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I have a OpenSUSE 10.3 system with a NVIDIA GeForge 7600GT board working in dual head mode. Now I bought a new LCD TV to watch DVDs and connected it to the adapter's S-VIDEO port.
My idea was to check if I could clone the display of one of the monitors so that I'd get the same image on the TV. I haven't succeed on that and some posts suggest it's impossible to simultaneously use both DVI and the S-VIDEO ports (i.e., 2 monitors + TV) in a single configuration.
So, I'd like to keep two X configurations, one for desktop use (2 monitors) and another just for home theather (one monitor + TV). But I am unsure how to modify the xorg.conf file, and how to start X selecting the desired configuration. Can someone explain please?
One additional note. You may need to powercycle before the svideo connection can be used. This is even true for my dvd & sony stereo. I don't know if your hardware will support 2 monitors plus an svideo output.
For documentation, the nvideo site may be your best bet.
From the nvidia_glx html documentation:
Quote:
Appendix H. Configuring TV-Out
NVIDIA GPU-based video cards with a TV-Out connector can use a television as another display device, just like a CRT or digital flat panel. The TV can be used by itself, or in conjunction with another display device in a TwinView or multiple X screen configuration. If a TV is the only display device connected to your video card, it will be used as the primary display when you boot your system (i.e. the console will come up on the TV just as if it were a CRT).
The NVIDIA X driver populates the mode pool for the TV with all the mode sizes that the driver supports with the given TV standard and the TV encoder on the graphics board. These modes are given names that correspond to their resolution; e.g., "800x600".
Because these TV modes only depend on the TV encoder and the TV standard, TV modes do not go through normal mode validation. The X configuration options HorizSync and VertRefresh are not used for TV mode validation.
Additionally, the NVIDIA driver contains a hardcoded list of mode sizes that it can drive for each combination of TV encoder and TV standard. Therefore, custom modelines in your X configuration file are ignored for TVs.
To use your TV with X, there are several relevant X configuration options:
The Modes in the screen section of your X configuration file; you can use these to request any of the modes in the mode pool which the X driver created for this combination of TV standard and TV encoder. Examples include "640x480" and "800x600". If in doubt, use "nvidia-auto-select".
The "TVStandard" option should be added to your screen section; valid values are:
TVStandard
Description
"PAL-B" used in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Guinea, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
"PAL-D" used in China and North Korea
"PAL-G" used in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
"PAL-H" used in Belgium
"PAL-I" used in Hong Kong and The United Kingdom
"PAL-K1" used in Guinea
"PAL-M" used in Brazil
"PAL-N" used in France, Paraguay, and Uruguay
"PAL-NC" used in Argentina
"NTSC-J" used in Japan
"NTSC-M" used in Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Taiwan, United States of America, and Venezuela
"HD480i" 480 line interlaced
"HD480p" 480 line progressive
"HD720p" 720 line progressive
"HD1080i" 1080 line interlaced
"HD1080p" 1080 line progressive
"HD576i" 576 line interlace
"HD576p" 576 line progressive
The line in your X config file should be something like:
Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
If you do not specify a TVStandard, or you specify an invalid value, the default "NTSC-M" will be used. Note: if your country is not in the above list, select the country closest to your location.
The "UseDisplayDevice" option can be used if there are multiple display devices connected, and you want the connected TV to be used instead of the connected CRTs and/or DFPs. E.g.,
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "TV"
It is recommended to use the "UseDisplayDevice" option, rather than the "ConnectedMonitor" option.
The "TVOutFormat" option can be used to force the output format. Without this option the driver autodetects the output format. Unfortunately, it does not always do this correctly. The output format can be forced with the "TVOutFormat" option; valid values are:
TVOutFormat
Description
Supported TV standards
"AUTOSELECT" The driver autodetects the output format (default value). PAL, NTSC, HD
"COMPOSITE" Force Composite output format PAL, NTSC
"SVIDEO" Force S-Video output format PAL, NTSC
"COMPONENT" Force Component output format, also called YPrPp HD
"SCART" Force Scart output format, also called Peritel PAL, NTSC
The line in your X config file should be something like:
Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
The "TVOverScan" option can be used to enable Overscan, when the TV encoder supports it. Valid values are decimal values in the range 1.0 (which means overscan as much as possible: make the image as large as possible) and 0.0 (which means disable overscanning: make the image as small as possible). Overscanning is disabled (0.0) by default.
The NVIDIA X driver may not restore the console correctly with XFree86 versions older than 4.3 when the console is a TV. This is due to binary incompatibilities between XFree86 int10 modules. If you use a TV as your console it is recommended that you upgrade to XFree86 4.3 or later.
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