Vista, Nvidia, force composite output.

deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
edited February 2007 in Hardware
This is a really silly problem, but it's driving me a little mad. Basically, I have a media center PC connected to a TV via a composite to Scart cable. However, with the NVidia Vista drivers my connection is detected as 'S-video'. This is all well and good (better picture quality apparently) but if the PC outputs S-video I get a black and white picture on my TV. In the XP drivers, you could force it to composite by selecting it froma drop down list. However in Vista it rather cleverly (and annoyingly) forces you to use S-video (better picture quality). I can fool it by going into the 'TV signal section of the Nvidia control panel, unplugging my cable and then selecting composite output (if the drivers don't detect a cable it lets you select anything) then plugging the cable back in. However, this is a pain as I have to switch on my other display (a projector) to see the drop down list while my TV is unplugged, and it reverts to S-video whenever I reboot. So, anyone know a way to force the output to composite even if it'd detected as S-video?

Comments

  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited February 2007
    Hmm, makes me wonder if it is just a bug with the actual driver? what drivers are you running?
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited February 2007
    It seems to be an actual feature to be honest Sledge. I had exactly the same problem with various incarnations of the XP drivers (ie: I wanted composite output but it was detected as S-video) but they let you force the output to composite. The Vista drivers won't let you select composite if S-video is detected. I can't remember what specific drivers I'm using, it's the latest ones form the Nvidia site.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2007
    latest ones form the Nvidia site
    Well.... I'll just remain silent.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2007
    http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=357

    Good summary of the current situation.
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited February 2007
    Well I found a solution. The problem isn't with the S-video coming from the card, it's the fact I'm feeding that S-video signal into my TV via a Scart cable. Apparently, this isn't supported on a lot of older TVs. However, there is a simple hack to fix it:

    Linky
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