He guy's
I managed to get a tv output from my linux box. Only, it's black and white. How do I get color? I have a nVidia gforce 4 mx 440. Here is the relevent part of my xf68congif file

Section "Monitor"
HorizSync 27-48.4
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "1024X768@60HZ"
VendorName "--> VESA"
VertRefresh 50-60
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection


Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "640x480" 23.96 640 656 720 864 480 480 487 501
Modeline "1024x768" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync
EndSection


Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "640x480"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
# uncomment these lines if you want tv-out
Option "TwinView" "true"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-50"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "60"
Option "MetaModes" "1024x768,1024x768; 800x600, 800x600; 640x480, 640x480"
Option "TVStanderd" "PAL-B"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT, TV"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "Clone"
EndSection

Section "Device"
BoardName "GeForce3"
Driver "nvidia"
Identifier "Device[0]"
Screen 0
VendorName "NVidia"
EndSection


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]"
InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
Option "Clone" "on"
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Screen "Screen[0]"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group "video"
Mode 0660
EndSection

Hi Schatoor

What type of TV-out is on your card?

A lot nvidia cards just have S-Video (AKA S-VHS) out. The TV-out on my GF2MX is only S-VHS however the VIVO of my GF4 Ti4200 has S-VHS and composite In/out.

If your TV doesn't actually support S-VHS in, you will only see black and white. find out if your card has a composite out function, and failing that, there is a way to make a S-VHS -> composite cable with a couple of basic components, although the picture quality isn't quite as good as having a proper S-VHS intput.

I do not have the details of how to make this cable to hand but i can get them easily enough, otherwise it shouldn't be too difficult to find out how with a little research, also you could just buy one


I hope this helps...

Alistair

He there. Thanks for your replie.
I really no nothing about that you just said there. But the thing is that I have tv-out with color under windows xp using the same hardware. So it sould also be posible under linux.
Any way, I'l find out what kind of tv-out I have, and google a bit on this composit cable thing. I'l let you know how it works out. Fist though I have more pressing things to do. But thanks for your time.

First, sorry about my english.

I have exactly the same problem.

My card now, is a GeForce MX 440 with a nvidia tv encoder builtin.

However, in the past days, I had a Nvidia TNT2 w/ tv out (Chrontel).

Using one or the other card with the same config i was unable to see any color in PAL mode, but not in NTSC-M.
I found in the web a program called "nvtv" to configure tv-out, but this program doesn't support NVidia tv encoders (GF 440)
Now, I can only see color with my old TNT2 and the nvtv.

There are my XF86Config important parts.

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor"
ModelName "PC-4"
VendorName "VTC"
HorizSync 30-90
VertRefresh 50-60
Option "DPMS"
Modeline "1024x768_TV" 48.16 1024 1048 1112 1216 768 768 769 791
Modeline "800x600_TV" 28.24 800 816 856 912 600 600 601 618
Modeline "640x480_TV" 17.62 640 648 672 712 480 480 481 494
Modeline "400x300_TV" 6.68 400 408 416 432 300 300 300 309
EndSection

Section "Device"
BoardName "AutoDetected"
Driver "nvidia"
Identifier "Device[0]"
VendorName "AutoDetected"
Option "NvAGP" "2"
Option "TwinView"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "Clone"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "10-50"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "50-60"
Option "MetaModes" "1024x768, 1024x768_TV; 800x600, 800x600_TV; 640x480, 640x480_TV; 400x300, 400x300_TV;"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT, TV"
Option "TVStandard" "PAL-NC"
Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPOSITE"
Option "NoLogo" "1"
Option "DigitalVibrance" "0"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "1"
Option "RenderAccel" "1"
Option "CursorShadow" "1"
Option "CursorShadowXOffset" "2"
Option "CursorShadowYOffset" "1"
Option "CursorShadowAlpha" "56"
EndSection

Thanks a lot, Sebastian Wilwerth

I have two things to say. Fist, you won't believe why I didn't get any color. look at my XFconfig-4 file in one of the previous postings. See this line :

Option "TVStanderd" "PAL-B"

See what the problem is? Standard is spelled wrong! It's Standard, not Standerd.

Any way, Zeraw, your exact configuration depends on where you live. Play around with that TVStandard option. Also try to change the TVOutFormat.

Hehehehe, a typo in a configuration line is a very common problem.

PAL-N / PAL-NC Is the standard in my country.
I played with PAL-N / PAL-B / PAL-NC / PAL-G but, I still can't get color.
I tested it with another shorter Composite cable, and I can't get color anyway :-(

Thanks a lot for your attention.

Sebastián.

Hmm. You are using a composite cable. But try to set "TvOutFormat" to "SVIDEO" any way. Also, if you can, try it with another tv.
Good luck

I had the same problem. I tried to change "TvStandard" but picture remained black and white. But when I removed this line:
Option "TVoutFormat" "svideo"
everything went fine 8)

Have a look at http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/svideo2cvideo.html
Ground is for the outer ring of the composite cable or phono cable.
If that circuit does not work, you can try 10 Kilohm metal-film resistors on each Y and C for the composite signal. Take off the capacitor.

Also look in your TV or VCR manual to see what video standard it uses.

You can always buy an S-Video VCR then hook it to your TV.

You may want to change your refresh rates to 60 or 53 hertz and see if that works. 60 hertz works best with NTSC but I think 53 works best with PAL.

Thanks, for your replies, I tested all of your recommendations, but I can't see any color (I tested three different TV sets).

I think that Vsync in linux nvidia driver is hardcoded to 60HZ, and in my country PAL runs at 50hz Vsync (and other chroma frequency anomalies).

My video card already have a Composite Output, now I'm testing with this output. But in the past weeks I had a SVIDEO only video card, that I proved with the adaptor-cable described in http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/svideo2cvideo.html Because I get no color in PAL modes (and another small things), I gave back it to my Computer's store and I changed it to another same chip, same memory video card but with Composite and SVIDEO tv outputs.
Now with the new card, I STILL CAN'T GET ANY F... COLOR (pardon me).
Current CVS version of nvtv detects my tv chip encoder as "NV17 internal encoder", but because this is a very experimental package, the system usually hangs when I try to enable TV output. (I'm waiting that this small thing to be resolved in a very small period of time)

PAL-M and NTSC-J/M works OK(color picture, but for me useless), these standards have in common Chroma subcarrier frequency and Vsync pulse frequency (60hz), NOW, I need to record standard PAL-N/B/G/NC VHSs with a 50 hz Vsync, but with my GF440MX I can't.
I specified a couple of modelines to operate TV at 50hz Vsync, but NVDriver seems to ignore this (specially Start/End Hsync/Vsync pulse specification and dot clock rate).
Now, I only can get standard Pal-N signal with my old TNT2 w/chrontel tv encoder + nvtv program (but the need to change the video card when I need to record a VHS is very annoying work).

Thanks a lot for your attention, and thanks a lot to nvtv developers.

Sebastián.

Get a VGA to TV converter also known as a rescanner from Focus Enhancements.

make sure you are in the s-vhs channel in your tv not av1 or av2
may be...