Black TV tuner video window on dual-display XP box w/Radeon 9200SE

[intrepid_dw]

All:

I have a strange problem with my AverMedia UltraTV 550 tuner card and
my XP Pro box. I have this box set up to use a TV as its primary
monitor via the S-Video output, and a regular monitor on the VGA output
as secondary primarily for console/debugging purposes in case the
machine needs some sort of attention. The driver is configured to
extend the Windows desktop to the other monitor.

The minor problem is that when I start the TV viewing application
(UltraTV), the tuner video output plays perfectly in the TV, but if I
drag that window to the secondary monitor, the video window is black.
The application runs normally, as if video is running, but there's just
no pic. I can even "straddle" the video window at the "border" between
the edge of teh TV and monitor windows, and the TV half plays, but the
monitor half is black.

I was wondering if anyone had any idea on this, and could suggest some
ideas to solve it. Tuner output on the secondary monitor isn't
critical, but I'd like to resolve it nonetheless.

UltraTV 550 on ATI Radeon9200SE; XP Pro box w/512MB & Celeron 2.4 Ghz
home-built box.

Thanks in advance for your kind help.
-David

 

[pjp]

That's typical regardless of ...

 

[J. Clarke]

All:

I have a strange problem with my AverMedia UltraTV 550 tuner card and
my XP Pro box. I have this box set up to use a TV as its primary
monitor via the S-Video output, and a regular monitor on the VGA output
as secondary primarily for console/debugging purposes in case the
machine needs some sort of attention. The driver is configured to
extend the Windows desktop to the other monitor.

The minor problem is that when I start the TV viewing application
(UltraTV), the tuner video output plays perfectly in the TV, but if I
drag that window to the secondary monitor, the video window is black.
The application runs normally, as if video is running, but there's just
no pic. I can even "straddle" the video window at the "border" between
the edge of teh TV and monitor windows, and the TV half plays, but the
monitor half is black.

I was wondering if anyone had any idea on this, and could suggest some
ideas to solve it. Tuner output on the secondary monitor isn't
critical, but I'd like to resolve it nonetheless.

UltraTV 550 on ATI Radeon9200SE; XP Pro box w/512MB & Celeron 2.4 Ghz
home-built box.

Thanks in advance for your kind help.

What you're describing is normal behavior for the video overlay. If you
want to use an extended desktop under Windows with ATI or third-party video
applications there's nothing much you can do about it. You get output only
on the primary display. If you're using clone mode then you have some
other options.

I notice that using the built in applications, Media Center Edition 2005
does not have this difficulty--not sure whether they're simply not using
overlay or whether they've done something clever.

 

[intrepid_dw]

John

Thanks very much for the info. I didn't realize this was normal
behavior - glad I didn't spend TOO much time trying to figure it out.

The closest I came to the same realization was ATI's website, which
listed a "Theater Mode" option when operating under Clone Mode on
dual-head adapters, but the Radeon 9200SE isn't a dual-head adapter,
and thus doesn't support Clone Mode with a secondary monitor set up as
an extended desktop.

Oh, well, it's not that big an issue. I just thought I had a driver or
something else set up incorrectly. The secondary monitor isn't always
hooked up, so it surely is not a critical item. If nothing else, I
learned something new!

-David