Folks,

I have been a happy KM fan for a while now (R5F27). My main problem that I need to overcome is getting tvout to work. I currently have a GeForce MX 4000 AGP which I have never even gotten a signal out on the TV. It works fine displaying to my monitor but it would be much more pleasing to my spousal unit to display it on the TV S-Video. Monitoring the forums, I have seen everything from "worked out of the box" to "never got it to work" for my current card

I need to either get what I have to work or buy another card.

Thanks,
Kevin

You're a little thin on details here but I'm pretty sure your solution lies in the basics so lets start with that. There are two keys to a getting X working with S-Video output.

1) The appropriate driver (and version) for your video card. Many people with the MX4 series chips are having problems with the default nVidia drivers provided with R5F27. For directions on installing alternate drivers look here: http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=NVidiaDriversR5F27 Don't forget to disable the script that checks for an nvidia card and tries to install the "appropriate" version if one is found and it's not already the one it thinks it should be.

2) An appropriate X configuration file. There are lots of example ones posted in the forums. I know I've posted mine several times and it should be pretty close to what you need.

More than anything else, you've got to be willing to read (and try to understand) some documentation and some log files. I'm guessing that there's a message in your /var/log/Xorg.0.log now which would explain your problems with S-Wideo output.

tjc,

I was intentionally vague as I have been fighting this for quite a while now (< R5E*) with no success and I am afraid that I am missing something obvious. The wiki page you mention was not up the last time I looked shortly after R5F27 came out. I have seen many posts that talk about the drivers and many that talk about the X config (usually contradictory setups).

What messages am I looking for in my Xlog file? All I see is II,WW,**, and -- messages, no EEs. I have even tried yours in the past with no joy. I am not an X newbie though I have not done anything exotic like tvout or dual heads with it.

Thanks,
Kevin

You might try a fx5200. Free after rebate:

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5154646

I had seen mention favorably about the fx5200 and even the fx5500 here on the forums. Will the fx5200 definitely work with R5F27 with minimal well documented setup?

I have a GeForce FX5200 in my main FE.
IT upgraded from R5C7 to R5F27 with absolutely no issues. Took the latest Nvidia Drivers and all.
Just made sure when I did my install I used the "tv" option.
I am driving a Sony 41KP35 tv - 41" SD Projection.

I noticed when I put in the FX5200 it was a vast improvement over the MX 4000 I was running previously.

The one linked to above should be fine for you. It is a passive cooled unit (great for a Living Room TV), just make sure you have decent airflow past the heat sink although those don't seem to run particularly hot.

hth

Thanks mythedoff! You can't do much better than (almost) free

Strangely enough, they are back ordered...

bigbro, thanks for the input. What nvidia driver are you using? Also, other than xorg.conf setup does the install tv option do anything to the myth evironment? I used tv but I have done quite a few things to get this thing going

I'm using an FX5200 based card and it works well. Most folks seem to have good luck with them. We do see an occasional problems report, but it's hard to tell if the problem is cheap POS hardware or just a PEBCAK issue.

After my experiences with the MX4 based graphics in my first KM machine I generally recommend that you look for a card with DVI output even if you're just going to use the S-Video port. Based on some scuttlebutt, the DVI standards are a bit more stringent about voltage levels and as a result the makers have to use a better grade of passive components. This results in a more "in spec." S-Video output as a side effect.

As for what to look for in the logfiles; What driver is it using? What modeline? What are the (WW) warnings? Is it supporting Xv? For SDTV output you really want to pin the resolution to 640x480 or the appropriate PAL resolutions. You should also set you sync ranges very conservatively not just because of potential damage but far more because TVs are _not_ MultiSync monitors and many will only accept a very narrow range of HorizSync and VertRefresh values. I know that mine is *very* finicky about modelines and if the signal is more than a hair out of spec all it shows is a blank blue screen.

tjc,

Can you point me to the wiki page(s) for your xorg.conf? Am I correct the nvidia driver that comes with R5F27 is the driver of choice?

