Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Issue with G550, TV-out. Horizontal striping (no groundloop)

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Issue with G550, TV-out. Horizontal striping (no groundloop)

    Well, i've had this issue for a very long time, and I cannot seem to solve it, maybe someone out here can help me. I'm from Holland btw, so some sentences may seem incomprehensive, so if you don't know what I mean with some remarks, just ask

    My setup is like this. I made a HTPC including a matrox G550.

    The computer is a celeron 1700 with 256mb ram. There's no monitor attached to the computer because it's in my living room, no keyboard or mouse is attached either. That's not imporant though with my issue.

    I attached my TV, which is a 100hz Loewe, to the G550 to the matrox using the second head with the cable, which was included in the Matrox package. I mean this cable:



    This cable has two outputs, SVHS and Composite. I'm using the svhs output which goes into a scart adapter @ the end of my tv. I also got a straight svhs input on my TV, but i've used both, there's no noticeble difference in output, and I was having the issue i'm gonna tell you about in this question on both inputs. Using SVHS or Composite is also results in a hardly noticable difference. Guess Svhs is slightly better

    When i boot my htpc there's no output on the TV until i get to windows. This is normal, and not a problem. The G550 is configured with both Clone Mode and DVDmax enabled.

    Then my frontend loads (Meedio, not important though in my issue), and when I select an avi to play everthing goes well. DVDmax kicks in, and the avi is played fullscreen. Then there is my problem:

    The quality of the picture is very good I think, but for one thing. There are (hardly noticeable) horizontal bars scrolling over the screen. It's very hard to notice, but one thing i've found out is that they are CLEARLY visible in a ligth/bright background. So for instance the pages of a book, a clear white sky, a white car etc. On other colored backgrounds the stripes are much harder to notice, but they are cleary there. It's such a shame, because otherwise the G550 is a great card.

    Today I lended a Radeon 7000 (with only composite tvout) from my dad, which I temporary installed in my HTPC. The picture on a G550 is clearly better, but the strange thing: No horizontal bars at all! Hence, that's why I don't think it's a ground loop problem.

    The thing is, and maybe I'm all wrong about this one, I set the radeon 7000 to 100hz, I don't know if that's got anything to do with it (because i DO have a 100hz tv). I cannot seem to find a tab in the matrox properties though to set the secondary head to 100hz (?)

    Another thing. Offcourse i do own other tv's in my house, but the Loewe is the best tv i've got, cause it's widescreen, and in the livingroom

    But a couple of days ago I took my HTPC upstairs to my small 4:3 tv in my bedroom for a tvout test: No horizontal bars @ all.

    So I think this problem really is specifically related to my Loewe TV <-> G550.

    Anyone can help? Cause I payed a lot of money for my g550, and the cheapass radeon 7000 of my dad's is even giving beter output, it's not as sharp, but there are no stripes/bars at least, i'm desperate, i really wanna use my Matrox to full quality

    I still trust the Matrox products, but this is a bit of a downset

  • #2
    I think it's some sort of interference that the G550 is picking up either from outside your PC or inside. Try removing all the PCI cards from the PC, and use the shortest SVHS cable possible (position the PC next to the TV, if necessary, just to test this hypothesis).

    Comment


    • #3
      I think a lot of 100hz TV's internally convert 50hz to 100hz)

      eg they show the same frame twice(expensive ones might interpolate a bit between adjacent frames)

      As to the interference problems, try a different frequency on your computer monitor which will hopefully reduce interference, or maybe disabling the computer monitor?

      What happens if you disconnect the computer monitor?

      Comment


      • #4
        There's no monitor attached to the computer because it's in my living room, no keyboard or mouse is attached either.
        Core2 Duo E7500 2.93, Asus P5Q Pro Turbo, 4gig 1066 DDR2, 1gig Asus ENGTS250, SB X-Fi Gamer ,WD Caviar Black 1tb, Plextor PX-880SA, Dual Samsung 2494s

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by dZeus
          I think it's some sort of interference that the G550 is picking up either from outside your PC or inside. Try removing all the PCI cards from the PC, and use the shortest SVHS cable possible (position the PC next to the TV, if necessary, just to test this hypothesis).
          The computer already is next to the TV, with a SVHS cable that is no longer than 1 meter. And the sound card is 3 slots below the AGP slot....

          Comment


          • #6
            then remove it and post the results. Also set your refresh rate to 50 Hz, as PAL is 50 Hz, not 100.

            Comment


            • #7
              Well guys, I decided to ressurrect this topic because I just found it after searching for someone with the same problem; also found two other guys on matrox forum with this problem (topic closed...): bright horizontal stripes over the image of my tv, watching movies through dvdmax. My card is a Pharelia but I had just the same issue with my G400; 1st I thought it was the cable and I replaced the svhs connection and connected on composite plugs: just the same; the svhs cable works fine with my dv camera's output. Already updated motherboard's drivers (via KT), all the same. Any help is welcome

              PS: Freak_NL, did you solve your problem?
              ______________________________

              Asus A8N-E
              Opteron 146
              2x512mb Gkill
              Seagate SATA 120 gb
              Plextor Premium/LG GSA-4167B
              Matrox Parhelia APVe
              Echo Mia soundboard

              Comment


              • #8
                Luckily I subscribed myself to this topic, cause I never do come here anymore. An email was sent to me that someone replied.

                To answer your question, I don't have the problem anymore, but I really don't know what fixed it. Just someday it was gone, dunno what the hell happened.

                Maybe something I don't know was interfering, and that something just dissapeared from one day to the other

                Comment


                • #9
                  I still don't know what causes this but I will try the video card on another pc, or the pc on another tv, hope my problem is not a hardware failure. Thank you
                  ______________________________

                  Asus A8N-E
                  Opteron 146
                  2x512mb Gkill
                  Seagate SATA 120 gb
                  Plextor Premium/LG GSA-4167B
                  Matrox Parhelia APVe
                  Echo Mia soundboard

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X