S-Video: Video Playback cut off

[thePsychologist]

I have a strange problem with S-Video.

I have an oldish laptop with an ATI Radeon 9100 Mobility card. It has an S-Vdieo out port and I got it to work with my TV by setting my resolution to 800x600 and pressing Fn+F5.

Upon doing so the laptop screen goes blank and the display is on the television. Everything looks alright on the television. However, once I start a movie with vlc, it appears okay at first glance but the bottom 1/3 or so is cut off. It cannot be seen. YouTube videos appear fine.

Also another strange artifact happens. As I mentioned, once I switch to the TV with Fn+F5, the laptop screen blanks out. However, once I start a movie with vlc, bright vertical streaks appear and bleed all over the laptop screen. While this is happening the movie is still playing, albeit cutoff, and the display otherwise appears fine on the TV.

This is extremely strange but I can't believe I've come so close to getting a movie to play on TV from my computer, only to have this one glitch stop me. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I didn't try mplayer or another player because I couldn't get mplayer to work with the avi files I have, although when I have more time I will try that. My xorg.conf file is included:


# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc RS300M AGP [Radeon Mobility 9100IGP]"
Driver "ati"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
Option "MonitorLayout" "TV,LFP"
Option "Clone" "True"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30-65
VertRefresh 50-75
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies Inc RS300M AGP [Radeon Mobility 9100IGP]"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection


Thank you for reading. I've searched for solutions but to no avail.

[Bubba64]

I don't have any answer to your problem, but I am interested in your undergrad psychology. Do you have any particular construct that you are drawn to. I am a psych major and have been studying Depth psychology for about 14 years before returning to college. Although Jung is not taught in my school his construct is the one that I am most familiar with, along with many other Jungian theorists. :)

[aeiah]

what aspect ratio is your tv? 4:3 or 16:9? are you sure everything is normal when not playing a video? (ie, do the panels on the top and bottom display or are they cropped?)

i dont know about vlc, but in mplayer a dirty workaround would be to take advantage of this flag

-zrxdoff <x display offset>, -zrydoff <y display offset> (-vo zr only)
If the movie is smaller than the TV screen, these options control the position of the movie relative to the upper left corner of the screen. The movie is centered by default

if you have a 4:3 tv and a widescreen movie, instead of having the black bars at the top and bottom, you could move the video up and just have them on the bottom with this command. not terribly helpful i know, but i dont know enough about your hardware and problem.

[thePsychologist]

My TV is 4:3 and everything does look ok, except a movie. Even when it's not in full-screen mode a piece is chopped off so it has to be something to do with S-Video out and how video playback works on the graphics card or whatever...I'll try to get mplayer to work and report on how that works.

@Bubba64 - I'm a math major and my interest is mathematical psychology. I hope to make psychology a more exact science. If you want to chat more send me an email (automorphism (at) gmail (dot) com)...