Do ATI cards even support TV out with COLOR?

[ShawnD1]

I don't have a DVD player for my TV, but I have a DVD player in my junker computers so the way to play DVDs is to use TV out. My junker computer has an ATI RADEON 32mb SDR video card in it (with TV-out) setup near the TV to play DVDs but when I try to use the TV-out feature, the TV only shows the picture in black and white. I've tried getting the latest drivers from ATI but every time I install those, Windows then thinks my video card is a Radeon 7200 or something like that and the screen is sort of blurry with black lines across it so I of course roll back to the Windows XP assigned drivers.

It's not just my computer either. A friend of mine has a Radeon 7800 or something like that with proper drivers installed and it doesn't seem to have color TV-out either.

What is the problem? Can it be fixed?

*editted to be less misleading*

[Omardeth]

if i remember right it is that way to keep people from copy'n dvd's . i could be wrong , if i am i am sure someone will correct me .

[no1_vern]

I think Omardeth is right you are running into what is called Macrovision .

Its the most popular by far, but there are others.

[ShawnD1]

The problem is not the DVD or the DVD player. My first post was a little misleading, when I said I have 1 (DVD player) I meant that the junker has one; I didn't mean it was my only one.

I have a DVD player in my regular working computer (one I'm on now) which has a GeForce2 in it and its TV-out works fine with DVDs; it's just a pain in the butt to take it off my desk and hook everything up.

[Telexen]

It's the cable...from what I understand. Especially if you're using an Svideo to Composite adapter.

If you do a search on this forum you'll probably find another thread similar, but it had a link in it to a cable/adapter (I can't remember) you can buy that should do the trick.

[skuz]

Simple, your S-VIDEO cable uses only 2 of the 4 pins, therefore you don't have color even though the card can do it.

You must get another S-VIDEO to RCA adapter or another cable if you don't use an adapter.

I regularly watch DVDs on TV (yes in colors) via my Radeon card.

[Telexen]

How can you be sure the adapter/cable uses all 4 pins though?

[skuz]

The only sure way is with an ohmmeter.

You can also buy a S-VIDEO to 2 RCA adapter, 2 pins are connected to each RCA end, then use a RCA Y to bring them back together to a single RCA plug. That's how I work here.

[Telexen]

I was hoping to be able to tell before I bought one

I have the one that came with my GF3...it works fine for that card...

I saw one at Radioshack that's different from mine...wonder if it would work

[VHockey86]

Are you sure you just dont have a setting configured wrong?