nvidia drivers killed my component output!

[Mug Funky]

yo. i'm still working through the teething problems on my new box. the speed is amazing, and i've got _almost_ everything working.

i've got a gigabyte 6600GT card, and installed the newest detonator drivers for it... then POW, i can't select component YUV output any more. it worked great on the old drivers (however, PAL output didn't work, so i'm not rolling back to those - they offer a fake crappy PAL that goes at 60Hz and feks up field-order on everything you play on it).

does anyone know how to force the bloody thing to output component? the nview menus are the worst navigation i've ever used, and i have to crawl through dozens of nondescript menus to find anything to do with TV out, and when i find that, there's only composite and s-video, neither of which i have any interest in using (composite = rainbows and dot crawls, YC = dot crawls).

i've posted on the nvidia forums, but they're not all that useful - gamers only, really. not much interest in TV-out, and probably nobody who can tell the difference between composite and component...

[edit]
btw, i tried running nvTweak to allow the hidden options in the nview menus, but that didn't help - just gave me more ways to mess up my display.

[Joe Fenton]

You might try one of the beta drivers. Often, "official" releases will have a feature turned off due to "issues" in that driver. Beta drivers usually have everything enabled for testing. You can't get beta drivers from nVidia's site, but Guru3D usually has the latest betas up.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/

[Mug Funky]

groovy. i'll czech it out when i get home.

almost forgot i even posted about this here :)

btw, i can _occasionally_ make component work on these drivers... it seems to assume i have a HDTV. perhaps it detects a TV every time i start up, so if i boot and the teev isn't on (and set to AV4) it'll refuse to output to a HDTV.

it's really bizarre - which set of menus i get in the TV wizard seem to change all the time without any intervention from me. i think it's working, then suddenly i have B&W and dot crawls instead of lovely component the next time i try.

also, not even advanced timing allows me to output 50Hz anymore, though when i get the right random set of menus it allows me to go PAL and S-video (GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR).

what kind of idiots designed the TV-output on these things? 60hz, 576 isn't a standard. not an SD or HDTV standard, so why do nvidia consistently refuse to support PAL, which more than half the world uses?

[niamh]

Have you ever tried the Omega drivers for Nvidia?
http://www.omegadrivers.net/

I know the ATI ones do fix quite a few issues more often than not :)

[Joe Fenton]

what kind of idiots designed the TV-output on these things? 60hz, 576 isn't a standard. not an SD or HDTV standard, so why do nvidia consistently refuse to support PAL, which more than half the world uses?

(Time for a stupid answer) If more than half the world jumped off a cliff, would you? :D

When you buy a video card, you are pretty much stuck with the video encoder for the region you live in (bought it for). If you live in a region where everything is NTSC, the video encoder on the video card will be as well.

It's really stupid since all encoders made in the last five years or so support both NTSC and PAL (and sometimes SECAM) in the same chip. You set the encoding standard in most cases with a single bit in a control register. That and the damn Macrovision bit. Companies keep these bits secret as they are used to "enforce" region restrictions and copyprotection when playing video out. They ASSUME you are trying to rip off their stuff like the criminals you are. :devil:

[Mug Funky]

bought it in PAL land.

it outputs PAL in s-video mode. just not component. i think it's shitty drivers rather than a bad encoder-chip.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi Mug Funky,

Which connector are you using to get component video out of the card?


Cheers

[Mug Funky]

oh, that? there's an s-video style connector (more pins of course) on the card, and a little breakout box thing with component out, YC out, and composite out. they all work in theory (NTSC and PAL for composite and YC, but NTSC only for component so far). the cable i'm carrying component through is just an a/v cable - the coaxial yellow one plugged into Y, and the other 2 TP ones into Cr and Cb. the picture in NTSC is just fine (except it's not PAL). should i steal a proper component lead from work and see how that goes? i highly doubt there'd be any difference.

oh, another thing - it seems to output to all these connections simultaneously. i suppose that makes sense if all the little box gets is 6 pins from the computer, and it's simply routing them (ie all 6 for component, first 4 for YC and first 2 for composite would make sense).

[SeeMoreDigital]

I was kinda hoping my FX5200 card would have had one of those s-video style output connectors... but it did not :(

Personally, I don't understand why every (above budget) modern-day video card does not offer the sort of flexibility this type of connector offers...

One of the reasons why I'm still using my Xcard is because it offers this: -

http://tinypic.com/aovzp4.png

.... which is capable of outputting composite, s-video, RGB-S and full component (Y/Pr/Pb) video.

Have you tried any of ATI's VGA and/or DVI-A to component video adaptors?


Cheers

[lilhobo]

there should be a s-video to rca jack in most electronic stores

[SeeMoreDigital]

there should be a s-video to rca jack in most electronic storesThat's very true!

However, there are many people who are unsatified at the quality, an composite or s-video connection offers. And would prefer to connect their video cards to their TV's via RGB scart (especially in Europe) or component video ;)


Cheers