DVD playback not showing up on TV (s-video out in Clone view)

[kalii2]

I have a monitor and a TV connected to my nVidia Geforce 5200 using clone view mode, and it's got some strange issues when it comes to video playback.
It's kind of messy but here goes:

I can play streaming video from places like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube on my computer and it shows up just fine on the TV. Unless it is a Divx file (using the embedded Divx Web Player), then I just get a black screen on the TV (but plays fine on the computer monitor)

Now. If I play a DVD in my DVD drive on the computer, using VLC, I get a black screen. But if I play the DVD using the Divx player (version 7)... it works. The video shows on the TV.
Same with .avi files. Playing them with VLC or WMP just gives a black screen on the TV (plays fine on the computer monitor) But playing them with the Divx player works. I get video on the TV!
Thing is, the Divx player is a little wonky and the video is choppy if I put it in full screen, so I'd rather not have to use it
From what I recall reading somewhere, Divx format files don't play well with TV-OUT/sVideo, so that I get. But why won't the DVD and .avi files play on the TV using VLC or WMP, but they will with the Divx player?? I'm stumped. And not all that video savvy as you can see. ( I don't have a DVD decoder for WMP anymore thanks to a rebuild of my computer, so I can't test that, but I'm assuming that it would be the same deal as the .avi files.)

[Baldrick]

Sounds like a video overlay issue. Try set the tv out to the primary monitor in clone mode and see if you get any video.

[kalii2]

Just to clarify, when the player is not in full screen the desktop still shows up on the TV, but the part of the video player where the video should be playing is just a black box (or the whole TV is blank if I put it in full screen mode)
I'll try that though and see if it works.

[jagabo]

The problem has to do with the graphics card's video overlay feature. It isn't working on the second display. You can get around this several ways.

1) Disable video overlay by moving the Hardware Acceleration setting down. From the Display Properties dialog select the Settings tab and press the Advanced button. Go to the Troubleshoot tab and move the Hardware Acceleration slider down. Reboot. Using this method is not optimal because you are slowing down your graphics.

2) Start playing another video first (in another player) then play the video you want. Only one program at a time can use video overlay so the first player will get it. The second will display directly on the Desktop.

3) Use a different output renderer in VLC. Tools -> Preferences -> Video. In the Display section change the Output pulldown. Try Windows GDI. Some of the others may work too.

4) Try updating your graphics card's drivers to the latest WHQL certified drivers.

[kalii2]

So it looks like that was the issue. I opened one video in WMP and then another in VLC and the VLC video shows on the TV. Thanks!
Now, how do I go about making this work without having to open two programs??
I have a pretty old computer and I dunno if it's going to sustain this method. Plus, it's kind of annoying to have to open two players just to get VLC to work...