[mythtv-users] Xv and s-video out

[Michael T. Dean]

Matt Carless wrote:

>I'm running mythfrontend on a laptop
>spec AMD 3000+ 64bit
>512MB RAM
>Radion 9600 video card.
>
>When playing through the laptop top with Xv turned on
>the video doesnt miss a beat. It plays rock solid with
>no audio video sync problems.
>
>My problem arises when I wanted to play through the TV
>so I connected my laptop to the TV via the S-video out
>on the back of the laptop.
>With Xv turned on, in the video drivers, the picture
>doesnt display on the TV. You are presented with a
>black screen.
>
>Turn Xv off and you get the picture though the TV.
>Good that I get the picture but the letdown is I've
>just turned off my hardware acceleration.
>
>With Xv turned off the picture is watchable but you do
>get small slowdowns in the frame rate now and again
>and the audio tends to just go out of sync once in a
>while.
>Forgot to mention to get it this good I have to reduce
>my screen res to 640x480.
>
>Is there any other way to accelerate the video when
>using the S-video tv out option?
>
>This is not a Myth problem the same happens with Xine
>but just wondered if any of you guys had some tricks
>to try.
>  
>
The ATI (and NVIDIA) drivers only support Xv on a single (the first) 
display.  Therefore, you cannot output to both the laptop screen and the 
TV.  So, you can start up X to output only to the TV-out and you'll get 
Xv support on the TV.

This would be quite easy if you're starting X from a console (just 
select the appropriate xorg.conf or XF86Config file).  Configuring it to 
work on a system with a display manager is an exercise left to the 
reader...  ;)

Mike