S-Video not working on ATI Radeon 9800 Pro????

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Level 1

7 points

S-Video not working on ATI Radeon 9800 Pro????

I've had this ATI Radeon 9800 Pro in my MDD dual 1.25 G4 for a little while with two VGA monitors. I recently got rid of the secondary monitor and moved a 27" flat screen tube TV next to the computer. As I always do, I've got to start tinkering. I remembered that my Radeon has both VGA, DVI, and an S-Video outputs. I simply ran an S-Video from the card to the TV. I can't seem to get it to work. I had never used the ATI control panels so I went ahead and downloaded and installed it. It won't "detect" the TV in the Mac2TV control. What the heck am I doing wrong???? I emailed ATI and they just sent me a form reply to a dead link saying that my system is unstable. UGH!

Any tips would be great.

Thanks much,
Robert

MDD Dual 1.25, super, combo, 2 gigs, Mac OS X (10.5.4), 12" PowerBook, 2 x 20" iMac G5s

Posted on Aug 11, 2008 7:22 PM

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Answer 1

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Aug 12, 2008 5:08 AM in response to RRack

Hi-

After you connect the TV, have you tried a reboot? Does the Mac2TV control then offer "Video out- Off/ON"?

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Answer 2

RRack Author

Level 1

7 points

Aug 12, 2008 10:08 AM in response to japamac

Well, I figured out that if I reboot and only have the s-video attached and no monitors to the VGA or DVI it will work. It dedicates the TV as the primary screen. However, not the best picture. I can't find any information if both the s-video and VGA or DVI can operate at the same time. I'm also doing a little more research with ATI to see if they actually have a true component output from either the VGA or DVI. I had bought a DVI to what I thought was supposed to be component but it was actually RGB component and just gave a distorted image. If I can get that to work, I think it would be a better image along with being able to run both the monitor and the TV as the secondary.

Robert

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Answer 3

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Aug 12, 2008 10:17 AM in response to RRack

Hi Robert-

Progress is good....
This article mainly addresses s-video out in XP, but, it could give you some food for thought to apply to your situation.

My understanding is, that rather than use as a monitor, per se, the s-video funtion is more for watching DVD's and such.

I use a TV connected to a QS, but, that's connected with DVI to HDMI. Nice desktop, and movies look great.....

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Answer 4

Oct 14, 2008 10:47 AM in response to RRack

The last driver from ATI was 4.5.7

http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/mac/macosx10-4x-3x-radeon.html

Also there was a Firm ware update for this card to fix some of the TV problems and other issues.

Filename: aug2005-radeon-universal-rom-update.dmg

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Answer 5

RRack Author

Level 1

7 points

Jul 1, 2009 7:44 PM in response to RRack

I figured it out on my own...have to uncheck a box in one of the menus that forces the system to only use one screen...

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