I edit the file? Nano something in an Xterm window?

Yes, it sounds like your refresh rate is incorrect... note that this is one of the very first warnings in the installation instructions when doing TV out. As you suspect 60 is much more likely to work.

The TV-out signal is indeed interlaced. As I said before, non-digital TVs expect an interlaced signal and will not display properly if you send them anything else. Even if you could send a non-interlaced signal through a composite or S-video connection, the (regular) TV at the other end wouldn't know what to do with it.

If you have nano installed, just like the install instructions say, you'll need to edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.

o.k. what EXACT lines do I edit and to what? I've been poking around but have had to do a couple of re-installs now. I want to run at 800x600@60hz at 24bit.

Well, I googled for "tv out modeline Radeon" and got this:

http://pvrguide.no-ip.com/bbs-old/viewtopic/5674.html

Someone has included their XF86Config-4 in this thread: I'd try copying the Monitor settings, set the TVStandard to NTSC or PAL depending on what you want, leave out the 720x576 modeline, and see how that goes.

the most important lines you should be concerned with initially are the horizontal and vertical refresh lines. horizontal 30-50 should work vertical needs to be 60.

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I have edited the XF86Config-4 file to horizontal 30-50 and vertical 60 but to no avail. In fact, usually after I edit it and reboot I get an error that my video driver cannot be loaded, even if it's just those two entries. I also have tried to take out all the modelines except one for 800x600 at 60Hz. The I tried a modeline generator for 56Hz. I consider myself pretty visual and I notice that as I change the refresh down to 30-50v and 60h that the rolling seems to happen at the same speed. I'm starting to think that maybe something else is going on. I don't know much about Linux, but in Windows, the TV out display is located on PCI device 1, not 0 like the VGA. Also, The display on the VGA is different when I have a TV hooked up. It gets alittle smashed while going through BIOS boot. I guess that the graphics card detects a change in monitor configuration and changes itself somehow. Then, when Linux is loading, only the TV displays and the VGA says "out of range." Then, Linux actually starts and the VGA looks good (not squished) but I get the rolling on the TV. I'm thinking that there needs to be a whole other section in XF86Config-4 that defines TV settings under pci device id 1.

would an XF86Config-4 file like this work:

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread. ... on+9000+tv

it's for mandrake 8.1, so I don't know. Notice the Monitor0 and Monitor 1 sections and two separate graphics adapter sections.

I hadn't realized you were trying to run dual-mode until your last two posts. That's a whole other can of worms. Since we are both newbies, my attitude is "crawl before you try to walk," so I would try to get TV out working before trying to get TV-out + VGA working. But then again, since you found a XF86Config-4 that the guy claims works, can't hurt to try. (Well, it could make your TV explode, and if you were in front of it, that would hurt, but you know what I mean.)

Well tvout on ati has always been sort of ify. I would load the proprietary ATI drivers if I were you since they are supposed to have some tvout support now.

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Xsecrets

Okay, I know that this is annoying, but my plan is to get everything working over at my desk on my flatscreen VGA, then take the box over to my entertainment center and run TV only of it. Maybe what I should do is configure everything else first, then edit the XF86Config-4 file for TV only support, shutdown, hook it up to the TV and boot.