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Using TV as display.
http://forums.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16446		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  fra [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Using TV as display.
Hi,

My computer is connected with DVI->HDMI cable to the widescreen HDTV.
If I understood well, the only difference between this and using a PC display may be at the very beginning of the process.

But since it is not S-Video, should I still type tv at the boot prompt?
Or should I type something else? Or just hit <ENTER>?

Are there any other things I should be aware of, not to destroy the TV??

Thanks!
FRA
Author:  cecil [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
"tv" will only give you a display of 800x600. To get the optimal display, you'll want to find the appropriate modeline for your TV.
Author:  fra [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:42 pm ]
Post subject: 
cecil wrote:
"tv" will only give you a display of 800x600. To get the optimal display, you'll want to find the appropriate modeline for your TV.


that's what i thought. i believe it's 720p native and can take up to 1080p (true HD). but what do i do once i find the modeline for the TV? what do i do when i boot? and is there anything else i have to do after i (supposedly) do the right thing when booting?
Author:  slowtolearn [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 6:33 pm ]
Post subject: 
fra wrote:
cecil wrote:
"tv" will only give you a display of 800x600. To get the optimal display, you'll want to find the appropriate modeline for your TV.


that's what i thought. i believe it's 720p native and can take up to 1080p (true HD). but what do i do once i find the modeline for the TV? what do i do when i boot? and is there anything else i have to do after i (supposedly) do the right thing when booting?
I thought you already had your KM box up and running? With the latest nVidia drivers? Shut her down, hook her up to your TV and go from there. If you plan to do another installation (and I don't know why you would) then type "tv" when you first boot from the CD and continue on.
Author:  fra [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:12 pm ]
Post subject: 
slowtolearn wrote:
I thought you already had your KM box up and running? With the latest nVidia drivers? Shut her down, hook her up to your TV and go from there. If you plan to do another installation (and I don't know why you would) then type "tv" when you first boot from the CD and continue on.


the cable is in the room where the tv is and not where the monitor is. i did the setup using the monitor because i was worried about destroying the tv. so for now i have things set up to run off an antenna. i either need to figure out how to redo the channel scanning and the relevant mythtv settings without having to reinstall the whole thing or just reinstall everything but near the tv. i don't want to carry the display all the way there and hence the use of the tv directly.

of course, since the dell 24in widescreen display was used for the current setup and the tv is 720p native and can go up to 1080p, displaying on the tv shouldn't look any worse :) i'm just worried about having to set something somewhere to have it display "safely".. but i guess you're saying that's not an issue.

Cecil says that when reinstalling using the tv as display, typing tv will not be optimal for a widescreen HDTV! so i'm wondering what to do.....

probably the simplest would be to just redo mythtv setup (how?) and, if it is truely both safe and optimal, just take the PC display off and hook up the tv instead! but is it really both safe and optimal?

i tried, from a shell terminal, to run mythtv-setup but it said the backend is still running and things may not work correctly. so i didn't attempt to continue.
Author:  slowtolearn [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:40 pm ]
Post subject: 
fra wrote:
Cecil says that when reinstalling using the tv as display, typing tv will not be optimal for a widescreen HDTV! so i'm wondering what to do.....
Optimal, no, but you can play with the settings once it's running on the TV

fra wrote:
probably the simplest would be to just redo mythtv setup (how?) and, if it is truely both safe and optimal, just take the PC display off and hook up the tv instead! but is it really both safe and optimal?

i tried, from a shell terminal, to run mythtv-setup but it said the backend is still running and things may not work correctly. so i didn't attempt to continue.
You're very close! Escape out of the frontend to the penguin watching TV, then Alt-X (this should bring up an Xterm). Type
Code:
/etc/init.d/mythbackend stop
mythtv-setup

Now you can work on your channel/tuner settings.

BTW - Cecil & Co. have provided some shortcuts for you:

Alt-X brings up an Xterm
Alt-S runs mythtv-setup
There was a post on these forums awhile back explaining the others but i can't find it right now...
Author:  manicmike [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:51 pm ]
Post subject: 
slowtolearn wrote:
Alt-X brings up an Xterm
Alt-S runs mythtv-setup
There was a post on these forums awhile back explaining the others but i can't find it right now...


Look in /etc/X11/fluxbox/keys for the full list. Not at home ATM, but I think Alt+2 to stop mythbackend (usually necessary for running mythtv-setup) and Alt+3 to restart mythbackend.

Mike
Author:  slowtolearn [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
manicmike wrote:
slowtolearn wrote:
Alt-X brings up an Xterm
Alt-S runs mythtv-setup
There was a post on these forums awhile back explaining the others but i can't find it right now...


