Problem with Act-Labs TV Lightgun...(Resolved)...

[Sinner]

I have one of the Act-Labs TV lightguns, and I've only been able to get it working on one TV...I had MAME .88 installed on my laptop, and ran the gun from the S-video on my LT to the small RCA converter they provide with the gun...this worked great on my 20" RCA TV...

I connected the same setup to my 27" Sony Wega, but went directly to the S-video connection, rather than through the converter...I calibrated a dozen times, and it still shot up and to the right of where I was actually shooting...

I have since tried connecting the gun (using S-video) to a 27" JVC TV, using a PC running MAME .99 and aN ATI Radeon 7200 (might be 7000, but I'm pretty sure it's 7200)...when i connect the PC through the gun, the screen on the TV gets all distorted, losses colour, and flickers...if I unplug the gun and plug the S-video directly into the TV, it works fine...I've tried changing the screen res up and down, but nothing changes.

Act-Labs was of no help to me...the guy I spoke to suggested I post on-line to see about getting help...
Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can get this gun working?

Thanks,

Matt

[Silver]

I had an issue with the actlabs causing problems with the signal. Basically any kind of pass-through box like that reduces the signal strength. Unfortunately it appears as though the reduction is enough to cause your TV to struggle to keep a clean picture. Its a combination (probably) of the levels your VGA card outputs at, the amount of interference from the actlabs box, and the abillity of the TV to deal with flakely signals.

I ended up using a different TV. A signal booster before the actlabs unit would probably help.

[Sinner]

I had an issue with the actlabs causing problems with the signal. Basically any kind of pass-through box like that reduces the signal strength. Unfortunately it appears as though the reduction is enough to cause your TV to struggle to keep a clean picture. Its a combination (probably) of the levels your VGA card outputs at, the amount of interference from the actlabs box, and the abillity of the TV to deal with flakely signals.

I ended up using a different TV. A signal booster before the actlabs unit would probably help.

Sounds like that makes sense...I'll see if I can buy a signal booster, and try it...

[Sinner]

Well, I figured out what was wrong...I was putting the S-video pass-through at the TV, then running the cable to the video card...this just made the screen jump and distort...when I plugged the Act-Labs box into the video card, then plug the cable into it, to the TV, it worked fine...

If you have monitor on an angle in your cab, when you do your calibration, do you do it with the screen, or do you compensate for the angle?  The reason I ask is, I calibrated with the gun a couple of inches from the screen, and it was OK...then I tried calibrating by starting off 2 inches from the bottom, and just bringing my arm up...so when I ended, the gun would be about 6 inches away from the top...
It seemed a little more accurate...is this possible, or was it just a fluke??

[Sensei]

I have my tv on an angle and once the guns are calibrated I have no trouble with the targeting.

Perhaps it's the targeter 

Just kidding.

I'm glad you fixed your problem.

[Sinner]

I have my tv on an angle and once the guns are calibrated I have no trouble with the targeting.

Perhaps it's the targeter 

Just kidding.

I'm glad you fixed your problem.

HA!  I too would tend to lean towards the targeter as being the problem more than anything...