TV-Out problem

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware,microsoft.public.windowsxp.video,alt.os.windows-xp,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video (More info?)

I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro which has been having problems with the
TV-Out capability. ATI has been less than helpful in trying to help
me resolve them. The issue is the quality of the picture is very
poor. Before anyone interjects and says TV-Out quality is normally
poor, I am aware of that, but it is even worse than it should be.
Specifically what I am seeing is as follows: While the PC boots the
TV-Out quality is as expected. I can clearly see my POST and early
boot-up sequence. The Windows XP splash screen looks perfect, than
right when the scrolling progress indicator on the splash screen
pauses (mine always pauses for a split second after being up for a few
seconds.) the picture becomes very snowy. Shortly thereafter the
picture goes away entirely. Now this happens whether I have any ATI
specific driver loaded or not. (That is to say, even with no ATI or
Windows drivers for the 9800 Pro loaded, I get TV-Out up to this
point.) If I do have the latest 9800 Pro drivers loaded, I must
enable TV-Out from the driver control panel, however the quality is
still very poor as mentioned above. I had a 9700 Pro in the past
which seemed to work fine (except it would overheat so ATI sent me a
new 9800 Pro replacement)
Additionally, after messing around with it for a while, I decided to
re-install Windows from scratch. Everything worked perfectly for a
few weeks (including TV-
Out) but then just today, the problem came back. There is nothing I
can put my finger on in terms of software I have installed, or driver
updates I may have gotten to cause the issue. I have obviously
re-installed all the video drivers to no avail. I have also
un-installed anything I could think of since It last worked. No dice.
Tried restoring to a restore point where I know it worked, still no
help.
If anyone knows of any issues, has seen this problem before, or has
any info on how I can proceed, I would appreciate it very much. I am
a software engineer, so no need to dumb it down for me.
I am currently running SP2 with all the latest updates. However as
mentioned before, I have not updated Windows in the recent past so it
did work with SP2 installed previously.

 

[john]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware,microsoft.public.windowsxp.video,alt.os.windows-xp,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video (More info?)

Just an idea:

Check the frequency. on the back of the tv it will say 120 volt, 60hz ,
make sure the frequency is set the same on the computer.

The reson it may be clear while booting is the system uses the bios
defaults, then widows takes control once its booted

control panel>display>settings>advanced>monitor


"Dan K" <joeblow65@mail.com> wrote in message
news:166e7679.0411071802.18e0a4c6@posting.google.com...
> I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro which has been having problems with the
> TV-Out capability. ATI has been less than helpful in trying to help
> me resolve them. The issue is the quality of the picture is very
> poor. Before anyone interjects and says TV-Out quality is normally
> poor, I am aware of that, but it is even worse than it should be.
> Specifically what I am seeing is as follows: While the PC boots the
> TV-Out quality is as expected. I can clearly see my POST and early
> boot-up sequence. The Windows XP splash screen looks perfect, than
> right when the scrolling progress indicator on the splash screen
> pauses (mine always pauses for a split second after being up for a few
> seconds.) the picture becomes very snowy. Shortly thereafter the
> picture goes away entirely. Now this happens whether I have any ATI
> specific driver loaded or not. (That is to say, even with no ATI or
> Windows drivers for the 9800 Pro loaded, I get TV-Out up to this
> point.) If I do have the latest 9800 Pro drivers loaded, I must
> enable TV-Out from the driver control panel, however the quality is
> still very poor as mentioned above. I had a 9700 Pro in the past
> which seemed to work fine (except it would overheat so ATI sent me a
> new 9800 Pro replacement)
> Additionally, after messing around with it for a while, I decided to
> re-install Windows from scratch. Everything worked perfectly for a
> few weeks (including TV-
> Out) but then just today, the problem came back. There is nothing I
> can put my finger on in terms of software I have installed, or driver
> updates I may have gotten to cause the issue. I have obviously
> re-installed all the video drivers to no avail. I have also
> un-installed anything I could think of since It last worked. No dice.
> Tried restoring to a restore point where I know it worked, still no
> help.
> If anyone knows of any issues, has seen this problem before, or has
> any info on how I can proceed, I would appreciate it very much. I am
> a software engineer, so no need to dumb it down for me.
> I am currently running SP2 with all the latest updates. However as
> mentioned before, I have not updated Windows in the recent past so it
> did work with SP2 installed previously.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware,microsoft.public.windowsxp.video,alt.os.windows-xp,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video (More info?)

