And what keystrokes should i use to start it using it with the TV? In other laptops Fn+F5 works .. but not on this one.. please more help.. thanks in advance
Connect the TV to the system, then turn on the TV, and then turn on the system. Fn+F8 is for switching between an external monitor, connected to the VGA port, and the built-in LCD. With the TV on the system should detect the TV. You should also try a different TV, if you have one available.
@Former DTech wrote:
You need ot go into the display properties, Settings, Advanced. One of the tabs should give you the option to turn on the s-video for the TV.
I'm having the same problem. I hit Fn-F8 and I can see the TV flicker, but nothing more. When I go to Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced -> Displays, I see options for Monitor, Panel, TV and FPD. Everything except Panel is greyed out and can't be selected or activated in any way. There's an icon with a cross over a cable inside each of them (except Panel), indicating that they're not connected, even though the TV is connected to the S-video port on the back. I have access to another Dell laptop (SmartStep 250N) that has no problem with the S-video port on the same TV.
So how can I go about making my Latitude D600 display on the TV through the S-video port?
Are you using a driver you got from ATI or the one from Dell's support site? If you are using a driver from ATI's site, it may not support the card fully as Dell tends to modify the cards slightly.
As was mentioned further up the thread, Fn-F8 is only to switch between a monitor connected to the VGA port and the internal LCD. If the TV option is greyed out in the Display Properties window, I am at a loss as to what the solution could be. You can try updating the Dell driver, but I don't think it will help.
I'm using the driver that came on the "Drivers & Utilities" CD-ROM that came with the Dell Latitude D600. I see Dell's site has
Release Title Video: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000, Driver, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Multi Language, Inspiron 600m, Latitude D600, v.8.052-040831a-019378C, A07
Release Date 12/01/2004
Should I try this driver instead, or does that have nothing to do with S-Video not being activated? (The icon is greyed out no matter whether the TV is plugged in or not, but the TV still flickers if I hit Fn-F8.)
You are right, the new driver didn't do a thing, the TV icon/area in Control Panel => Displays => Settings => Advanced => Displays is still greyed out and non-selectable, no matter what I set the resolution to for the primary (Panel) display.
I am using a plug converter, i.e. the round 5 pin to a "single" jack plug. The other (older) Dell I have access to (SmartStep 250N) has no problems with that at all. If for some reason the Latitude D600 is looking for some signal that isn't coming b/c of the plug (the TV has a jack input, no round 5-pin S-Video input) then there should be some way to "force" it to enable the TV out even so, otherwise it seems pretty brain-dead that it's only selectable if a TV is connected when it can't even detect that a TV is in fact connected. Are there any driver configs, patch or registry settings I can pla with to make it work? Are there ever anyone from Dell (and/or whoever makes the Radeon chip I guess) reading and responding to this, or is this only a user-supported community I wonder? What would my next steps be to get this resolved? Start bugging Dell tech support by phone (in India?) perhaps?
I wish I could help more, but I don't have any d600 with the s-video cable available for me to test with in my office. I used to be a Dell field technician (1999-2003), and I saw most everything during that time, but I left before the d600 laptops were released. I hate to say it, but maybe you should try calling tech support.
Hope you get the problem solved, and let us know what the solution is.
It gets much more pathetic, i have 1 super video-super video cable which enables the TV OUT, and after it is enabled i inmediately connect a super video-RCA cable and it indeed works. Once you restart the computer, does not work anymore as its not enabeld.
It must be a way to activate the TV OUT with a command or registry code as you said.. Any help?
I've updated the drivers and BIOS with no apparent change, however I was able to get the laptop to connect to the tele when I enabled the secondary monitor in the display properties screen: Not quite what I wanted but it's a step forward -
However, I was suprised how poor quality the resulting image was on a good quality television - is this normal for s-video or is there something else I need to do?
It is fairly normal to see a decreased video quality when connected to a television. Most televisions don't support high resolutions, most do a max of 800x600 and they aren't designed to display fonts the way a computer does. Unless of course you have a nice HDTV or lcd or plasma screen.
Does the image look ok when you play a video through the S-video port? My C640 plays div-x and mpeg files nicely to my tv.
Windows Media Player will do it. You just need to select the tv (or second monitor, whatever) as the primary display. You will still see everything on your lcd, including WMP, but the video will only be seen on the tv. Maximize WMP so you video goes full screen and see how it looks.
