Everything else works as it should.

Configuration:
Motherboard: ABIT KG7 + Athlon 1ghz + 1gb RAM
Video: DA-CTEK24 Geforce MX4000, 64mb, AGP, svideo output
Sound: Soundblaster CT4700 pci128
Capture: Hauppauge pvr150
Network: Linksys etherfast 10/100

Fresh installation of Knoppmyth R5E50

VGA --> Monitor works for all output
svideo --> Television displays the boot startup screens, but does not display television shows

Can someone please tell me how to redirect the television output to the svideo?

Thank you!
FrankH

Searching for "TwinView" here and on the wiki should provide the information you're looking for. There are some serious limitations on Nvidia dual headed setups (e.g. Xv (which is used for video playback) only works for one display) that make them much harder and fiddlier to setup than single headed to either just a monitor or a TV.

Ok, this is a simple problem, and here's the solution in case some other poor person runs into the same problem.

The Geforce MX4000 card will default to whatever monitor is plugged into it.

But, if you plug BOTH a TV into the S-video, and a monitor into the VGA, it will default to the VGA, and no amount of coaxing will convince it to do othewise!

The solution is to unplug the VGA monitor before you boot up. Then it will default to the S-video, and you'll get both television and computer output on your TV set.

Unfortunately, the TV quality I got is lousy. It's black and white, and cross hatched. Definitely not "ready for prime time"!

This I hear is due to the nvidia drivers, which is odd because I'm using the latest knoppmyth distro. Frankly, I'd rather just buy another video card than recompile new drivers and mess around in my X config or whatever. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
FrankH

Actually it sounds like you've using a bad mode line from your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. These are the symptoms you see when the TV/monitor is just barely able to sync to the timing from the video card.

Edit your xorg.conf and make sure that the "Monitor" section says:

If you really want to get wild and crazy later you can allow VertRefresh in the range 59 - 61, but start with 60 - 60. Note that this assumes an NTSC, if you're got a PAL set I think it should be 50-50, but please double check that. This will force the card to only use mode lines that are strictly TV compatible.

The next thing to do is hunt up the various mode lines that folks have posted around here. I always run home to this one since my TV is very picky:

Thank you!

After reading this:
http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/in ... t2822.html

Noticing that the card output has only 4 pins, as does the video cable, I dug around in my junk box and found an s-video to composite adapter.

I plugged the adapter into the MX4000 and ran a line to the composite video input on the TV.

Now I've got color, and the hash lines are gone!

The picture, sadly, is still a bit fuzzy, and there's a black border around it because it's not the right size for the screen.

FrankH

The timing and mode line advice above still applies. If you've got a TVOutFormat specifier set, you can also try flipping it between "SVIDEO" and "COMPOSITE", since these sometimes seem to work backwards.

Oh, and check out the http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=PictureQualityIssues page for some hints about using the nvidia-settings utility.