[mythtv-users] HDTV on svideo with nvidia?

Ian hindumagic at telus.net
Fri Mar 18 21:21:29 UTC 2005


Hi all,

So I just picked up a widescreen tv (Toshiba 26HF84A) and want to drive 
it with 16:9 aspect ratio modelines, not 4:3.
I'm using onboard Geforce4MX from a Chaintech 7NIF2 with nvidia driver 
version 7167 and want a dualhead display with the TV using the svideo 
out.  I'd rather not buy another video card because I chose this MB 
because on the onboard svideo out.

Issues:
1) Unfortunately, it seems that the card/driver wants to only alllow 
what it thinks are valid tv modes.  Now I don't know if this is a 
hardware limitation or a driver limitation.  I'm hoping that it is just 
the driver trying to protect the end-user and there is an 
(undocumented?) option to turn off this validation.  See below for my 
setup and log output.

2) So the TV picks up 1024x768 and looks great (except that is 4:3).  
Problem is that when at that resolution, my monitor at 1280x1024 
displays glitches whenever the display changes, but looks fine when the 
display doesn't change.  The severity of the glitches is directly 
proportional to the amount of change in the display - scrolling a window 
vertically is brutal.  This does not happen if the TV is at a 640x480 
resolution.  Any ideas?

3) Anyone know what are good values for HorizSync and VertRefresh for my 
particular TV?  I can't find this info online and am unsure as to how to 
figure it out.  The values I started with were defaults applied by 
nVidia for its tvout, I think.  I stuck to the HorizSync, but upped the 
refresh rate cause I knew that the tv could handle that (and needed it 
for higher resolutions).  The modelines I found on the web and planned 
to use xvidtune to tweak, if necessary.

I'd post this in nVidia's forum, but for some reason I can't get 
registered quickly (perhaps due to me missing their blurb about not 
using online email addresses - but what else is hotmail good for but 
signing up for crap?).

Hopefully someone here has tried this particular setup.  Thanks for any 
feedback,
Ian.

xorg.conf relevant entries:
Section "Module"
        Load  "extmod"
#       Load  "dri"             # not for nvidia
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "record"
        Load  "xtrap"
        Load  "type1"
        Load  "freetype"
        Load  "glx"             # nvidia gl
        Load  "v4l"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor[Studioworks]"
        VendorName   "LG"
        ModelName    "Studioworks795e"
        Option       "dpms"        # if monitor has DPMS support
        HorizSync    30-96         # multisync
        VertRefresh  50-160        # multisync
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "TV[Toshiba]
        ModelName    "26HF84A"
        VendorName   "Toshiba"
        HorizSync    28-50         # it wants to set at 33, so 50 is a 
guess but should be safe
        VertRefresh  43-72         # what it detected?
        ModeLine     "in1920x1080" 82.500 1920 2088 2144 2440 1080 1082 
1087 1125 +hsync +vsync interlace
        ModeLine     "in1080i" 74.52 1760 1888 2096 2208 960 1012 1028 
1126 -hsync -vsync interlace     # HDTV 1080i
        ModeLine     "960x540p" 37.26 960 976 1008 1104 540 542 548 563 
+hsync +vsync
        ModeLine     "720p" 74.251 1280 1350 1430 1650 720 723 728 750 
-hsync -vsync
        ModeLine     "960x540" 42.187 960 1056 1104 1248 540 547 548 563 
+hsync +vsync
        ModeLine     "960x480" 42.187 960 1052 1100 1248 480 503 504 563 
+hsync +vsync
        ModeLine     "540p" 37.26 880 944 1048 1104 480 506 520 563 
+hsync +vsync                       # HDTV 540p
        ModeLine     "848x480" 33.328 848 920 1008 1072 480 491 494 518 
-hsync -vsync
        ModeLine     "480p" 27.028 704 745 746 810 480 489 496 525 
-hsync -vsync
        ModeLine     "640x480" 25.20 640 656 752 804 480 498 500 605 
-hsync -vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Screen     0
        Identifier "Device[GeForce4MX]"
        Driver     "nvidia"
        VendorName "Chaintech"
        BoardName  "NV18 [GeForce4 MX - nForce GPU]"
        VideoRam   131072
        BusID      "PCI:2:0:0"
        Option     "NoLogo" "True"              # [<bool>] default=false
        Option     "RenderAccel" "True"         # [<bool>] default=false
        Option     "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Screen     1
        Identifier "Device[GeForce4MX] - TVOUT"
        Driver     "nvidia"
        VendorName "Chaintech"
        BoardName  "NV18 [GeForce4 MX - nForce GPU]"
        VideoRam   131072
        BusID      "PCI:2:0:0"
        Option     "NoLogo" "True"              # [<bool>] default=false
        Option     "RenderAccel" "True"         # [<bool>] default=false
        Option     "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"        # <str>
        Option     "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"       # <str> SVIDEO or 
COMPOSITE, default=autodetect
        Option     "TVOverScan" "0.0"           # <f> range=0.0 to 1.0, 
default=0.0=disabled
        Option     "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"      # <str> if autodetect 
doesn't work, values=CRT, TV, DFP (for DVI port only), default="" 
<-recommended, define only TV if not using X on CRT
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Device[GeForce4MX]"
        Monitor    "Monitor[Studioworks]"
        DefaultDepth 24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     1
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     4
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     8
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     15
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     16
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     24
#               Modes     "1400x1050" "1024x768" "1380x960"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen1"
        Device     "Device[GeForce4MX] - TVOUT"
        Monitor    "TV[Toshiba]"
        DefaultDepth 24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     15
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     16
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth    24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "IndependentViews"
        InputDevice    "Mouse[Logitech]" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "Keyboard[Turbo-Media]" "CoreKeyboard"
        Screen         "Screen0" 0 0
        Screen         "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
EndSection

