Nvidia 8400 GS, 2, DVI to component video adapter, 27" Toshiba TV...problems

[Flake]

Hello all!  I have been reading this forum for a few months now and I would first of all like to say thanks to this site and everyone involved for bringing together such a wealth of knowledge on this topic.  I have really learned a lot......however, it would seem as though I cant seem to find a solution to a particular problem of mine......

You can see my display specs from the subject title.....my problem is when I use the component hookup on my TV the screen is almost like colored snow with colored scan lines running across.  It is completely unreadable.  I can tell the video card is sending a signal to the TV but that is about all you can tell.  When I use S-video at 800x600 to the TV the picture is actually pretty good and both windows and MAME look pretty good to the point I am almost going to give up using the component input.  However, I would really like to get this to work as I read such good things about component.  I have accessed the service menu and that seems to do me no good.  I'm not sure how the change the screen resolution for the TV display when using component when I cant see anything on the display and therefore cant see to access any properties.  I have heard the proper resolution for component is around 640x480 but my lowest resolution settings seem to 800x600.

Does anyone have any experience with a similar setup and/or configuring this particular video card?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

[Ummon]

You're not reading it all. You have two options - powerstrip or soft15. As well, though the video properties in Windows will only allow down to SVGA, the stock Nvidia drivers allow down to about 400x300 I think. Right-click your Nvidia icon and look up the list of options.

[Flake]

You're not reading it all. You have two options - powerstrip or soft15. As well, though the video properties in Windows will only allow down to SVGA, the stock Nvidia drivers allow down to about 400x300 I think. Right-click your Nvidia icon and look up the list of options.

I was able to get down to 640x480 by going into the advance properties of the display settings.  However, this didnt solve my problem as I still get unreadable garbage.  I have been doing some digging and I think that I may have one of two problems.  Either my videocard doesnt support component out via the DVI port or my DVI to component cable is unsuitable for the task at hand (here is a link to it http://cgi.ebay.com/Ultra-GOLD-6ft-COMPONENT-Video-3-RCA-to-DVI-rgb-ps3-ps2_W0QQitemZ190220919278QQihZ009QQcategoryZ139969QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem).  The card came with a mulitpin cable that goes from S-video to component but I'm pretty sure that is really only going to get me S-video quality period. 

I have also been reading that trying to get Nvidia cards to output component video is very difficult as some support it and some dont.

I just wish I would have bought a damn ATI card but I didnt realize this was going to be such an issue.

[Ummon]

Try one of these adapters and use powerstrip to set your desktop to 640x432. That seems to be the tried and true method.

[Flake]

Try one of these adapters and use powerstrip to set your desktop to 640x432. That seems to be the tried and true method.

I have looked at this adapter but it says it only supports ATI videocards (and only certain ATI ones at that).  I am using an NVidia 8400 GS.  If I am missing something please let me know.

[ahofle]

I've never heard of an NVIDIA card supporting DVI to component output.  To my knowledge, you can only do it with certain ATI cards and the ATI DVI to component adapter, but I could certainly be wrong.  It sounds like your card doesn't support it either way.

[Flake]

I've never heard of an NVIDIA card supporting DVI to component output.  To my knowledge, you can only do it with certain ATI cards and the ATI DVI to component adapter, but I could certainly be wrong.  It sounds like your card doesn't support it either way.

Unfortunately that seems to be the conclusion I'm coming to myself but I did notice one guy on here (he has a project thread about building a cabinet for his brother - its faily recent) seems to be using a NVidia card with component inputs.  I wonder how his setup is connected......

[Ummon]

Well, it's only a few bucks. I'd try it if I had a project using a TV.

[TOK]

Well, it's only a few bucks. I'd try it if I had a project using a TV.

Thats uninformed advice. 

Flake, I was reading up on this after the other thread. When I did a search, most of the results I found were from home theater forums, and they seem to imply that Nvidia's component out support is sketchy at best. Perhaps try to find the guy you mentioned that build the Nvidia based machine in the other thread. If he ended up using s-video, perhaps it'd be easier just to get a low end ATI card.
I used a Radeon 9550, and some of these are available on newegg.com now for under 30 bucks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Radeon+9550

[Flake]

Well, it's only a few bucks. I'd try it if I had a project using a TV.

Just so you know, I actually contacted Monoprice about this adapter and they confirmed it would NOT work with NVidia video cards.

[Ummon]

Okay. Good research there. Still, like TOK said, you might find the that other guy who used an nvidia card. Might yield fruit.

[BASS!]

I've used the 8400gs and it will not output 15khz in any form. From the talk in the soft 15khz threads no 8 series card can support 15k modelines. Your best bet is to either get a arcadevga or a 7 series geforce. The only card that I know of supporting dvi to component is the radeon allinwonder. They are not that great of a card though. You can run a 7 series with a vga breakout cable and wire the syncs into the green connector though.

[TOK]

All ATI 9500 series and up cards support DVI to component. He's looking to run component on a TV not 15khz arcade monitor.

[BASS!]

Oh. Well I am just assuming but wont vga to component work if fed the correct resolution, if its taking 31khz/60hz?

[Flake]

Well I contacted the other guy with a thread on this forum (built a cab for his brother) who used a NVidia card with component out.  I got the impression he just used the Multipin adapter that comes with the card that plugs into the S-video port.  This adapter has a component out feature but I'm not so sure it just doesnt output S-video quality since the source is the S-video out.  I actually tried this and it does work but I have not noticed much if any picture improvement so I believe I am right about it just being S-video quality.  Also the card wont display over 480i with this setup either.  I think if I have true component out PQ then it should go to 480p.

So bottom line, it appears NVidia cards are not qualified to run true component out to a TV.  I am so tired of $#@@** with it though that I think I will stick with this setup for now.

However,  I seem to have developed a different problem (this seems to be a trend with me) in that my windows desktop is too big for my TV screen.  In the video card properties I tried resizing windows desktop but it says my output does not support this feature.  Any thoughts?

[TOK]

I have the Windows desktop issue in component mode. About half the Windows taskbar is cut off... This is what people talk about getting into the service menu on the TV to adjust. Since I don't use the TV for anything but MAME (obviously, since its sideways  ) and I do my admin from a desktop PC, this doesn't really affect me.
The loading screen prior to this also is scrambled and out of sync, since the startup screens are an oddball resolution that the component mode doesn't display right.

I can still see enough of the Start button to click on it if need be, and once the front end fires up and sets the 640x432 custom resolution, the problem is gone.

[Flake]

I have the Windows desktop issue in component mode. About half the Windows taskbar is cut off... This is what people talk about getting into the service menu on the TV to adjust. Since I don't use the TV for anything but MAME (obviously, since its sideways  ) and I do my admin from a desktop PC, this doesn't really affect me.
The loading screen prior to this also is scrambled and out of sync, since the startup screens are an oddball resolution that the component mode doesn't display right.

I can still see enough of the Start button to click on it if need be, and once the front end fires up and sets the 640x432 custom resolution, the problem is gone.

OK using the Multipin adapter to connect to my TV I finally ended up with a resolution of 720x480 but also had to adjust the TV screen through the service menu but all in all I think it looks pretty good.  Have no idea what what impact if any using the mulitpin adapter to component is doing for me but I think honestly it doesnt look much better than S-video if at all.

Anyway thanks for everyone's input, now its time to move onto other areas that will no doubt present new challenges for me such as getting my FE fully working, getting all my emulators finished, etc.