PC to TV

[Sebastian42]

I would like to make a TV the 'secondary monitor' instead of the PC monitor (which works fine). Device Manager says that the Display Adapter is RADEON 7000 / RADEON VE Family. I have connected the secondary monitor socket on the video card via a Dick Smith PCtoTV converter to the TV's RCA Video input socket without success. I've tried another product, almost twice the cost with the same negative result. What might be lacking (in the TV or the PC) ?
I connected that same TV input video socket via the Dick Smith converter from a laptop, and the result was an 'image' which drifted diagonally, but of which I could see only a border. When that laptop was connected via a cable from its S-video sicket to the same TV input video socket, a b/w image of ONLY the desktop appeared, without shortcuts or open programs.
I've added the information about the laptop just in case it is useful, and more importantly, because it gave the beginnings of success which attempts with the PC failed to achieve.

 

[BadBigBen]

Your GFX Card probably is not able to display to two different Video Outputs...

so you may want to consider to upgrade to a later compatible card, these can be had on eBay for peanuts these days, or to completely go for a new system...


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[Sebastian42]

Ben
Your advice may be good - but did you miss my statement that I get good display on two monitors ?
What is more, surely the (expensive) converter is there to fix any shortcoming in the video card ?

Since my post, I have discovered that the Radeon card also has an S_video socket; so I have connected it, with no good result. I can't even find any recognition in Device Manager or Display that there is this third option.

To complicate matter further, I've discovered that I can also connect to the VGA socket ON THE MOTHERBOARD - again NO GOOD.

 

[cdogg]

Sebastian,
The VGA port on your motherboard is not active because you have the Radeon card installed and in use.

I suspect there is something wrong or not working right with your "Dick Smith PCtoTV converter". Try it once more using the lowest resolution setting of 800x600 (or 640x480 if you have an older version of Windows installed). Make sure the refresh rate on the card is set to 60Hz.

If that doesn't work, then it would help to have more information on your hardware. Using the link below, tell us exactly what card you have and what connectors you see on the back. Please make sure you are not confusing S-video with composite. Also double-check the TV input you are using to be sure you aren't accidently using the "component" high-def inputs. The TV make/model would be nice as well.

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeon7000/radeon7000/faq.html#1

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[BadBigBen]

Sebastian,

yep, I sure did miss that... I guess it was a tad unclear to me, but now that I reread the post I know I missed it...

so ignore my first rambling...

and as CDogg mentioned please tell us the exact model, that will help us help you in hooking up the PC to TV, so that you can enjoy watching movies...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[SkipCox]

Years ago, I had the 64Mb AGP flavor of this card. The TV out worked fine on it. As I recall, if you wanted to use composite, a s-video to composite adapter cable was needed.

You have the original driver cd that came with the card?



Skip

 

[Sebastian42]

cdogg
<<The VGA port on your motherboard is not active because you have the Radeon card installed and in use.>>
I thought that aligned with my previous experience, but I revised that opinion when I found in WinXP's HELP on 'multiple monitors' that : "Up to 10 may be connected" AND "Each needs a video card" That does not exactly say that the motherboard VGA will survive, but I thought it hinted at it.

The gadget I am currently trialling is no longer from Dick Smith's, but it is about twice as expensive.

I have discoverved that my own (rather old) laptop also has a TV-out (video socket) which (UNLIKE someone else's laptop) does NOT give me an image on the TV, but it does allow me to look at settings in which TV is an enabled option - at 60Hz.
I tried to set it to resolution of 800x600, but it chose 1024 x 0

I'm prepared to abandon my attemps with the PC that has given me no success whatsoever, and concentrate instead on the laptop - it's a Compaq Armada E500 running WinXP with
512Mb RAM at 1GHz.

As far as the TV goes - it has already displayed b/w version of a desktop from a more modern laptop. I NOW know that I should have dragged a program onto it, but at the time I did 'the experiment' I thought there was something wrong because ONLY the wallpaper showed - and so I did not try, but WILL do so tomorrow night.

SkipCox
The dual monitor video card did NOT come with the PC - I doubt I ever had a CD for it - I probably found a driver on The Net for it - It works fine with two PC monitors.
I would have thought that if there is a video socket (whatever the type is) on the card, that the architechture of the card, and the contents of the driver, would deliver video-out capability.
The video socket has 7 pinholes - does that specify whether it is S_video or composite ?

 

[Sebastian42]

I just found the following from the URL given by cdogg :

The Radeon™ 7000 graphic cards support the following 2 connectors:
1.) VGA - for driving a standard CRT (Analog) monitor
2.) TV-Out - an s-video connector which can be connected to a television or VCR.

That at least settles the capability of the video-out socket.

A connection from that socket to the TV does NOT display anything on the TV. If it CAN be salvaged, I'd love it.
I'd expect to keep running two PC monitors from that card normally, and occasionally I'd use the video to TV/VCR feature/capability.

