Output to TV woes...

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by g808

Is it really that much of difference on an SDTV?

In general, say for example on a DVD player, the difference between S-Video and 480i would be subtle, at best. That's because both outputs work in fundamentally the same way.

However on a PC video card, component 480i is FAR superior to S-Video, due to the fact that they work completely differently. The component 480i is rendered by the card that way, directly from the GPU to the output at 480i. The S-Video acts as a mini scan-converter, taking whatever the GPU is rendering (usually 60Hz or > and likely higher than 480i/p) and then scales it, and interlaces it, generally mangles it pretty good.

If you look around at all the complaining about S-Video out on Video cards, using a component output on a video card would eliminate most of those issues.

[chrisw_669]

ok, I tried the dongle again last night and found out it was my tv causing part of the problem. I let windows boot completly then changed the a/v input and the display came to life. The problem is, i'm getting a very bad flicker at both 30 and 60hz. I have the dongle set to 480i and am using 640x480 on windows resolution.

I would have tried more but I gave up after my wife started giving me a hard time about just buying a tivo and be done with it. she doesn't understand...

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by chrisw_669

ok, I tried the dongle again last night and found out it was my tv causing part of the problem. I let windows boot completly then changed the a/v input and the display came to life. The problem is, i'm getting a very bad flicker at both 30 and 60hz. I have the dongle set to 480i and am using 640x480 on windows resolution.

Do you mean after booting with TV connected Svid you just switched the cables to dongle component? IIRC the ATI config is different for the two output types. That could be the or part of the flicker problem.

I would have tried more but I gave up after my wife started giving me a hard time about just buying a tivo and be done with it. she doesn't understand...

I totally understand! I do virtually all my tweaking etc. when the Wif isn't around. When it's time to watch TV it had better just be working! During the middle of a show is not the time to do even a wee little output tweak just because I see something that a minor adjustment might improve, been there done that and don't do it anymore!

[chrisw_669]

Do you mean after booting with TV connected Svid you just switched the cables to dongle component? IIRC the ATI config is different for the two output types. That could be the or part of the flicker problem.

sorry, when i said change the a/v input i meant change the channel on the tv to
video 1.

During the middle of a show is not the time to do even a wee little output tweak just because I see something that a minor adjustment might improve, been there done that and don't do it anymore!

Funny thing is, i'm doing all of this with the tv in our spare room/office so i don't disturb her tv watching, but she wants to be with me so she watches tv in the office with me... i love it!