Getting my computer coming through my telly

[acrobat]

Hey all. I have done this before and it worked great... It took me a lot of messing around to try to figure out how to get it working, but I did it eventually.

I have been using it for the past few weeks. I can use my computer normally, and then when I go to bed, I can set off a movie on my PC's DVD player and watch it in bed through the TV. I can also play games in bed with a wireless keyboard, just looking at it through my big TV. (not an HD-TV by the way)

I just take a lead from my graphics card to the AV1 on my TV. The only catch, is that I needed to reboot my PC for the display to appear on my TV.

Anyway, I did it by using "Nvidia Control Panel", then "Display", then "Run Multiple Display Wizard".

But I changed it back to single monitor only the other day, and now I cant get it working again The Nvidia software seems pretty buggy. I can get the display to show up again, but its all grey and fuzzy. I set up the resolution and colour depth properly (it needed to be 640x480), but its still not working properly.

Anyone got any tips for me?

Thanks

[lanceuppercut]

try 800x600, im sure most non HD tvs use that res.

[DecomposingStar]

I get the same problem, so im interested to hear about this one.

Have you tried restarting?

[DanceswithUnix]

I have found some cards can sense if the SVGA is plugged in on bootup, and if not then that port won't work until you plug the telly in and reboot again.

[acrobat]

Changing resolution didnt seem to work. Its just distorted in 800x600 but it all fits well in 640x480. But the problem seems to be the refresh rate or the colours or something. Because the image is sized perfectly, but its all greyed out and a fuzzy.

Also, I tried restarting the PC about 50 times with slight changes each time Didnt work

I really suspect the Nvidia software, because I am convinced it is buggy. Sometimes when I change the resolution it resets the screen. Sometimes it doesnt seem to do anything. And a couple of times it has hung on me and I had to use task manager to close the nvidia control panel.

Its just so wierd that I've had it working before for weeks, and now I cant get it going again.

[scrandman]

The TV out on any nVidia card I've tried is pretty pants when linked up to an analogue (CRT) TV.

You either get grey, or really poor colours offset from where they are meant to be.

I always used the s-video out connector linked to a Scart adaptor. A poor quality Scart gave me B&W whereas a better quality Scart gave me hazy colours.

Anyway, I use a LCD TV now (Samsung 27"). Looks great with a regular D-sub cable, but is pants using a DVI to HDMI cable - figure that out if you can!

[Biscuit]

try ignoring what nvidia says. Reboot then rightclick on desktop, go to properties then settings and see if it shows up there.
I would avoid using the wizard and try doing it from the change display. Not sure u can as last time i did that was with my ati x700

edit: sorry ignore me i didnt read it properly :s

[adam1701]

I have the same problem, when i plug the computer into tv via s-video its all blurry!

[acrobat]

hehe. 2007 and connecting a telly is still a pain in the bum

As for the connection, I think im using S-VIDEO. I just took the lead straight from my vid card, and the lead turns into a little yellow male thing. I put that in my AV slot in my telly and it worked after I set it up in Windows.

But its the wizard process which is causing me the trouble I think. The colours where never perfect or HD quality or anything like that. But it looked almost as good as a normal TV picture. Plenty good enough to watch films and stuff anyway. But now I cant even get it back to being like that. I keep getting grey and fuzzy, like I have the wrong refresh rate set up or something. (But the refresh rate is set up properly)

I'll have another go tonight. My stupid graphics card put all the manual on its CD, so I have to find the CD again and load it my PDF viewer.

[scrandman]

In the nVidia control panel, make sure you're using PAL instead of NTSC. NTSC through a PAL telly will give you the b&w picture.

[acrobat]

Thanks a lot! Will have to try that tomorrow. I did try changing that before but I cant remember if I chose PAL or NTSC. I'll try anyway, and let ya know if it works.

[acrobat]

Ok so Nvidia are crap

I can change to PAL or NTSC but neither stick after I close the screen. If I pick say PAL, and then click apply, I can then close the page and open it again and its still set to nothing..

Thats not the only thing that doesnt stick with Nvidias driver settings.

Im fed up of this because I had it working once before and now it wont work no matter what settings I choose. Does anyone know any other software that will let me get output on to my TV? Preferably something free like shareware or freeware or something.

I am convinced now that all of Nvidias software is a waste of space.


(p.s. And dont get me started on the 8800gtx! Grrrrr!)

[scrandman]

You could try RivaTuner - its a third party utility that lets you customise all of the settings and is preferred by many to nVidia's own GUI. You still need the nVidia drivers installed though, and I'm not sure what it offers in terms of TV-out options. It's pretty good for changing fan speed & overclocking though.

[acrobat]

Cool thank you Had no internet so haven't been able to reply for a week.

Anyway I got it working again. For some reason, I was using a crappy old CRT monitor and it stopped working. When I reconnected my new LCD screen, it started working again. I still haven't tried it in DualView where you can have different resolutions on each screen, but in Clone view, it is working great. So I just change my desktop resolution to 640x480, and it displays everything on my TV aswell, and its nice and clear and looks good

I will tweak it sometime in the future, but the nvidia software is so dodgy im a bit wary of playing around with it incase it stops working again.

[edp33]

I had similar problems setting up tv out for my nvidia 6600GT, the aspect ratio was always wrong. Only fix was to download the older 81.xx drivers, that fixed the problem.

I'm reluctant to upgrade to a 8800 because of this, got at least another month before the new ati comes out...

[adam1701]

I have a 7900gs, and when i plug it into tv via svideo, the picture is blurry and it would not be possible to watch video properly on it!!

any ideas?