[G4] TV as a display

[James Pacyga]

Kevin-

I have a G4/500 that I use solely for media (i.e., mpg/avi/dvd 
playback, mp3 serving).  I also use a Radeon 8500.  I found this:

1) Only the original ROM (126) works right with the Sleep mode - if you 
upgrade it, it will not wake properly and you must reboot.

2) The latest Panther load seems to be pretty good from a pixelization 
perspective (e.g., it used to be really blotchy and has improved 
greatly - note I also have an old TV so that is not helping).

3) You can't use it for real computing - esp. if it is a tube.  S-Vid 
just isn't good enough to drive it (not sure why- voltage?). I've 
looked around and found no answers.

4) Thought about upgrading to a Sony Plasma Pro (PFM) panel which would 
use DVI and probably be crisper - but I'm not a big TV person (mostly 
music) so I am balking at dropping 3k on a panel.

5) You can use the 8500 to do dual displays, so you can home DVD player 
on the TV and keep the monitor to do real work...I don't.  I use VNC to 
connect to the G4 when I want to run it headless (i.e., no monitor - 
music playback).

6) If you use the TV, you will likely have to use special settings for 
the TV out setup: I use S-Video Sharp, and a custom size to counter 
distortion of weak signal to tv.  It looks dopey in regular desktop 
mode, but full screen DVD and file playback looks just fine (just as 
good as broadcast).

My setup just for reference:
10.3.9
ATI Displays 4.2.5 (the newer versions seem to break some of the TV Out 
robustness)
ATI ROM 126 (on card)
360Gb HD (2x80, 1x200)
Sonnet 802.11g
DVD-RAM (original, hence slow - thinking of replacing with newer 
DVD+/-R)

All in all, as a media player, this older G4 trumps any Wintel box I 
tried to use from a stability and usability perspective.

Jim

On Apr 27, 2005, at 5:38 PM, Daniel Brieck Jr. wrote:

> Yeah you can do it... I think either as mirroring your 19 monitor or 
> as extending your desktop to the TV
>
> Pros:
> Can use a TV as a monitor?
> Extend your macs desktop on to the TV Screen to watch movies, while 
> still doing stuff on the 19" screen?
>
> Cons:
> Low Resolutions like 800 X 600 and image quality when compared to a 
> computer display, but good enough for DVD's etc...
> Hard on the eyes for reading...
> Usual problems of using a TV as a monitor
>
>
> On Apr 27, 2005, at 8:20 PM, Kevin Willis wrote:
>
>> I was wondering if it is possible to use a TV as a display.  I have a 
>> Radeon 8500 with s-video out.  I currently am using a 19" CRT 
>> monitor.  Is it possible to run a cable from my video cards s-video 
>> out to the TV's s-video in.  If so, what are the pro's and con's?  I 
>> would mostly like to use it for viewing DVD's and quick time movies.
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Kevin
>>
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> Dan Brieck Jr.
>
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