 

[Sebastian42]

Further developments !!!!!
After a reboot of my own laptop - which was already connected from RCA video socket on the laptop to RCA video socket on the TV - the TV had become a monochrome primary display, with zilch showing on the laptop's LCD screen. The detail on the TV was illegible, so control was not possible. Had to reboot to get the display back onto the laptop's LCD.

 

[Sebastian42]

EVEN more developments ....
After rebooting the laptop and AGAIN trying to 'extend my Windows desktop to this monitor' for the TV, it was successful. I could move the mouse on the TV screen.

Only thing is that the display is monochrome. Where is the cause of that likely to be ? Can it be remedied ?

 

[BadBigBen]

Only thing is that the display is monochrome. Where is the cause of that likely to be ? Can it be remedied ?

Cause: Composite Video input on TV or NTSC on PAL TV (or vice versa)...

remedy: (have a read)

How to connect the S-Video TV-Out of your computer

http://www.svideo.com/compaq1700.html

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[Sebastian42]

BadBigBen
The URL you gave me was my starting point BEFORE I made my posting. Since those goods are in Brtian and I am in Australia, I thought I would try what is available here first - so far without any wothwhile success.

 

[BadBigBen]

Sebastian, do you have SCART on the TV or just S-Video and RCA plugs?

if you do have SCART, then a converter cable from S-Video to SCART is all you would need, alternatively a VGA to SCART cable would also do...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[Sebastian42]

BadBigBen
NO scart on the TV.

Apologies for the various spelling mistakes.

I fitted a second video card - there are only PCI slots available now. It is an S3 Trio 32/64 card. It has VGA ONLY. I tried the $200 converter on that - it gives a fairly consistent display of a b/w geometric jumble on the TV. Even when I click on the Identify button, the TV shows a jumble of the pieces of '2'.

I suspect that the Converter is faulty, because that is the best result it gave from the laptops as well - whereas direct connection between SVideo or RCA on the laptops gave a b/w TV image - which was poor, but 'reciognisable'.

 

[BadBigBen]

it does sound like the converter (VGA to SVideo) maybe damaged...

as to the SVideo to RCA, which should be the actually a S-Video to Composite cable (

http://www.hardwarebook.info/S-Video_to_Composite),

since that works and it seems only that the color is missing (which tells me that it is using the WRONG TV format, e.g. NTSC instead of PAL)...

see if this is of any use:

Composite and S-Video Connection of RADEON Cards to TV and Movie Playback

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/radeon-tv-out/

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[Sebastian42]

I found that yet another video card - a Matrox Graphics A....
gives more flexibility for setting resoltion. This is for the 'tower' PC. The b/w result I mentioned are for laptops (which are merely being used to test the system). The PCtoTV converter has been returned to the store (and refunded).

Thank you for those URLs
I will check them out.

I'm beginning to think that maybe I should forget about converters, but get another video card that has a (quality ?) TV-out.

 

[cdogg]

Read the info at these two links:

1)

http://www.techimo.com/forum/graphics-cards-displays/69857-radeon-7000-tv-out-problem.html

2)

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/radeon-tv-out/

As you can see, there are a lot of things you need to look at ranging from the order in which you power on the devices to the exact type of S-Video connector and cable. Hopefully that helps persuade you to try out the Radeon card again. The All-in-Wonder (AIW) Radeon cards were among the best back in the day for low-to-mid range prices. There's no reason it wouldn't work aside from the card being defective. However if you do decide to get a newer card, you might want to look for an AIW Radeon 9500 or 9700 that will surely have better driver support in Windows XP.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[Sebastian42]

I have both bought a card (Gygabyte) and found that I had one already (Radeon 9200) - will report when I get drivers and test them.

 

[Sebastian42]

I looked for drivers for the Radeon 7000 - which gives me good service in WinXP as dual monitor display but nothing from SVideo - I could find none for WinXP, only for earlier O/Ss.

I downloaded a driver for the Radeon 9200 SE Family (the one I discovered that I already had), and installed it and got reasonable satisfaction - except that the TV image was b/w.

I tried the bought Gigabyte ATI R925128D Extreme - apparently second hand. I was not given a driver. The first driver I downloaded lacked the WinXP component. The second one I installed; the result was NOTHING on the TV; the secondary monitor was a clone of the first and in Display's Settings tab only one monitor showed. The Advanced button did NOT yield a Displays tab, (where on the laptops I would see possible display connections, including a TV).

I will ask the vendor of the graphics card for a driver, in case I don't have the optimal one.

 

[cdogg]

I think one of the biggest things you are overlooking is the type of S-video port that you have on the video card. Look again at the ixbtlabs.com link I posted above. Or better yet, check this link out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-DIN_connector

If you have a 9-pin mini-DIN connector (as most ATI cards do), then you need a cable like the one listed here:

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=2702995

Otherwise if you use a standard 4-pin cable, you will cause an impedence problem that "washes out" the color signal. You can find all sorts of information about this on the web.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.