My TV-OUT feature on my card... some help.

[kool_in_rm]

I just bought this pc, and I'm not sure what card its got, but it has an S-video port on it. And I connected it to my television, but on the instructions it says I need to go in 'Display' in my Control Panel to activate it, but I can't find where I'm supposed to go. It says that once I'm in 'Display', I should click on the 'Settings' tab. No problem yet. Then I should click on the 'Advanced' button near the bottom. No problem yet. But then it says: Click the tab for your video card's TV Out/secondary display (usually named NVIEW, TWINVIEW, or 3DFX TV).

And there are no tabs like the one described above. The only tabs are: General, Adapter, Monitor, Troubleshoot, Color Management, and GeForce FX 5200.

Once I was supposed to find the tab that I didn't find, I was supposed to click 'Clone' or 'Enable output to TV'. But those buttons aren't anywhere.

Does anyone know? Thanks.

[kool_in_rm]

Newsflash.. i played around some more, and I found that 'nview' tab they were talking about. It was a sidebar that only appeared at times.. anyways, I also found the clone button and I clicked it but my TV image didn't change. It didn't work. Now.. the plug on my video card is an s-video plug (5 holes) and I used the short cable that came with the computer that changes that s-video into a regular Tv Out plug.. (yknow the ones with colors, yellow white and red.) Well this one was yellow, so I just used another longer cable to lengthen this yellow cable to my TV, but the problem is my TV doesn't have this jack where the yellow one is supposed to go, so I plugged it into the VCR, and my VCR is connected to my TV. Is it because the cable is connected to my VCR that this isn't working? Is it absolutely necessary for it to be connected to the TV first? I don't really see why it wouldn't work like it is now. I think it should.. but I don't know what the problem is.

[snafu099]

Going through the vcr is fine as long as cables are connected properly, when passed through the vcr via componit inputs you also need then to select proper "source/input" on vcr

My vcr has coaxil (cable/antenal), rear composite and front composeite inputs, so I have to select between them to get proper feed displayed.

There should also be a check box somewhere in the settings about "theater mode" that needs to be checed I think to alow vid being play on pc to show on tv,

[DaBarrister]

Depending on your OS and your card, you may need to enable the video out to TV. In my case, the Savage S3 won't do TV out when my screen size is greater than 640 x 480, so when I want to do video out I have to go into Display Properties - Settings - Advanced - S3 Displays and enable TV Out, S-Video port, NTSC. The system then enables the TV out and automatically resets the display to 640 x 480. This is for Win 98 SE (get to Display Properties by right clicking on an empty part of the screen and select Proeprties).

Your mileage may vary.

[mats.hogberg]

I'd recommend TVTool, essential piece of soft for TV out...
...and there are composite to scart adaptors available (a scart with red/white/yellow - comes with PlayStation).

/Mats

[Nelson37]

Are you certain this is Video-out? This "convertor" cable should not contain the red and white audio cable in addition to the yellow video, unless this is Video-IN for a capture card and the "S-Video" port is a proprietary connector for a breakout box.

I believe the NVidia is similar to the ATI card in this respect. There should be a second port and matching cable for the Video-OUT on the card. Sound output probably from the Sound card.

[kool_in_rm]

I finally got it to work. It didn't work through the VCR, I think because the VCR I used was a piece of sh**, so I brought my 36" TV from upstairs downstairs and tried it on that. It worked very well. I'm impressed with the quality of the divx movies I have. But now, I wish to find an extension cable to connect it to my 52" TV which is about 15 meters away from my PC. If I do find a video cable that long, will the image quality decrease because of the length of the cable? I don't think it will but it may.. does anyone know? I can't wait to view Battle Royale on a f***** 52" TV screen.

And by the way, I'm talking about the regular video cable. I don't know what it's called, but it's the yellow one that usually comes with a red and white one. A lot of TV have these plugs in the back. And I'll also have to extend another cable for my sound.. that cable'll be harder to find because it's a thin speaker cable.. I hooe the sound will remain the same.

[Tearren]

The cable with the Yellow, White and Red is know as Composite or also A/V (as in Audio and Video) cable.

I'm in the US, so a 45 foot composite cable? That is pretty long, I think it would be hard to find. I doubt you could pick one up at a local electronics store. The longest I have seen, I think, is 12. I guess you could buy several cables and link them together. There could be some signal degradation linking that many.

Have you considered a wireless solution?

Tearren

[kool_in_rm]

Well I thought it might be difficult to find a long composite cable. I searched for a couple of minutes on eBay and found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3074098473

I think this would be perfect, because there's actually only 1 cable, just what I need, and it's not too expensive. This cable would do the job perfectly right?

A wireless connection didn't even enter my mind.. but I don't think it would be the right answer here. I imagine it would be more expensive than the above solution.

Thanks.

[snafu099]

I picked up and use a 50', 2 wire rca cable at a electronic swap meet (actually use two to get stero + vid) sitill looks good to me.

while just playing I used coax cable with adaptor- spool from const. site- and did not notice unacceptable quality loss.

[presto]

My ATI Radeon card will not activate the TV out if it is hooked to a VCR. I found that if I hood it to a TV so that it activates, I can then move the cable to the VCR with not trouble.

[Fluffbutt]

I'm not too sure of this, but I think your vid card may have on-chip tv out (mine does)...

TvTool won't work with on-chip tv out, and to be honest it's not worth mucking about with. Nvidia screwed us with the crap on-chip solution, like it did with the G4 Mx series...

[clifbel]

Kool,
you can buy av cable by the meter in a good electronics shop and the av plugs that connect at each end. Not sure what country you are in but in australia Tandy electronics or Dick Smith electronics have these. Its been a common problem since tv out cards became popular. May be cheaper and quicker than the ebay option. Also the quality loss would be very minimal and probably un-noticable until the cable length got to about 25 meters or more.
8) Cliff

[handyguy]

"I just bought this pc, and I'm not sure what card its got, but it has an S-video port on it. "

did you get a manual? What computer & OS?

Anyway, my TV has to be on first before the computer is turned on for this stuff to work.

[kool_in_rm]

Thanks for the idea clifbel. I think I will go to an electronics shop beofre I buy anything from eBay. I found everything I need from eBay, but the prices may be cheaper at a local electronics shop, plus I won't have to wait for the shipping.

The AV cable I provided a link for earlier is gold plated.. should I look for gold plated cables only? I assume both would work fine, but the gold plated one will not reduce the quality of the video at all - or at least a lot less than a regular metal cable, right? (I measured the length and it is closer to 60' that I need..)

Thanks.

I have OS Windows XP Home Edition.
Pentium 4 CPU 2.80GHz
512 MB of RAM
Size: 152 GB
And I think my video card is this one: GeForce FX 5200.