URGENT---Help with FX5700 card to TV

[marcw]

Got a VGA cable and hooked it up. On boot the BIOS and windows XP loading screen looked great. As soon as windows loaded it was out of all out of sync.

I brought my digital flat panel down and hooked it up to the FX5700 w/DVI and the TV with VGA. I played with the settings in the replies. The omly thing that would work is 1920x1080 30hz interlaced. With that setting I get a very small display on the tv when the flat panel is connected.I was able to get it to full screen with a lot of flicker.

Long story short nothing but 30 hz works.

As for display adpater or listed monitors there is nothng there but default. I can go to list all modes and set it to the 1080 but it is as I say above. I am in the process of hooking up my old ATI 5700

plz help..

Marc

[marcw]

This is from the TV specs, Could this be a reason I am having problems.

Dual Scan Capability Automatically Detects Input Format (15.75, 31.5 and 33.75 kHz) and displays at 31.5 or 33.75 kHz

NTSC Conversion Converts Interlaced NTCS 15.75 kHz (480i) to 31.5 kHz (480P) progressive display

[stanger89]

OK, so 1080i works? You're half way there then, don't give up yet! The windows desktop (fonts/lines) will flicker at at any interlaced resolution (30Hz), that's expected. The question is how does the Sage UI look. I get flicker on the windows desktop, but the Sage UI doesn't, and more importantly neither does the video. Video looks awesome at 1080i.

Now assuming you need/want to use the windows desktop, Powerstrip is your next step. Welcome to the world of custom resolutions. The trick is to create new resolutions that the TV thinks are 1080i. The first thing I would try is to get 960x540p working.

Install powerstrip and go to Display Profiles -> Advanced Timings -> Custom Resolutions -> User Defined
Copy the following lines:

PowerStrip timing parameters:
960x540p=960,98,48,142,540,7,1,15,42120,272

Generic timing details for 960x540:
HFP=98 HSW=48 HBP=142 kHz=34 VFP=7 VSW=1 VBP=15 Hz=60
+hsync +vsync

And then click the paste button and click add, you may be asked to reboot.

Here's the best resource I know of about custom resolutions:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=206854

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

[marcw]

I need this for my FX5700 card. Will powerstrip work for this?

Marc

[stanger89]

If 1080i works for you then no you don't need powerstrip, but if you want to run anything else then yes you do.

[marcw]

1080 at 30hz works but the windows desktop is not clean. I want to be able to use the tv also as a monitor. I am just starting to read about custom settings and the 5700 does support these. It looks as if I can try custom settings to get the best picture.

if I go with custom settings to get a good windows desktop will it hurt the video playback.

to think all this to get the picture on the tv and I havenot even tried the PVR yet.

Marc

[stanger89]

What you might want to try first is setting windows to a larger font size, that may make the windows desktop more useable and would be much easier than powerstrip. Plus 960x540 is probably the largest progressive (non-flickery) res you'll be able to run and it can by kind of hard doing things at a desktop that small.

I try to use the highest resolution I can for Sage/Video, that way you get the smoothest picture, less jagged edges, but I don't think you'd see a huge difference between 1080i and 540p.

Glad to hear you have it working though.

Give Sage a try on the TV before you try too much stuff, you may find you have no desire to mess further.

Good luck

[marcw]

Thanks, I need to put the Geoforce card back in and play around with it. I will try the different resolutions and mybae play with the refesh rate.

I ues I need to keep it at the 30hz refresh rate.

Marc

[stanger89]

You'll need Powerstrip to run other resolutions, try the ones in the guide I linked, if you want.

[salsbst]

30hz is for interlaced... 60hz would be used in 960x540 progressive.

[GbrNole]

thanks for finishing what i started there guys

as has been mentioned you must use 30hz for 1920x1080i and 60hz for 960x540p

you can even squeeze out 1920x540p but that results in a very odd looking and squished desktop that is fine for video playback but no good for anything else.

under your nvidia tab there is a button for defining custom resolutions. in this area you can define odd resolutions such as 920x500p at 60hz 32-bit color depth.

powerstrip is as usual the preferred method for defining resolutions but i'm not so sure how well it will work with such a new card so make sure you grab the latest version if you go the powerstrip route.

[marcw]

Will using DVI to composite (HD cables) make life easy for me. I have changed so many settings that I can't find my way back to the setting that allow me to choose 1080i.

Is using the TV as a monitor just not a good idea?

I am beginning to feel like buying another Tivo and networking them together is the way to go.

Marc

[GbrNole]

you can't use dvi to component cable with an nvidia card. that function is reserved for ati radeon 8500,9500,9600,9700 and 9800 cards through use of an add-on dongle that plugs into the dvi socket.

the easiest way to change your resolution is just right click on the desktop and click settings and change you resolution right there with the slider to 640x480 60hz 32-bit color.

once you have that set you can then play with the different resolutions.

one thing to make sure to do is set your video card to single monitor mode. there's no need to have clone and multi monitor support plus it can be a royal pain in the butt when multi monitor is setup and you make a wrong turn.

i'll see if i can find a guide for setting up custom resolutions inside the nvidia drivers. i know someone posted it over at avsforum and i have setup custom resolutions on my dad's nvidia based htpc.

[GbrNole]

go to this nvidia link and read specifically pages 86 thru 92 and 139 thru 142

those pages will tell you how to setup hdtv modes and custom resolutions.

[marcw]

Where did you find this docuemnt. I see they released a new driver version but it is 56.64 and your doc says 56.66.

[GbrNole]

nvidia website.

the 2 driver versions are essentially the same except the .66 version has a fix in it for a problem with unreal tournament.

these drivers also added official support for your fx5700 card.

[marcw]

Thx, I am on the site and can't get to a .66 version. I will continue to look for it.

Marc

[marcw]

Just an FYI, I am connecting with RGB. My set has an RGB connection.

[GbrNole]

right. that's the best choice for you as it saves having to mess around with transcoding signals.

guru3d.com has the 66's i believe.

[marcw]

Can't find the 66 file anywhere. With the 64 version I can't get to an HDTV menu.

Will an ATI card be easier to set up?

My current config is digital flat panel connect to the FX DVI port

RGB out to the RGB port on the TV

In the nvidia set up it is digital FP and analog in a dual view.

The only time I could get it to work was when I wet single display with windows desktop extended. Then I got a very small window on the tv at the 1080 res @ 30hx.

Am I completely missing somethng here are is this near impossible to do?

Is it my TV? The TV is designed to take the DVI out of an HD receiver into the RGB on the TV. I am now trying to go DVOI oout with an adapter to RGB to the TV.

Marc