Mailing List Archive

TV Output - 720x576
Does anyone have a fully working modeline or similar way of getting an
NVidia card (using the NVidia driver) to properly display onto the TV?

For some reason, everything points to the fact that it is running in
720x756 resolution (both via the X log's and x11vnc session info), but
on the TV the edges of the output are still quite cut off.

This is via an old GeForce2 DH Pro card (or something like that). I may
be able to 'borrow' a GeForce 4 to try if it is believed that this is
what is causing the problems (at this stage, I won't be running out to
buy one until I ensure that all of the little 'annoyances' that I've
currently got can be fixed).

Thanks,

Andrew Bruce

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Re: TV Output - 720x576 [ In reply to ]
Quoting Andrew Bruce <abruce@hope-st.ath.cx>:

> Does anyone have a fully working modeline or similar way of getting an
> NVidia card (using the NVidia driver) to properly display onto the TV?
>
> For some reason, everything points to the fact that it is running in
> 720x756 resolution (both via the X log's and x11vnc session info), but
> on the TV the edges of the output are still quite cut off.
>

What you descibe sounds like an overscan problem. If you are using a CRT TV,
this will be what is happening.

Overscan explained:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan#Overscan_in_Television and
http://scanline.ca/overscan/

With the NVidia driver, you should get a progam called nvidia-settings which
will allow you to play with overscan on the fly. I recommend doing this on the
blank X grid desktop until you have JUST got all the image edges against the
screen edges. Don't leave areas blank - I promise you they will annoy you
later! You might have to edit your xorg.conf or XF86Config-4 to put a
TVOverscan setting in as an alternative. There is heaps on Google about this.

Once this is done, start Myth and go into the Appearance (and/or TV Playback
Settings?) to adjust the GUI size and/or the overscan percentages to bring the
picture back within the visible portion of the screen. It's a bit of tweaking,
and on a slow front end, a bit of a wait for it to rescale all the theme images,
but once done, you shouldn't need to fiddle again.

Duncan

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Re: TV Output - 720x576 [ In reply to ]
Overscan - TV's do not display all of the picture. They are overscanned
so that the raggedy edges don't show.

There are overscan settings in the xorg.conf file. See the nividia
readme, fo my version it has the following:

"Option "TVOverScan" "Decimal value in the range 0.0 to 1.0"
Valid values are in the range 0.0 through 1.0; please see
(app-j) APPENDIX J: CONFIGURING TV-OUT."

And then in app J:

"__________________________________________________________________________

(app-j) APPENDIX J: CONFIGURING TV-OUT
__________________________________________________________________________

NVIDIA GPU-based video cards with a TV-Out (S-Video) connector can be
employed to use a television as another display device, just like a CRT
or digital flat panel. The TV can be used by itself, or (on appropriate
video cards) in conjunction with another display device in a TwinView
configuration.

If a TV is the only display device connected to your video card, it will
be used as the primary display when you boot your system (ie the console
will come up on the TV just as if it were a CRT). To use your TV with X,
there are a few parameters that you should pay special attention to in
your X config file:

o The VertRefresh and HorizSync values in your monitor section;
please make sure these are appropriate for your television.
Values are generally:

HorizSync 30-50
VertRefresh 60

o The Modes in your screen section; the valid modes for your TV encoder
will be reported in a verbose X log file (generated with `startx --
-logverbose 5`) when X is run on a TV. Some modes may be limited
to certain TV Standards; if that is the case, it will be noted in
the X log file. Generally, atleast 800x600 and 640x480 are supported.

o The "TVStandard" option should be added to your screen section; valid
values are:

"PAL-B" : used in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Guinea,
Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, The
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain,
Sweden, and Switzerland
"PAL-D" : used in China and North Korea
"PAL-G" : used in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Malaysia,
The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
and Switzerland
"PAL-H" : used in Belgium
"PAL-I" : used in Hong Kong and The United Kingdom
"PAL-K1" : used in Guinea
"PAL-M" : used in Brazil
"PAL-N" : used in France, Paraguay, and Uruguay
"PAL-NC" : used in Argentina
"NTSC-J" : used in Japan
"NTSC-M" : used in Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South
Korea, Taiwan, United States of America, and Venezuela
"HD480i" : 480 line interlaced
"HD480p" : 480 line progressive
"HD720p" : 720 line progressive
"HD1080i": 1080 line interlaced
"HD1080p": 1080 line progressive
"HD576i" : 576 line interlace
"HD576p" : 576 line progressive

The line in your X config file should be something like:

Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"

If you do not specify a TVStandard, or you specify an invalid value,
the default "NTSC-M" will be used. Note: if your country is not in
the above list, select the country closest to your location.

o The "ConnectedMonitor" option can be used to tell X to use the TV for
display. This should only be needed if your TV is not detected by
the video card, or you use a CRT (or digital flat panel) as your
boot display, but want to redirect X to use the TV. The line in
your config file should be:

Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"

o The "TVOutFormat" option can be used to force SVIDEO or COMPOSITE
output. Without this option the driver autodetects the output format.
Unfortunately, it does not always do this correctly. The output format
can be forced with the options:
Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"

or

Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPOSITE"

o The "TVOverScan" option can be used to enable Overscan where
supported. Valid values are decimal values in the range 1.0 (which
means overscan as much as possible: make the image as large as
possible) and 0.0 (which means disable overscanning: make the image
as small as possible). Overscanning is disabled (0.0) by default.

Overscan is currently only available on GeForce4 or newer GPUs
with either NVIDIA or Conexant TV encoders.

The NVIDIA X driver may not restore the console correctly with XFree86
versions older than 4.3 when the console is a TV. This is due to binary
incompatibilities between XFree86 int10 modules. If you use a TV as
your console it is recommended that you upgrade to XFree86 4.3 or later."

Sorry I am not gonna go through and format that.



On Wed, 07 Jun 2006 12:17:57 +1200
Andrew Bruce wrote:

> Does anyone have a fully working modeline or similar way of getting an
> NVidia card (using the NVidia driver) to properly display onto the TV?
>
> For some reason, everything points to the fact that it is running in
> 720x756 resolution (both via the X log's and x11vnc session info), but
> on the TV the edges of the output are still quite cut off.
>
> This is via an old GeForce2 DH Pro card (or something like that). I may
> be able to 'borrow' a GeForce 4 to try if it is believed that this is
> what is causing the problems (at this stage, I won't be running out to
> buy one until I ensure that all of the little 'annoyances' that I've
> currently got can be fixed).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andrew Bruce
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtvnz mailing list
> mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
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--
Nick Rout <nick@rout.co.nz>


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