SOLUTION! TV-out / S-Video Output

Question

After struggling for several days on this, I finally got it working. I am using Fedora Core 1, Radeon Mobility 7500, Kernel 2.4...35, Inspiron 5100, BIOS A22 (not sure if any of that matters or not). First you need to download and install atitvout http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/lennart/projects/atitvout/ Also, you need to have mplayer (may work with other programs, but this is the only one I've tested). To read the man page for the program, in a terminal, type 'man atitvout' (no quotes) 1. Reboot your laptop with the S-Video plug hooked to your computer and TV. 2. You may need to experiment with your resolution, however I found mine to work fine leaving it at 1024x768, you may want 800x600, etc. 3. IF you changed your resolution, Ctrl + Alt + Backspace to restart X 4. First try running your movie on the laptop screen by using a terminal and typing: mplayer MOVIEFILE 5. Assuming that works properly: su Enter Password xhost + /usr/sbin/atitvout detect (it SHOULD say something like: LCD/CRT attached, TV attached) /usr/sbin/atitvout -f t and you should see your display on the TV. 6. Now run your mplayer command again and you should have your movie playing on the tv screen. (Example: mplayer /directory/MOVIENAME.avi), press f to make mplayer go into Full Screen mode. 7. Sometimes weird stuff happens, like moving the mouse or pressing Alt will screw up the colors, I dont know why this happens, but I have heard of others having the same problem. If this happens, Ctrl + Alt + F1 to switch to your terminal and Ctrl + Alt + F7 to switch to the laptop screen. From there, do atitvout -f t again and that should fix it. 8. When the movie is done/you are done watching it on the TV, shutdown your computer, unplug the S-Video cable, and start it up again, the laptop should be back to normal. If all else fails, 'man atitvout' to read the man pages, there is some excellent information provided there. YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), but it works like a charm on my Inspiron 5100. Message Edited by pibby2003 on 01-05-2004 05:36 AM

mini1 · Answer

I have followed your description, but I get error:
/usr/local/sbin/atitvout -f t
Forcing Rage Mobility/Rage 3D Pro LT mode
VBE call failed.
Maybe this command is not supported by your graphics adapter?
Did your parameters (if you specified some) really make sense?
Please try all other available commands before complaining!
Any suggestions?

pibby2003 · Answer

@mini1 wrote:
I have followed your description, but I get error:
/usr/local/sbin/atitvout -f t
Forcing Rage Mobility/Rage 3D Pro LT mode
VBE call failed.
Maybe this command is not supported by your graphics adapter?
Did your parameters (if you specified some) really make sense?
Please try all other available commands before complaining!
Any suggestions?

Do not use /usr/local/sbin/atitvout -f -t

My instructions say to use /usr/sbin/atitvout -f -t

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