[mythtv-users] OT - MX4000 to FX5200

[Brad Fuller]

Brian Wood wrote:
> On May 4, 2006, at 2:20 AM, David Watkins wrote:
>
>   
>> It's possible that you've damaged your S-Video cable (Have a look for
>> bent pins).  That could explain the intermittent operation and the
>> colour/B&W thing.  I don't understand why some modes are in colour
>> though - maybe the output defaults to composite until the nvidia
>> driver loads?  Otherwise you have to start wondering if you've got a
>> bad card.
>>     
>
> I can personally attest to how easy it is to damage S-Video  
> connectors, a really crappy design.
>   
the pins were the first thing I checked

> The cards use the same connector for S-Video and composite, and one  
> of the symptoms of getting it wrong is a loss of colour.
>
> I think this was mentioned before but have you tried forcing S-Video:
>
> Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
>   
yep, that's always been in my xorg.conf

> Also, what resolution are you running? Beyond 800x600 things can get  
> flaky, depending on the encoder on your nVidia card. you might try  
> going to 640x480 just to see if things start working OK, which would  
> indicate a bad encoder on the card.
>   
just 640x480

> It is still very possible that you have a flaky card, but the only  
> way to really test that is by trying another
>   
I'm going to swap out the cable. The first thing I thought of when the
B&W popped up was that since the MX4000 works and the FX5200 doesn't,
maybe the S-Video out voltage level is flaky and maybe at the edge.
Since I'm running a long cable (10ft of S-Video going to a
S-Video<->Composite converter and about 20ft of RG6) that maybe it's
just not making it somehow. I realize that this is no where near the
length limit, but what the heck.

brad