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Hi,

I'm trying to boot into XBMC Live from a computer connected only to a TV via s-video. However, XBMC does not detect the TV (or does not output to TV as a default) when it starts, so I'm left with a black screen after the flash screen. If I start XBMC with a monitor connected though, everything works as it should. However I do not want to have a monitor connected everytime i start XBMC.

As far as I understand, I have to make a "xorg.conf"-file for XBMC to output to TV as a default. I'm pretty unexperienced with linux, so I have no idea what to put in this file and that's where I need some help. From reading the forums it seems I should add something like this to the Section "Device":
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "TV"
Option "TVOutFormat" "s-video"
But are there any kind of default settings for the rest of the file, or do I have to create a "xorg.conf"-file tailored specifically to my computer? If so, how can i create such a file?

Sorry if this is a question that's more related to linux than XBMC. I just don't know where else to ask.
Ok, I figured it out myself. If anyone else might be interested, here's how I did it:

Boot into XBMC Live as usual, and then exit it by quitting (i.e. use the power button down in the right corner of the screen). You'll end up in console/terminal, where you have to login using login/password XBMC/XBMC. Then, at the prompt, write:

sudo Xorg -configure

This will generate a xorg.conf file called xorg.conf.new somewhere (it will say where). Either you can copy this where you want it using the command

sudo cp sourcedir/xorg.conf.new destination

or you can view it using the command:

sudo nano sourcedir/xorg.conf.new

(where of course sourcedir is the directory where xorg.conf.new was created, and destination is the directory you want to copy the file to)
if you get into trouble you can also do this.

sudo nvidia-xconfig

This will create a new clean xorg.conf backing up your original the files are placed in your

/etc/X11 directory

Your best friend is the Xorg log file which is

/var/log/Xorg0.log if I recall it may not be this file name but it is that directory.

I am pretty sure unless you are using a very old card all the newest drivers support TV out from the get go. If you plug in via cmpt for instance it should boot and run from the cmpt output. You can then edit the xorg.conf file to tailor your needs, remember that as soon as you start using TV out you basically disable modelines and other options in the xorg as it will ignore these now because you are using tv-out.

If you read the nvidia driver manual from the Nvidia web-site there is a good how to on setting up tv-out like forcing hd resolutions etc.

Rgds,

Dave
Thanks, but it seems I still have problems. I've added my configuration file xorg.conf in the /config folder, but still it doesn't detect my TV. Same as before, after the XBMC flash screen with the green bar my TV goes black. I don't even know XBMC is using my xorg.conf file. Is there any way to check this?

By the way, the box I'm running it on is all new, so old videocard is not the issue. And it's an integrated Intel videocard.

These are the settings I have configured in my xorg.conf-file:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "vesa"
VendorName "Intel Corporation"
BoardName "Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "TV"
Option "TVOutFormat" "s-video"
Option "TVStandard" "PAL"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "640x480" "720x480" "1280x720"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

---

Any help is appreciated...
I am sorry I thought you were running an Nvidia card and driver, I have no experience with the intel drivers and Linux but I think if you browse and search around these forums these issues have been discussed, sorry I cannot be more help.

Dave
Thanks, no problem.

Anyway, one of the problems now seems to be that XBMC Live does not use the xorg.conf file that I include (judging from xorg.0.log). So changing settings in this does not do anything.

I included the xorg.conf file in the folder /config on the boot cd. Is there anything else I should do? What am I doing wrong?
Well, after a bit of research it seems that there is a problem with the version of the driver that XBMC Live is using wrt my card (Intel GM965):

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=61870

The current version of XBMC is bundled with intel drivers 2.2, but I need intel drivers >2.3.2. This explains why TV out works out of the box with the latest version of xubuntu. So messing about with the xorg.conf won't help much anyway.

Now I just need to find out how to install new intel drivers.. How do I go about packaging new drivers into the existing version of XBMC Live?

I'm going to do some research, and will post in a new thread if I don't figure it out.