Choppy TV-Out

[Thread Killer]

I assume that NTSC TVs have a refresh rate of 60 Hz, but even in games designed to run at that frequency, MAME can be choppy for one frame every 10 seconds or so through my TV.

I have MAME set to a refresh rate of 60, triple buffering is enabled, autoframeskip is off, and frameskip is set to 0. Still, every once in a while, the picture noticeably 'stalls' for a frame. This is evident in Fatal Fury's attract mode (the screen where a character stands on a mountain as the game's title scrolls by) and on Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo's difficulty select screen (look at the scrolling "Puzzle Fighter II" background), to give a couple of examples.

It is not a problem with my system's performance, as I can run the two aforementioned games at 300+% unthrottled. Also, if I run both the TV and a computer monitor simultaneously and do a side-by-side comparison, the latter's picture will not stall when the former's does.

I'm guessing that it is either a problem with my TV or with my video card (nVidia GeForce series.) Has anyone else experienced similar problems with MAME through TV-Out?

[Matt, GoC]

I think the video card is giving priority to the monitor over the TV, since the card has to process data for each display device.  I don't have an nVidia but my ATI card's manual states that having a TV and monitor gives a performance hit.  And yes, I see that skip too.  I'll bet that if you hooked up a cable to your VGA port, ran it through a VGA-TV converter, and then it went to a TV, it wouldn't be noticeable.  I've heard that nVidia's TV out can be hit or miss, so that could be a problem.

[anthonylitz]

ran it through a VGA-TV converter, and then it went to a TV, it wouldn't be noticeable.

I am woundering why I have never heard of such a converter?!
Is it not what I think it is?  Sounds better than s-video, is it not?
Thanks, sorry to be off topic.

Anthony

[Matt, GoC]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=1430

this is what I'm talking about.