Unwanted lines on Marvel G200 Playback

[shadams]

I have a Marvel G200 and am suffering from persistent narrow grey lines appearing across the connected TV monitor on playback of any avi file. The lines are almost horizontal, slightly diagonal and are not present on the PC monitor, only on TV and, unfortunately on any output to tape. They move in a slow scrolling fashion from bottom to top. It must be the Marvel causing this as it occurs whether I use MS Pro 5.2 or Windows Media player for playback and the lines are visible even when the TV screen is blank (though not so bad as when a file is playing). I figure it must be due to interference of some kind but I have moved devices around and had no improvement.
Any assistance appreciated.

[Captain Marvel]

could this have something to do with the refresh rate of the tv vs. the monitor?????

[Rick6612]

Hi Shadams,

It sounds to me like you are picking up some kind of electrical interference from somewhere.

Maybe the shielding is bad on one of the cables you are using? Or maybe something is not properly grounded?

Do you see the lines even when the Marvel is not actually playing any video at all? In other words, if you just set your TV to view the Marvel's output, but don't start playing an .avi file on your computer, then do you still see the lines?

Rick

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http://www.Hogans-Systems.com

[shadams]

Thanks for replies so far - here is some more information.

The lines are present even when the TV/VCR is merely monitoring nil activity from the G200, ie when no application is running. They remain present when I am using the TV/VCR to monitor the preview window under MS Pro 5.2 and when playing back any avi file. I am connecting from the Marvel break out box via S-video to VCR then by RF to a cheap TV (which has no composite inputs). But
the problem is not between the VCR and TV because there are no lines when simply playing a tape or viewing the VCR test pattern. I have tried a second VCR and second S-video cable and also tried the composite cables out of the break out box - no effect. All cables are pretty short (less than 2 metres - they came with the G200). The lines are also present when I enable TV-out so that the TV is displaying the full PC monitor picture.

If it's due to electrical interference then it must be inside the PC because shifting cables around the place doesn't make any difference.

Here are my system details : Intel Pentium PIII 450 Mhz, ATrend motherboard with Intel 440BX chipset, 128 MB SDRAM, Windows 98SE, 2xQuantum Fireball KA 13 Gb, Philips 107E 17 inch, ULead MS Pro 5.2.

Maybe I need a driver upgrade - I hoped to avoid this as it looks a bit involved but if that's what is necessary, here are the details : shown under Display Properties Information :

Model : Matrox Marvel G200-TV AGP
Graphics Chip: Matrox G200
Memory: 8 MB
Memory Type : SDRAM
RAMDAC: 250 Mhz
Serial No.: ABW26543
Graphics BIOS: 1.6 - 15
Display Driver: 4.11.01.2130
Mini-VDD: 4.11.01.2130
Matrox PowerDesk: 5.15.022
DirectDraw/Direct3D Driver: 4.11.01.2130
Mocrosoft DirectX: 4.06.03.0518

Clicking on the ReadMe file brings up a file headed "Matrox PowerDesk for Windows 95/98 Revision 5.15.022".

I have checked the instructions on the Matrox site for a driver uninstall / reinstall but I am a bit wary to proceed unless this is definitely a likely fix. I gather from the instructions that I need to run the latest display driver install (5.41.008, w9x_541.exe) and the latest VidTool driver (1.52.033, 9xvt152e.exe) - is this correct ? My current Video Tools version, according to the ReadMe file, is Version 1.50.017.
But how to uninstall ? Do I need to go through the process shown on the website for older drivers (manual search and delete) or can I use the downloadable uninstaller ?

Thanks again for any more advice

[DavidHM]

It doesn't sound like anything that driver updates will fix. It sounds like someone else suggested, some sort of interference.

What kind of VCRs do you have? To my knowledge, no standard VCRs have S-Video in or out. I would try this:

Make sure none of the cables are near any other cables or electrical wires and that they're all plugged in firmly.

Try disconnecting cable television from your VCRs. Sometimes this causes interference.

Do you get the lines from any other input? What happens when one VCR's output goes into the other's input? If you still get the lines, at least you know it's not the Marvel.

[shadams]

Thanks - I have now installed all the latest drivers and no improvement noticed. I have also rechecked all cables and connections - no difference. I played my camcorder through the same S Video input to the VCR/TV and the lines are not apparent, so it is definitely the Marvel putting them out.

However, what I HAVE noticed now is that the lines are there on the Marvel output as soon as the PC is switched on and they flicker and vary in time with the noise that the hard disks are making.

Can someone please advise - does this mean a power supply problem or physical relocation of disk drives might be required - or do I need to return the Marvel card and try another ?

[Cheezwiz]

If your comfrotable with handling your computer hardware, you could always take it all out(maybe just unplug unnecasary drives), except for the bare essentials (probably just vid card, 1 hard drive) and see if it goes away.

[Cheezwiz]

If your comfrotable with handling your computer hardware, you could always take it all out(maybe just unplug unnecasary drives), except for the bare essentials (probably just vid card, 1 hard drive) and see if it goes away.