Thanks,
Kevin

A quick search for posts with me as the author that mentioned all of xorg.conf and ModulePath (chosen arbitrarily as a keyword that would be in the file but that I would be likely to discuss much) turned up this: http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13474&highlight=xorg+conf+modulepath

For some time now, a xorg.conf with TV for nvidia based chipsets has been shipped with KnoppMyth. While not a gaurantee, in most cases it just works.Or something like that...

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

OK, that is the one I tried with my 4000 w/o success. Now all I need is my FX5200

I set up my brand, spanking new fx5200 and I (and my wife ) are now watching TV shows on the, well, TV.

But of course, now I have more questions. It appears that the mode lines need some adjustment. The display seems to be wider than the physical screen. It has been years since I have hand modified this. Is there a tool available in deb/myth to adjust this?

Also (off topic?), I would like to go through my video switch. This works fine for composite but even though I have an svideo input the signal seems to be blocked. I have seen mention of signal converters and was curious what my options might be.

You should be able to tune the display size with Nvidia Settings. There are multiple posts about that, but I seem to remember a good one over ont eh knoppmythwiki.org too.

On the convertor, I setup a Kworld Tv Tuner/Convertor for my college kid a couple of months back.

Here are my observations regarding that convertor.

It had 1440x900 out via a VGA connector feeding a 22" widescreen LCD panel that could run 1680x1050.

The tuner was exceptional clear and sharp driving the monitor to 1440x900 through VGA port..
The Video driving the monitor directly off the PC via DVI was out of an Nvidia 8600 GT (I think) displaying captured video off of a Hauppauge HVR 1600 on both the HD tuner and the SD tuner was great. (Windoze Platform and another open source PVR software product)

Same captured video HD or SD format, running through S-Video and driving the kworld "convertor" section to the VGA port of the monitor at 1440x900 resolution always appeared softened or more like a little fuzzy.

I have seen these results in a couple of other similar although older type convertors.

So my take is anytime you run convertors, you need to accept that there is going to be some degraded quality of the display.

Don't get me wrong, it was still acceptable to watch especially since this combination is running multiple duties. The Goal, a High end workstation, that can also watch TV, can take the place of a VCR, and can even allow the monitor to display the console box video games all through 1 very nice high end monitor and we also got a TV tuner in the little box.

hth.

I see that you have already "bought" a 5200, but let me say that I recall that the computer CRT must be disconnected and the SVideo connected from the card to the TV (and the system powered off/on) for my MX-440 to display on the SVideo output, but then it displays everything, even the BIOS display before boot up displays fine.

Did it ever display anything on the TV screen, even the BIOS Power On Self Test? If not then you could test to see if this was your whole problem all along by putting the old card back in, connected to the TV vis SVideo and making sure the computer display (DB-15 connector) is disconnected before first powering it on. I would avoid letting it boot up into Knoppmyth this way or it will auto-detect the hardware change and force you back into myth tv setup (no real problem, just confusing).

If it never displayed anything on the TV before, and now it displays the BIOS POST, then I would hang onto that card for use in another KM system, like a satellite FrontEnd in another room. Multiple FE's can view different shows at the same time from the combined FE/BE of your main system. I watch from the bedroom on my Ubuntu laptop via WiFi. That is <really> neat! Note that WiFi (802.11 "g" "a" or "n" but not "b") is only fast enough for one (maybe two) standard def systems to watch at the same time. High def is a no-go except maybe for lower def high defs on the faster "n".

As I recall
a = 54mbs
b = 11mbs
g = 54mbs
g turbo = 108mbs
n = 248 mbs
but actual throughput is always less than half of that.

If you can put up with the wire, wired is always better than wifi. It is secure (someone parked outside can't access it) and solid (wifi is always a little flaky).

Cliff

_________________
R5F27 using R5F1 Nvidia drivers
HD-5500 analog from NTSC Sat Rx, with OTA DVB too
GeForce MX-440 SVideo tvout to a TV
Older dual core 3.4ghz Intel CPU
Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard
2 GB RAM
1 TB LVM2
VirtualBox
Samba