ATI 9100 TV Not Connected Problem

[rob]

I have a shuttle st61g4 with an ATI 9100 running windows 2000 and all
the latest ATI drivers. I am trying to use this system for playing
movies on my TV through my amplifier, a Harmon Kardon 520. When I hook
up the computer directly to the TV input the ATI driver detects the TV
and allows me to send a signal to the S-Video output of the computer,
i.e. allows me to see the screen/movie on the TV. Unfortunately, when I
hook up the computer to my amp, which connects to my TV, the ATI video
driver does not recognize the TV. In other words the settings show the
TV as "not connected". This is even true when I first make all the
connections and turn on all the devices before starting the computer.
Also from experiments I know it would work if the computer just would
send the signal. So how can I force a signal to be sent to the S-Video
output of my computer. Any input would be very much appreciated as this
REALLY drives my nuts/crazy/mad...

Thanks

 

[Galen]

In rob had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I have a shuttle st61g4 with an ATI 9100 running windows 2000 and all
the latest ATI drivers. I am trying to use this system for playing
movies on my TV through my amplifier, a Harmon Kardon 520. When I hook
up the computer directly to the TV input the ATI driver detects the TV
and allows me to send a signal to the S-Video output of the computer,
i.e. allows me to see the screen/movie on the TV. Unfortunately, when
I hook up the computer to my amp, which connects to my TV, the ATI
video driver does not recognize the TV. In other words the settings
show the TV as "not connected". This is even true when I first make
all the connections and turn on all the devices before starting the
computer. Also from experiments I know it would work if the computer
just would send the signal. So how can I force a signal to be sent to
the S-Video output of my computer. Any input would be very much
appreciated as this REALLY drives my nuts/crazy/mad...

Thanks

I don't really know but I'd recommend that you post to a 2k group instead of
an XP group for 2k issues as you'll likely find a greater concentration of
helpful people there.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

 

[StewRat]

I have a shuttle st61g4 with an ATI 9100 running windows 2000 and all
the latest ATI drivers. I am trying to use this system for playing
movies on my TV through my amplifier, a Harmon Kardon 520. When I hook
up the computer directly to the TV input the ATI driver detects the TV
and allows me to send a signal to the S-Video output of the computer,
i.e. allows me to see the screen/movie on the TV. Unfortunately, when I
hook up the computer to my amp, which connects to my TV, the ATI video
driver does not recognize the TV. In other words the settings show the
TV as "not connected". This is even true when I first make all the
connections and turn on all the devices before starting the computer.
Also from experiments I know it would work if the computer just would
send the signal. So how can I force a signal to be sent to the S-Video
output of my computer. Any input would be very much appreciated as this
REALLY drives my nuts/crazy/mad...

Thanks

well...

I don't think it has anything to do with anything but your HK520, and how HK
wire the S-Video, and how the video card is wired. The video card is looking
for a response from the set via the 'TV' connection when you boot; if it
doesn't get one, it doesn't activate the connection. I don't know what kind
of response; someone more expert could let you know. I *do* know that I have
good success connecting a component output (also considered 'TV' by ATi)
through a slightly newer model - a HK 230 - and that it will (I think)
tolerate me having a different input selected when I boot the PC. I have
less success when I connect directly to the Sony SXRD set, probably because
I have the vga connected there too. So, the 'TV' outputs vary in their
behavior, and different receivers likely do too. Oh - my video card is an
X800XL.

All i can think of that you *might* not have tried (but it sounds like you
did...) is to have the HK set to the input you've got the S-Video from the
PC connected to when you boot. I think you've found that connecting to the
tv first, and then moving the cable to the HK, works, but that would be a
pain unless you want to leave the PC on all the time after you get it
working. Then again, I hardly ever turn mine off, so...

 

[Martin]

I have a shuttle st61g4 with an ATI 9100 running windows 2000 and all
the latest ATI drivers. I am trying to use this system for playing
movies on my TV through my amplifier, a Harmon Kardon 520. When I hook
up the computer directly to the TV input the ATI driver detects the TV
and allows me to send a signal to the S-Video output of the computer,
i.e. allows me to see the screen/movie on the TV. Unfortunately, when I
hook up the computer to my amp, which connects to my TV, the ATI video
driver does not recognize the TV. In other words the settings show the
TV as "not connected". This is even true when I first make all the
connections and turn on all the devices before starting the computer.
Also from experiments I know it would work if the computer just would
send the signal. So how can I force a signal to be sent to the S-Video
output of my computer. Any input would be very much appreciated as this
REALLY drives my nuts/crazy/mad...

Thanks

Look in the Display Properties > Advanced Settings.
You may find a setting to override the ATI card's TV detection and output a
TV signal whether the card detects a TV or not.

