[mythtv-users] OT - MX4000 to FX5200

[Brad Fuller]

Brian Wood wrote:
> On May 4, 2006, at 8:22 AM, Brad Fuller wrote:
>
>   
>> 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.
>>     
>
>
> "Composite Converter" ????? Oh Ho.
>
> This may not be presenting the proper load to the card, which thus  
> does not detect the presence of an S-Video device connected to the  
> output.
>
> If you're converting to composite anyway, why not just go composite  
> out of the card and eliminate one device and a couple of connectors?
>
> Simpler is usually better.
>   
I don't know what you mean. The output of the FX5200 is Y/C on a 4 pin
DIN. The converter (which is store bought and it just a small inline
dodad)  probably just takes Y and C ground for the ground of the
composite and combines Y and C (with a cap at C before the combination)
for the composite signal.  I don't think this is the problem. It never
was the problem.

Can you explain why it would be?