Thanks John, but the 9800 Pro (and most newer video cards) have a
seperate DAC for the TV-Out (S-video) connector, which is forced to
60Hz, regardless of the frequency of the VGA output. Besides if the
frequency weren't matched there would be an even more pronounced
problem such as scrolling and tearing of the image, not just a snowy
image.
Thanks for the idea though, glad to see some good feedback.

Dan K.

"JOhn" <barnesj@shaw.ca> wrote in message news:<loBjd.143740$nl.137676@pd7tw3no>...
> Just an idea:
>
> Check the frequency. on the back of the tv it will say 120 volt, 60hz ,
> make sure the frequency is set the same on the computer.
>
> The reson it may be clear while booting is the system uses the bios
> defaults, then widows takes control once its booted
>
> control panel>display>settings>advanced>monitor
>
>
> "Dan K" <joeblow65@mail.com> wrote in message
> news:166e7679.0411071802.18e0a4c6@posting.google.com...
> > I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro which has been having problems with the
> > TV-Out capability. ATI has been less than helpful in trying to help
> > me resolve them. The issue is the quality of the picture is very
> > poor. Before anyone interjects and says TV-Out quality is normally
> > poor, I am aware of that, but it is even worse than it should be.
> > Specifically what I am seeing is as follows: While the PC boots the
> > TV-Out quality is as expected. I can clearly see my POST and early
> > boot-up sequence. The Windows XP splash screen looks perfect, than
> > right when the scrolling progress indicator on the splash screen
> > pauses (mine always pauses for a split second after being up for a few
> > seconds.) the picture becomes very snowy. Shortly thereafter the
> > picture goes away entirely. Now this happens whether I have any ATI
> > specific driver loaded or not. (That is to say, even with no ATI or
> > Windows drivers for the 9800 Pro loaded, I get TV-Out up to this
> > point.) If I do have the latest 9800 Pro drivers loaded, I must
> > enable TV-Out from the driver control panel, however the quality is
> > still very poor as mentioned above. I had a 9700 Pro in the past
> > which seemed to work fine (except it would overheat so ATI sent me a
> > new 9800 Pro replacement)
> > Additionally, after messing around with it for a while, I decided to
> > re-install Windows from scratch. Everything worked perfectly for a
> > few weeks (including TV-
> > Out) but then just today, the problem came back. There is nothing I
> > can put my finger on in terms of software I have installed, or driver
> > updates I may have gotten to cause the issue. I have obviously
> > re-installed all the video drivers to no avail. I have also
> > un-installed anything I could think of since It last worked. No dice.
> > Tried restoring to a restore point where I know it worked, still no
> > help.
> > If anyone knows of any issues, has seen this problem before, or has
> > any info on how I can proceed, I would appreciate it very much. I am
> > a software engineer, so no need to dumb it down for me.
> > I am currently running SP2 with all the latest updates. However as
> > mentioned before, I have not updated Windows in the recent past so it
> > did work with SP2 installed previously.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware,microsoft.public.windowsxp.video,alt.os.windows-xp,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video (More info?)

