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nVidia black and white on TV screen
http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19548		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  tvdm [ Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:14 pm ]
Post subject:  nVidia black and white on TV screen
Ok. I have seen many postings regarding this issue which are similar but I have found no solution for my situation.

I have an nVidia FX6600LE video card in a KnoppMyth R5.5 installation. The video is provided from the S-Video port of the card through an S-Video-to-composite dongle, then a cable to composite video in on the TV. I can see the picture but it is only black and white.

I know the card is working with color because during the entire KnoppMyth installation, while connected to the TV, the picture was in color with the same cable connection.

I have copied the xorg.conf.nvidia.tv.out.sample as the xorg.conf file and rebooted the machine. I could still see the picture, but it was still black and white.

So, I changed the 'TVOutputFormat' to 'COMPOSITE' as many people suggested and rebooted again. This time, once it got past the bootup sequence, the screen went completely blank.

Anybody have any ideas?!?

Thank you
Author:  cecil [ Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:21 am ]
Post subject: 
Check it wiki.
Author:  tvdm [ Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:33 am ]
Post subject: 
Grrr. I checked out the wiki. I have tried installing all sorts of different versions of the nVidia driver. Still no luck.

I do believe the problem is in xorg.conf. By trying to get color I simply added the following lines to the "Monitor" section of xorg.conf:

Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPOSITE"

This however caused the TV screen to be completely black after boot up.
Author:  paulsid [ Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:54 am ]
Post subject: 
This won't be encouraging, but I had the exact same black-and-white picture problem with one of those adapters. My setup was different than yours though - I had cable box composite to my tuner card S-Video in (using the adapter), then S-Video out on my nVidia card to S-Video in on the TV.

I couldn't find a solution either so I gave up and switched to coaxial input. In my case it was temporary until getting a better set-top box, but I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent solution.

My (admittedly non-expert) opinion is that the problem is related to the nVidia driver. They don't seem to handle S-Video quite right (regardless of version), as evidenced by the picture being "too big" when using S-Video to TV. That would be further backed up by your saying it was fine during installation - when the driver wouldn't be in use. Probably there is something a little off that causes the signal to break down with the adapter. (If that's nonsense, well, as I said I'm not an expert.)

Now for the obvious question - why are you using composite input on the TV? Does it not have S-Video? You didn't mention your TV type, but if it's just an old CRT, it is trivial nowadays to get one for free. I see them on our local Freecycle mailing list every day (sometimes even 35"), and my mom's been offered at least 3 27"+ sets. But of course if you have a fancy projection unit or something then obviously it ain't gonna be so easy to replace that so I dunno what you can do...

Good luck!
Author:  tvdm [ Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:44 pm ]
Post subject: 
Well, as it turns out I decided to drop the idea of connecting to the composite video connector and went out and purchased an S-Video cable. I thought my TV was too old to have an S-Video connector, but I lucked out because I found it at the back. I didn't originally go looking for it since I didn't think it had one plus it would be at the back of the TV, and with all the video game cables and power cables it was a pain to get to. Plus, IMHO, composite video should also work.

Anyhow, with a small investment in an S-Video cable, I now have full color on the TV.

Thanks to those that have helped.
Author:  Martian [ Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:00 pm ]
Post subject: 
Welcome to the 20th century! :P
Author:  graysky [ Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:52 pm ]
Post subject: 
...21st?
Author:  jzigmyth [ Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:20 pm ]
Post subject: 
tvdm wrote:
S-Video cable
Definitely 20th! :lol:
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