That is what I do when using my laptop to play div-x files.
spencercarlos
5 Posts
0
December 29th, 2004 16:00
Rollie_R
2 Intern
•
2.2K Posts
0
December 29th, 2004 16:00
Former DTech
24 Posts
0
December 30th, 2004 13:00
Bjorn S
6 Posts
0
February 1st, 2005 02:00
I'm having the same problem. I hit Fn-F8 and I can see the TV flicker, but nothing more. When I go to Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced -> Displays, I see options for Monitor, Panel, TV and FPD. Everything except Panel is greyed out and can't be selected or activated in any way. There's an icon with a cross over a cable inside each of them (except Panel), indicating that they're not connected, even though the TV is connected to the S-video port on the back. I have access to another Dell laptop (SmartStep 250N) that has no problem with the S-video port on the same TV.
So how can I go about making my Latitude D600 display on the TV through the S-video port?
Thank you,
Bjorn.
Bjorn S
6 Posts
0
February 9th, 2005 20:00
MOBILITY RADEON 9000
Provider: ATI Technologies Inc.
Date: 7/29/2003
Version: 6.14.10.6371
Any help or pointers to how to solve this would be greatly appreciated.
Bjorn.
Former DTech
24 Posts
0
February 10th, 2005 11:00
Bjorn,
Are you using a driver you got from ATI or the one from Dell's support site? If you are using a driver from ATI's site, it may not support the card fully as Dell tends to modify the cards slightly.
Former DTech
24 Posts
0
February 10th, 2005 16:00
Bjorn,
As was mentioned further up the thread, Fn-F8 is only to switch between a monitor connected to the VGA port and the internal LCD. If the TV option is greyed out in the Display Properties window, I am at a loss as to what the solution could be. You can try updating the Dell driver, but I don't think it will help.
Bjorn S
6 Posts
0
February 10th, 2005 16:00
Release Title Video: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000, Driver, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Multi Language, Inspiron 600m, Latitude D600, v.8.052-040831a-019378C, A07
Release Date 12/01/2004
Should I try this driver instead, or does that have nothing to do with S-Video not being activated? (The icon is greyed out no matter whether the TV is plugged in or not, but the TV still flickers if I hit Fn-F8.)
Thank you,
Bjorn.
Bjorn S
6 Posts
0
February 15th, 2005 04:00
I am using a plug converter, i.e. the round 5 pin to a "single" jack plug. The other (older) Dell I have access to (SmartStep 250N) has no problems with that at all. If for some reason the Latitude D600 is looking for some signal that isn't coming b/c of the plug (the TV has a jack input, no round 5-pin S-Video input) then there should be some way to "force" it to enable the TV out even so, otherwise it seems pretty brain-dead that it's only selectable if a TV is connected when it can't even detect that a TV is in fact connected. Are there any driver configs, patch or registry settings I can pla with to make it work? Are there ever anyone from Dell (and/or whoever makes the Radeon chip I guess) reading and responding to this, or is this only a user-supported community I wonder? What would my next steps be to get this resolved? Start bugging Dell tech support by phone (in India?) perhaps?
Former DTech
24 Posts
0
February 15th, 2005 12:00
spencercarlos
5 Posts
0
February 16th, 2005 12:00
It gets much more pathetic, i have 1 super video-super video cable which enables the TV OUT, and after it is enabled i inmediately connect a super video-RCA cable and it indeed works. Once you restart the computer, does not work anymore as its not enabeld.
It must be a way to activate the TV OUT with a command or registry code as you said.. Any help?
_baggy
2 Posts
0
March 16th, 2005 07:00
Former DTech
24 Posts
0
March 16th, 2005 11:00
Baggy,
It is fairly normal to see a decreased video quality when connected to a television. Most televisions don't support high resolutions, most do a max of 800x600 and they aren't designed to display fonts the way a computer does. Unless of course you have a nice HDTV or lcd or plasma screen.
Does the image look ok when you play a video through the S-video port? My C640 plays div-x and mpeg files nicely to my tv.
Former DTech
24 Posts
0
March 16th, 2005 12:00
_baggy
2 Posts
0
March 16th, 2005 12:00
not sure yet (will try at the weekend) not all apps support display/playback on the second monitor
Ric.