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]

Both the Radeon 7k and 9k-9250 are covered with this driver:

Omega Drivers v3.8.252

http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=14

you will need the above version or earlier...

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]

<<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.>>
That certainly COULD be the issue to the b/w.

At this point I have a 1m SVideo to RCA lead and two RCA m-f extensions because of the physical distance bewteen the PC and the TV I'm experimenting with. It been suggested to me that even the extensions may prevent colour .....
So it could be that I have to find a suffciently long Svideo to RCA cable ....

To continue my earlier narrative. I did get the driver and a console utility from the vendor. End result : only two of [two PC monitors plus TV] are 'activated; and the TV is b/w
So I will try 'my own' Radeon 9200 again and see if I can reproduce the activation of all three displays. THEN I'll need to tackle the b/w problem.

There IS progress....

 

[Sebastian42]

Getting closer & closer ....
I've achieved COLOUR display on the TV from the Radeon 7000 graphics card, with a Radeon Omega driver for Win2K/XP v3.8.252, through a 4-pin SVideo cable/lead from a 7-pin SVideo socket.
UNlike a previous partly successful attempt, I can have only two displays.
My Radeon 9250 card has a 4pin SVideo socket - so far I've had strange results, but with Omega driver (that should be good for 9250 as well), that may improve. I will report when I've tried that.

 

[BadBigBen]

Glad to hear that you are getting there slowly..

the following pinout is just for informational purposes, for those inclined to know...

S-Video (7 pin)

Available on some PC video cards. The first four pins are same as standard S-Video connector. Pin 5-7 carry composite video.
Pinout

7 PIN MINI-DIN (SPECIAL) FEMALE at the peripheral.
Pin Name Description
1 GND Ground (Y)
2 GND Ground (C)
3 Y Intensity (Luminance)
4 C Color (Chrominance)
5
6 V Composite Video
7 VGND Composite Ground

source: The HwB - S-Video (7 pin)



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]

Quest achieved !

Final summary

I wanted to display the screen contents from my tower PC on a TV. I first tried VGA to RCA converters; then I realised I had a SVideo socket on the video card, so tried a SVideo to RCA cable; My video card was Radeon7000; I bought a Gigabyte card with 128Mb; I realised I myself had a Radeon9200 with 64Mb.

I spent much time and effort experimenting with the above items without success until I got the right driver (from a forum reference) for the original card, Radeon7000, which had been giving me good service as a dual monitor graphics card.

I'm taking the signal through a 4pin SVideo connection to ONE RCA socket on the TV, and getting good colour, but font sizes easily readable on a PC screen, are illegible on the TV.

Only two display devices are available at any one time.

 

[cdogg]

Great! Glad you got the black & white issue resolved.

As for the font issues, remember that older television sets cannot display high resolutions well. In fact, most TV's older than 8 years have an optimal resolution of 352x288 which is the standard adopted a long time ago for CIF (Common Intermediate Format). Often times, running your computer at 640x480 resolution got it low enough to look OK on an old TV, but as you know, Windows XP doesn't natively allow resolutions lower than 800x600. There are ways to force it as noted in that ixbtlabs.com article that Ben and I posted above. Just be careful not to damage your computer's monitor in the process. Only then will the text look sharp enough to read.

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

 

[Sebastian42]

For what it is worth, I do NOT want to read text on the TV - I just want it to display pics/clips which I may want to record. The TV (from China) was new in 2007.