Quick update...
It appears the problem is caused by my Sound Blaster Audigy. It turns
out if I disable the digital audio output on the Audigy (which by the
way is connected to the same amplifier that receives the S-Video
input) the problem goes away. Of course now I don't have sound!
(Simply disconnecting the RCA cable accomplishes the same as turning
it off in the driver.) The reason it worked for a while was because I
just recently reconnected the digital audio output after re-installing
Windows. (It had been connected for over a year with my 9700 Pro and
worked fine.) Therefore it is my conclusion that there was a hardware
redesign between the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro and the Radeon 9800 Pro which
made the S-Video output more susceptable to interference. Now why the
Audigy card is causing this interference is another good question. I
doubt neither Creative Labs, nor ATI will take any responsibility for
this issue.
My next step will be to attempt to connect everything into the same
outlet (computer, monitor, amp, tv, etc.) to prevent any ground loop
possibilities and see what happens.

Later,
Dan K.



joeblow65@mail.com (Dan K) wrote in message news:<166e7679.0411101320.36fb5999@posting.google.com>...
> Thanks John, but the 9800 Pro (and most newer video cards) have a
> seperate DAC for the TV-Out (S-video) connector, which is forced to
> 60Hz, regardless of the frequency of the VGA output. Besides if the
> frequency weren't matched there would be an even more pronounced
> problem such as scrolling and tearing of the image, not just a snowy
> image.
> Thanks for the idea though, glad to see some good feedback.
>
> Dan K.
>
> "JOhn" <barnesj@shaw.ca> wrote in message news:<loBjd.143740$nl.137676@pd7tw3no>...
> > Just an idea:
> >
> > Check the frequency. on the back of the tv it will say 120 volt, 60hz ,
> > make sure the frequency is set the same on the computer.
> >
> > The reson it may be clear while booting is the system uses the bios
> > defaults, then widows takes control once its booted
> >
> > control panel>display>settings>advanced>monitor
> >
> >
> > "Dan K" <joeblow65@mail.com> wrote in message
> > news:166e7679.0411071802.18e0a4c6@posting.google.com...
> > > I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro which has been having problems with the
> > > TV-Out capability. ATI has been less than helpful in trying to help
> > > me resolve them. The issue is the quality of the picture is very
> > > poor. Before anyone interjects and says TV-Out quality is normally
> > > poor, I am aware of that, but it is even worse than it should be.
> > > Specifically what I am seeing is as follows: While the PC boots the
> > > TV-Out quality is as expected. I can clearly see my POST and early
> > > boot-up sequence. The Windows XP splash screen looks perfect, than
> > > right when the scrolling progress indicator on the splash screen
> > > pauses (mine always pauses for a split second after being up for a few
> > > seconds.) the picture becomes very snowy. Shortly thereafter the
> > > picture goes away entirely. Now this happens whether I have any ATI
> > > specific driver loaded or not. (That is to say, even with no ATI or
> > > Windows drivers for the 9800 Pro loaded, I get TV-Out up to this
> > > point.) If I do have the latest 9800 Pro drivers loaded, I must
> > > enable TV-Out from the driver control panel, however the quality is
> > > still very poor as mentioned above. I had a 9700 Pro in the past
> > > which seemed to work fine (except it would overheat so ATI sent me a
> > > new 9800 Pro replacement)
> > > Additionally, after messing around with it for a while, I decided to
> > > re-install Windows from scratch. Everything worked perfectly for a
> > > few weeks (including TV-
> > > Out) but then just today, the problem came back. There is nothing I
> > > can put my finger on in terms of software I have installed, or driver
> > > updates I may have gotten to cause the issue. I have obviously
> > > re-installed all the video drivers to no avail. I have also
> > > un-installed anything I could think of since It last worked. No dice.
> > > Tried restoring to a restore point where I know it worked, still no
> > > help.
> > > If anyone knows of any issues, has seen this problem before, or has
> > > any info on how I can proceed, I would appreciate it very much. I am
> > > a software engineer, so no need to dumb it down for me.
> > > I am currently running SP2 with all the latest updates. However as
> > > mentioned before, I have not updated Windows in the recent past so it
> > > did work with SP2 installed previously.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware,microsoft.public.windowsxp.video,alt.os.windows-xp,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video (More info?)

ATI cards ARE COMPLETE AND UTTER SHITE (and they know it)

AVOID THEM!(rip off merchants)

stick to nvidia (a superior product)

z