Geforce FX5200 Drivers issue or Sage TV issue?

[McTurok]

I own at Geforce FX5200, latest drivers and running latest Sage.tv software too.

Somehow, for some reason whenever I'm watching recorded shows on my TV (via the s-video out) the video resizes iteself to be smaller on my TV screen.

I then have to go into the properties of my drivers and resize the screen using the drivers program so that it is the full size of my 27 inch TV again.

Is this a Sage.tv issue?

Or a Geforce issue?

I currently have the monitor set to "default monitor" since it's only connected to my TV and not another monitor. I connect to it remotely with pcAnywhere if I want too.

This is a really annoying problem and if I have friends or family watch shows they won't know how to re-adjust this video settings.

I would love to solve it.

I'm thinking about buying a ATI 9600 to replace my FX5200. Good idea? Other reason for this is the FX5200 fan on the card is waaay tooooo loud. Loudest thing in my HTPC box.

I hope someone can help me.
Thanks,
Chris

[TunaBoo]

ATI cards are much worse, trust me.

[mdmint]

Originally posted by TunaBoo
ATI cards are much worse, trust me.

I went with a Radeon 9600 128 (not XT) for my newly built Client (highest end ATI model with no fan) and haven't noticed any resizing issues. It stays the same size whether in Windows XP Pro desktop or SageTVClient full screened. I'm not outputing SVid though but dongle 1080i so that may make a difference.

[TunaBoo]

ATi just has minor problems like horrible PQ, crashing, and operating system corruption...

[McTurok]

Ok, so no ATI, then maybe I'll get another Non-Fan Geforce. But what about my video source just "BAMMM" resizing its self?

I'm running XP Pro if that helps.

Sould my Display be set to "default monitor"? Or something else?

Other settings are set to 720-480 for dvd quality recordings.

[mdmint]

Originally posted by TunaBoo
ATi just has minor problems like horrible PQ, crashing, and operating system corruption...

Guess everyone is entitled to their own opionion based on their own experiences. My main personal PC (currently AMD XP 3200+ with 2x 512Mb 3200 dual 400 mem mode) has been running an ATI AIW Radeon on WinXP rock solid for something like two years. I'll go weeks at a time without rebooting, and then just cause I feel like it. Prior to that had a the Rage based AIW on WinXP and before that on 98SE. Never had crashing problems I'd attribute to the ATI. But then, I only used them for PVR occasionally and never output to TV just on monitor playing around... Annoying ATI software "quirks" like having to uninstall a version before upgrading versions yes, but not OS stability crash problems.

[kny3twalker]

huh I have to uininstall my old nvidia's drivers before updating them
Also I do like the TV out from an nvidia better
nut I have had no problem using my 5200 with TV out
nor my ATI
never had OS corruption from my ATI and I definitely cannot say th3e PQ iss horrible
I just found it was softer than my nvidia
it has crashed my system with early beta testing Sage of all things
I am still not sure if it was drivers 4.2 or the beta release but no more problems since
also Sage has crashed with my computer with my 5200 and that was release 2.0
it seems really easy to stress Sage when messing with the decoders and renders, hehe

[mlbdude]

I just replaced my ATI 9600 with an nVidia 5700 in attempt to solve some VMR9 issues. Overlay video quality on the nVidia is horrible. However VMR9 quality is pretty good. Without comparison the 9600 in Overlay looks the best.

Make sure you are running VMR9 and 3D Acceleration is enabled for that nVidia. I had similar issues with my old 5200 and Overlay.

[McTurok]

Well, I've changed a few things. I've enabled VMR9 when I was just using plain "overlay".

I've turned my sound to Nvidia DirectSound instead of just the normal Nvidia sound option (this is nvidia onboard sound from mobo chipset.)

I've also up'ed my recording quality to DVD 3.5 from the DVD long play of 2.5.

I'm only running a 1.3 GHz Tbird CPU with 256. I've been running the performance monitor and I'm running anywhere from 20% to 50% useage.

Changing channels is much slower now but so far I haven't gotten the video screen resizing yet.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Thanks,
Chris

PS - Now though my "whites" look grey. I've played with my setup color settings without luck. Any ideas?

[mlbdude]

Poor colors is normal for VMR9. You need to compensate by adjusting the encoder settings as well as your display settings.

If you have NVDVD that one works well with VMR9 as it also allows you to adjust the colors though it tends to make them look artificial.

[falchulk]

The overscan size reset is a common problem with nvidia cards. I had it a while back. It mainly happened when The video res was higher or equal to my desktop res (ie desktop = 640x480 video= 720x480 or desxtop = 720x480 video = 720x480). I run the desktop at 800x600 now and have not had the problem for months.

FYI, this does not only happen with sage. I had it happen with zoomplayer as well as many PC games.

[mlbdude]

I actually abandoned my 5200 at the time and switched to an ATI 9200 because of that issue. If anyone can figure it out let us know so I can put the 5200 back into service. Seems a waste sitting in the box .

[kny3twalker]

yeah I run mine at 1024x768 or everything is just too big on my notebook
abd actually nvidia with VMR9 looks good on an SDTV
color looks much better than most decoders
I want to do 800x 600 but everything goes off the screen

[teedublu]

I'm happy with my FX5200, which is fanless by the way (most are fanless). I prefer its S-video output over the ATI (it's only connected to the TV, I use pcAnyWhere on occassion to do maintenance tasks).

I had a ATI 7500, couldn't get it to fill the screen. The 9200 didn't improve anything, worse it had TV sync problems while booting (in BIOS boot mode).

I've never seen any resize issues. I have sage set to "fill screen"
Desktop res was 640 x 480, but now use 720 x 480 (the ATI boards I tried didn't support 720x480).

The only weakness of the FX5200 is that you don't want to utilize its hardware mpeg decoder -- it's too slow (too much stutter with action). Understandable since it's only a 200 or 250 MHZ Grafix processor. I don't consider this a drawback at all for a dedicated HTPC (where a fanless/low wattage card is a desireable).

Oh yes and the FX5200 is quite reasonable -- The MSI FX5200-TD128 Retail Box from Egghead was $49.50

TW

[nicktripp]

Originally posted by mlbdude
Make sure you are running VMR9 and 3D Acceleration is enabled for that nVidia. I had similar issues with my old 5200 and Overlay.

I switched to VMR9 and enabled 3DA after reading this. The picture looks much better on my 5200, but when I made the change I started getting some audio distortion ("warbly sound" I call it). I tried every setting I have for audio, and the problem remains.

Any ideas?

[mlbdude]

How fast is your CPU? What resolution are you running at? What decoder and DXVA settings are you using? Not all decoders work well with VMR9.