The tv section from xorg.log:
(**) NVIDIA(1): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32
(==) NVIDIA(1): RGB weight 888
(==) NVIDIA(1): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) NVIDIA(1): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(**) NVIDIA(1): Option "NoLogo" "True"
(**) NVIDIA(1): Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
(**) NVIDIA(1): Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
(**) NVIDIA(1): Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
(**) NVIDIA(1): Option "RenderAccel" "True"
(**) NVIDIA(1): Option "TVOverScan" "0.0"
(**) NVIDIA(1): Enabling experimental RENDER acceleration
(**) NVIDIA(1): Forcing SVIDEO output
(**) NVIDIA(1): ConnectedMonitor string: "TV"
(**) NVIDIA(1): TV Standard string: "NTSC-M"
(--) NVIDIA(1): Linear framebuffer at 0xB0000000
(--) NVIDIA(1): MMIO registers at 0xC4000000
(II) NVIDIA(1): NVIDIA GPU detected as: GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU
(--) NVIDIA(1): VideoBIOS: 04.1f.00.07.00
(--) NVIDIA(1): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU
(II) NVIDIA(1): Detected AGP rate: 4X
(--) NVIDIA(1): VideoRAM: 131072 kBytes
(II) NVIDIA(1): Using ConnectedMonitor string "TV-0"
(--) NVIDIA(1): Detected TV Encoder: NVIDIA
(--) NVIDIA(1): Display device TV-0: maximum pixel clock at  8 bpp: 300 MHz
(--) NVIDIA(1): Display device TV-0: maximum pixel clock at 16 bpp: 300 MHz
(--) NVIDIA(1): Display device TV-0: maximum pixel clock at 32 bpp: 300 MHz
(II) Loading sub module "ddc"
(II) LoadModule: "ddc"
(II) Reloading /usr/lib/modules/libddc.a
(II) Loading sub module "int10"
(II) LoadModule: "int10"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/modules/linux/libint10.a
(II) Module int10: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 6.8.2, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 0.7
(II) NVIDIA(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) NVIDIA(1): TV[Toshiba]: Using hsync range of 28.00-50.00 kHz
(II) NVIDIA(1): TV[Toshiba]: Using vrefresh range of 43.00-72.00 Hz
(II) NVIDIA(1): Clock range:  12.00 to 300.00 MHz
(II) NVIDIA(1): Not using default mode "640x350" (vrefresh out of range)
(II) NVIDIA(1): Not using default mode "320x175" (vrefresh out of range)
(II) NVIDIA(1): Not using default mode "640x400" (vrefresh out of range)
(II) NVIDIA(1): Not using default mode "320x200" (vrefresh out of range)
(II) NVIDIA(1): Not using default mode "720x400" (vrefresh out of range)
(II) NVIDIA(1): Not using default mode "360x200" (vrefresh out of range)
(II) NVIDIA(1): Not using default mode "320x240" (vrefresh out of range)
<snip>
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "in1920x1080" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "in1080i" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "720p" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "1152x768" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "960x540p" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "960x540" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "960x480" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "540p" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "848x480" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "480p" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "576x384" (not a valid TV mode)
(WW) NVIDIA(1): Not using mode "512x384" (not a valid TV mode)
(**) NVIDIA(1): Validated modes for display device TV-0:
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Default mode "1024x768": 65.0 MHz, 48.4 kHz, 60.0 Hz
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Default mode "800x600": 50.0 MHz, 48.1 kHz, 72.2 Hz
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Default mode "800x600": 40.0 MHz, 37.9 kHz, 60.3 Hz
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Default mode "800x600": 36.0 MHz, 35.2 kHz, 56.2 Hz
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Mode "640x480": 25.2 MHz, 31.3 kHz, 51.8 Hz
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Default mode "400x300": 25.0 MHz, 48.1 kHz, 72.2 Hz (D)
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Default mode "400x300": 20.0 MHz, 37.9 kHz, 60.3 Hz (D)
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Default mode "400x300": 18.0 MHz, 35.2 kHz, 56.3 Hz (D)
(**) NVIDIA(1):      Default mode "320x240": 12.6 MHz, 31.5 kHz, 60.1 Hz (D)
(II) NVIDIA(1): Virtual screen size determined to be 1024 x 768
(==) NVIDIA(1): DPI set to (75, 75)
...



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