Video adjustment on TVout

[Dirk Thierbach]

On Sat, Jul 29, 2006 at 09:47:08PM +0200, Simen Thoresen wrote:

I am not sure if this is still relevant, but I just came back from
holidays and saw this message. Maybe the information is at least useful.

> I'm having a problem affecting any changes to the X display on TV-machine 
> (CentOS4 i386 build of X.org, v 6.8.2). I've got an Nvidia 6200 card, and 
> am using the X.org NV driver. Everything /works/ perfectly, and I have not 
> had to adjust anything to get the display on the TV (connected over SVIDEO 
> cable).

> Xorg.0.log says
> 
> (II) NV(0): I2C device "DDC:ddc2" removed.
> (II) NV(0):   ... none found
> (--) NV(0): CRTC 0 is currently programmed for TV
> (II) NV(0): Using TV on CRTC 0

You're using the display as set up by the BIOS. The open source 'nv'
driver then just keeps those settings.

> I would prefer the full PAL resolution if possible, but trying to enter 
> what I thought would be the proper modeline (found on the web)

The open source 'nv' driver cannot change the TV settings, especially
not with a modeline (the information needed depends on the TV encoder
chip, and is much more complex than a modeline).

To change the TV settings, you'll need either the closed source 'nvidia'
driver, or an external tool like 'nvtv' (google for it).

> More annoying than the missing resolution, is the fact that the image is 
> smaller than the screen - not 736x575 less 640x480 smaller, but about a 20 
> pixel-wide black border around the border of the picture smaller. 

That's the default "overscan" border, which is usually much to large, as
in your case.

> So - my questions? 

Either try the closed source 'nvidia' driver (which only has a fixed
list of TV modes, but can at least change the overscan border size
for some card/encoder combinations), or use the 'nvtv' tool (which
is very flexible, but may not work very well on newer Nvidia cards, 
and not at all with the internal TV encoder some Nvidia cards have).

- Dirk