Look in /etc/X11/fluxbox/keys for the full list. Not at home ATM, but I think Alt+2 to stop mythbackend (usually necessary for running mythtv-setup) and Alt+3 to restart mythbackend.

Mike
That's what I was after, thanks Mike. Couldn't remember where they were defined...
Author:  mogator88 [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:27 pm ]
Post subject: 
slowtolearn wrote:
Optimal, no, but you can play with the settings once it's running on the TV


Easier said than done, at least for my TV. And modelines are a real PITA to modify.

FWIW, I typed "TV" on my last install. 800x600 looks pretty good, but I'm going to try to get it to a higher rez during my next install. My TV is a Vizio 37" LCD, and dvi->hdmi may be limited for my TV.
Author:  fra [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:25 pm ]
Post subject: 
mogator88 wrote:
Easier said than done, at least for my TV. And modelines are a real PITA to modify.

FWIW, I typed "TV" on my last install. 800x600 looks pretty good, but I'm going to try to get it to a higher rez during my next install. My TV is a Vizio 37" LCD, and dvi->hdmi may be limited for my TV.


That's exactly why I'm asking! First, how do I find the modelines for my TV (Sony 32XBbr4)? If I make any mistake the TV will fry and my wife will kill me!!!! :shock:

Second, even when I find them, what are the steps I need to take? What do I type when rebooting from the CD? What files do I need to edit? And what do I add to them? I tried to search around but got only more confused! Any help/guidance would be appreciated. I'm so close to enjoying the show!!! :)
Author:  mogator88 [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
You won't fry the tv with a dvi/hdmi cable. Maybe with a VGA cable, but some tv's will shut off if they don't like the signal.

Google for modelines. You'll only find what someone else has come up with. If you have to create them, you may never get them right. My TV is 720p, with 768 pixels. At 800x600, I'm not getting full resolution, but it looks really good. Avoiding countless sleepless nights spent fooling with modelines that never came out quite right... PRICELESS!

I'll post back after the upgrade to let you know if things came out any better.
Author:  fra [ Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:59 pm ]
Post subject: 
mogator88 wrote:
You won't fry the tv with a dvi/hdmi cable. Maybe with a VGA cable, but some tv's will shut off if they don't like the signal.

Google for modelines. You'll only find what someone else has come up with. If you have to create them, you may never get them right. My TV is 720p, with 768 pixels. At 800x600, I'm not getting full resolution, but it looks really good. Avoiding countless sleepless nights spent fooling with modelines that never came out quite right... PRICELESS!

I'll post back after the upgrade to let you know if things came out any better.


Thanks. My Sony 32XBR4 is 720p with 1366x768 pixels as well.
Author:  fra [ Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:34 am ]
Post subject: 
Would the suggestion in this thread really resolve the issue?
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12643

So should I just hookup the TV, hit tv when booting from the CD, go through everything as usual, and then edit the X config file as in the thread? Is this safe to do? Would it really bypass looking for and setting the modelines?
Author:  slowtolearn [ Wed Sep 12, 2007 5:49 am ]
Post subject: 
fra wrote:
Would the suggestion in this thread really resolve the issue?
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12643

So should I just hookup the TV, hit tv when booting from the CD, go through everything as usual, and then edit the X config file as in the thread? Is this safe to do? Would it really bypass looking for and setting the modelines?
Again, why exactly are you re-installing? Have you
* - Shutdown your KM box
* - Disconnected the monitor
* - Placed said KM box near TV
* - Hooked up said KM box to TV
* - Powered up said KM box ??

There is no reason to reinstall just because you want to use the TV-out...
Author:  fra [ Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:41 am ]
Post subject: 
slowtolearn wrote:
fra wrote:
Would the suggestion in this thread really resolve the issue?
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12643

So should I just hookup the TV, hit tv when booting from the CD, go through everything as usual, and then edit the X config file as in the thread? Is this safe to do? Would it really bypass looking for and setting the modelines?
Again, why exactly are you re-installing? Have you
* - Shutdown your KM box
* - Disconnected the monitor
* - Placed said KM box near TV
* - Hooked up said KM box to TV
* - Powered up said KM box ??

There is no reason to reinstall just because you want to use the TV-out...


yeah you're right. sorry. that's not really what i meant to say. (i was just wondering what i should've done had i not ran the installation already.)

let me rephrase and ask what i should do NOW:

once I power up with the pvr hooked up to the tv, should i go into the X config file and do the edits suggested in that thread instead of looking up the modelines of the tv? is it really equivalent? (in which case it is a better solution, since fiddling with modelines is a pain!)

since i now know how to redo the mythtv setup, rescanning for cable is a non-issue. so i just need to figure out what to do to have an optimal display on my tv.
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