I have an old Radeon 7000 and i know i've seen that setting at some point.
But with the drivers that i'm using now that setting doesn't seem to exist -
presumably when i saw that setting i'd have been using an older version of
the ATI drivers.

Martin.

 

[Paul]

well...

I don't think it has anything to do with anything but your HK520, and how HK
wire the S-Video, and how the video card is wired. The video card is looking
for a response from the set via the 'TV' connection when you boot; if it
doesn't get one, it doesn't activate the connection. I don't know what kind
of response; someone more expert could let you know. I *do* know that I have
good success connecting a component output (also considered 'TV' by ATi)
through a slightly newer model - a HK 230 - and that it will (I think)
tolerate me having a different input selected when I boot the PC. I have
less success when I connect directly to the Sony SXRD set, probably because
I have the vga connected there too. So, the 'TV' outputs vary in their
behavior, and different receivers likely do too. Oh - my video card is an
X800XL.

All i can think of that you *might* not have tried (but it sounds like you
did...) is to have the HK set to the input you've got the S-Video from the
PC connected to when you boot. I think you've found that connecting to the
tv first, and then moving the cable to the HK, works, but that would be a
pain unless you want to leave the PC on all the time after you get it
working. Then again, I hardly ever turn mine off, so...

Jack sensing on computer video and audio is done by impedance sensing.
On the video card TV output, the video card is probably looking for
a 75 ohm load (same as the impedance of the coax cable you'd use with
baseband video). If the line is sensed open circuit, then the video
card driver may decide to disable the video signal (perhaps to reduce
interference spewed if the cable is left open).

It could be your AVR520 doesn't keep all the TV lines terminated,
when it switches from video source to video source. Seems kind of
far fetched though, as it looks like the HK does a little more than
just route a signal from A to B.

Does the video card have a "force detection" option for TV ?
Sometimes that can be used to get the TV output enabled.
Personally, I think the introduction of jack sense on computer
outputs is just a crock, but what can you do ? It was better
when the outputs just worked all the time.

http://manuals.harman.com/HK/Owner's Manual/AVR 520 OM FINAL (REV 4-15-02).pdf

Paul

 

[Sleepy]

I have a shuttle st61g4 with an ATI 9100 running windows 2000 and all
the latest ATI drivers. I am trying to use this system for playing
movies on my TV through my amplifier, a Harmon Kardon 520. When I hook
up the computer directly to the TV input the ATI driver detects the TV
and allows me to send a signal to the S-Video output of the computer,
i.e. allows me to see the screen/movie on the TV. Unfortunately, when I
hook up the computer to my amp, which connects to my TV, the ATI video
driver does not recognize the TV. In other words the settings show the
TV as "not connected". This is even true when I first make all the
connections and turn on all the devices before starting the computer.
Also from experiments I know it would work if the computer just would
send the signal. So how can I force a signal to be sent to the S-Video
output of my computer. Any input would be very much appreciated as this
REALLY drives my nuts/crazy/mad...

Thanks

Im not sure why you have sound going through your amp to the TV since TV
speakers are generally mediocre sound quality. When I used a 9100 (a while
ago) I had a 3 cord cable - composite video, left and right channel sound. I
either plugged that into a scart adapter and into the scart socket of the
upstairs TV or if we were using the living room TV (where the HiFi is) Id
plug the sound leads into the amp and use the HiFi speakers. Either way
worked fine but obviously the sound through the HiFi is much better. Either
connect PC to TV for sound or PC to amp to separate speakers.

 

[rob]

Actually, I was not talking about the sound but the video. Both sound
and video goes to the amp (SPDIF/S-Video). The sound goes through the
speakers connected to the amp. The video goes from the computer to the
amp to the TV.

 

[rob]

Paul and everybody thanks for your replies. I had already been looking
for a force option in the driver but couldn't find anything. So I have
installed the latest video drivers and did go through pretty much all
the options again. I finally found something by going to ATI Catalyst
Control Center. There I had to first go to the View menu to enabled
Advanced View. Then in Display Options I enabled the flag "Force TV
detection". Now everything works just find. Thanks.

 

[Sleepy]

Actually, I was not talking about the sound but the video. Both sound
and video goes to the amp (SPDIF/S-Video). The sound goes through the
speakers connected to the amp. The video goes from the computer to the
amp to the TV.

now im really puzzled - why on earth would you put svhs out from a PC thru a
amplifier ?

 

[kony]

now im really puzzled - why on earth would you put svhs out from a PC thru a
amplifier ?

It can allow switching video sources centrally.

 

[rob]

Because I have many video and audio sources and I certainly don't feel
like changing cables behind my TV each time I want to change the video
source. Also many AV receivers these days allow you to upconvert your
input sources (which is not the case for the HK520).