ATI TV-Out black movie playback

[setmupjoe]

Help!!!! My movie playback to my TV with any player(Windows Media 7.1, ATI File Player, Divx 2.0) appears black!

I just upgraded from the old Rage 128 Pro with TV-Out to the 8500 DV.

I never had this problem with my old card so I am not sure what to think.

I have just completed a clean install of Windows XP PRO. I have installed all of the card accompanied software. As well as diVx 5.0, Mpeg-2, and Xvid codecs(not on the previous install). I have also renamed the accompanied

atitvo32.dll

to be inactive(as posted in a reply to another similar problem on this forum, this method supposedly removes Macrovision).

I have read about TVTool, but it is not compatible with ATI cards.

In addition, I have done the whole "set my primary monitor to be my TV during playback" thing, and it works for me . I'm not trying to sound crass or even lazy, but this method is kind of annoying. Besides, there has got to be someone out there who has figured this out!!!

Any help is greatly appreciated in advance.

[setmupjoe]

Well,

I am responding to my own thread today. After many hours of crunching on this subject, for those who care to know, I finally got a "human" response from ATI.


"Please enter Display Properties/Settings/Advanced/OVERLAY TAB. Check the Theatre Mode button and apply the changes. This will allow you to view video on either the TV or the monitor without having to change the primary display.

Regards,

Paul Clack
Customer Service Canada
ATI Technologies, Inc."

Unfortunately I have no "Theatre Mode".

Anyone out there familiar with this?

I am still awaiting response number two from ATI

[setmupjoe]

Finally!

I am so happy!!!

Finally, after many grueling hours!!!!!!!!


Maybe, I'm just retarded, but for anyone out there who has been experiencing this problem. I finally found a solution, courtesy of an anonymous response over at vidomi forum.


"Actually it has to do with hardware acceleration. You can see when you use media player. If you have hardware acceleration on it won't output to the TV, but if you turn it off, the video will output. Most players don't have this feature to turn off "


Apaprently, this is a problem with the newer cards only!!!

If you use Windows Media Player, there is an additional setting in the software that overwrites the display settings for hardware acceleration!

Disable "Video Acceleration". And all is well!!!!

Enjoy!

[setmupjoe]

Alright, last correction.

The "Overlay" option in the tools\options\performance\ADVANCED TAB is the kicker.

[UncasMS]

well done

[Enchanter]

Don't know how I did it the last time I test my ATI TV-out function, but it worked straight out without any drama. And the picture was so sweet (bright, sharp for TVs, flickerless and not letter-boxed) it walked all over my GF2 MX TV-out quality (I'm not exaggerating. 3 other people had a look at the comparison as well and came to the same agreement). Even better, I changed some other settings (sorry, it's been so long ago) and it allowed me to start playback of a movie file, with the TV display starting at full screen right away while allowing me to work with other things on the monitor display. Sweet.

Note that I was (and still am) using the Plutonium XP 8.1 driver (Check DriverHeaven).

[BertyB]

Well setmupjoe, with the help of your post, I figured out the problem. It seems ATI gave you ALMOST the whole answer. Try entering
Display Properties/Settings/Advanced/OVERLAY TAB

THEN. . .
CLONE MODE OPTIONS and now choose Theater mode

I find the full screen option with the Standard aspect ratio works just fine now

I am somewhat befuddled as to why ATI would create such a nice solution, but never mention it ANYWHERE when it is such a striking problem

[Enchanter]

BertyB,

The Theatre Mode option has already been discovered quite some time ago and I have already shared it with many others on this forum. Thank you for your (nevertheless appreciated) suggestion though.

Cheers.

[osga]

i´m going nuts with all off this!!!!!now i can´t read any subs???


can someone help me???!!!!

[UncasMS]

And the picture was so sweet (bright, sharp for TVs, flickerless and not letter-boxed) it walked all over my GF2 MX TV-out quality

fully agreed!

compared to my previous voodoo3 3k or gf 4 mx, the tv-output of my current radeon is WAY BETTER; mainly sharper!

[Enchanter]

Hi Uncas,

Which Radeon card are you using? The particular Radeon I tested (and am still using) is the Radeon 8500, which is essentially the same as the Radeon 9100. However, I recently tried the TV-out port on a friend's Radeon 9200SE (Gigabyte-built) and was vastly underwhelmed by its quality. To be frank, it did not look any better than that of my GF2 MX.

Many people over the forums praised the then-current Radeon cards (7500 & 8500, to be precise), myself confirming with my own eyes and Radeon. Add the facts that few people nowadays make references to the quality of the TV-out quality of the competing cards and myself finding inferior TV-out quality on a current Radeon card, I am convinced that TV-out quality between current Powered-by-ATI cards are not quite of the same standard as the class leaders and some models are likely to disappoint 'TV-out affociados' (like the Gigabyte Radeon 9200SE did to me).

Hence it pays to research carefully into the TV-out performance of a Radeon card you are thinking of buying if you are going to be connecting the card to the TV. The TV-out quality between current Radeon cards (with logically the exception of Built-by-ATI cards) do not seem to be as standard as they used to be back a year or two ago.

Regards.

[UncasMS]

i'm actually using a powercolor 9200se for my second pc.

i cannot compare the output quality of this version to an 8500/9100 or other cards, but i wanted a vga with decent tv-out quality and NO fan as this pc is connected to my tv/vcr and not a gaming platform.

[Enchanter]

Ah, yes. The bliss of a quiet-performing video card.

I would also like to get a new video card with passive cooling, but that will have to wait (mine is not making much noise in the first place).

Regards.

[JoObOt]

Xvid single colour screen TV OUT

Just got 9600XT ... Tip Top..

I too had to spend many frustrating hours clicking and clicking and clicking until i discovered theatre mode...

The control panel is just that bit less straight forward than my previous GF4MX... (which took lots of clicking to get it to mirror full screen video on my tv)


anyhow, just as i thought I'd got it set up right..set my keyboard shortcuts to switch TV out ON/OFF.. (that's a clever trick as it takes so long to get into the ATi Control panel ) notice how if you're playing a game and the TV button is on in the control panel it's all a bit choppy?

anyway .. everything's fine until I play an old XVID file on the TV and ALL I GET IS SINGLE COLOURS ON THE TV SCREEN and eventually I realise that XVID only displays one pixel on the TV screen..

everything is perfect in mediaplayer on the desktop and I know it's not a dodgy file because I remember sitting watching it on my TV before..

I've heard of black screen problems and green screen issues but what's this??

I can see the screen change colour as say title text whizzes past the pixel that is being displayed

[JoObOt]

Don't you panic folks I think I sussed it out..

after several unhelpful emails back from Ati..
basically giving me the above instructions of setting up THEATRE MODE (which I had already explained to them twice WAS set up)

Me and BIgger Bob stayed up all night trying to reason why XviD wouldn't play.. (removing all codecs that may be interfering)

Eventually after exhausting all options I desperately wondered if it had been the hardware end as I had put one of our bands rehearsals onto VHS for someone (this was encoded in XviD too).

anyway it was plugged into the front sockets on my VCR..

I wondered if it was something mind numbingly PATHETIC like a Macrovision type protection that had got in there through some codec?

anyway I plugged it into the front socket of my SonyTV and all was suddenly good.. just to add insult I reinserted it into the VCR and all was STILL good....

So obviously the card auto senses changes in connection and the problem is still unexplained to me.. although it seems now to work.

go figure......