help with connecting new system to tv

[jwtillema]

My new computer just arrived today. When I got it home and plugged it into the tv, the video is out of sync and i can't make out what's on the screen. The trouble is, I don't have an OS on it yet, so I'm wondering if the problem is with the lack of drivers, or if it's an inherent problem. The system is a an athlon xp 2000+ with an asus nforce2 mobo and a radeon 9000 pro with tv out. I know many of you are going to suggest that I plug a monitor into it, install the os, and see what happens; but i don't have a monitor. I intended only to use it with the tv. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

[Xayd]

It should work without drivers.

Standard TV or HDTV?

Using composite or S-Video?

[jwtillema]

Standard TV. I don't know what composite video is. If it is the same as RCA, then yes.

I read on the ATi website about the radeon 9000 pro, and it states that the video card has a hard time syncing with certain TVs at certain resolutions. Maybe the TV is the problem, but I wand to rule out other possibilities before I purchase another TV.

[Iman74]

Wait a minute; you are willing to buy a new tv but not a monitor for this thing. You can take this or ignore it, I suggest that you take that money you were going to use to buy a new tv to fix this problem and buy a monitor.

[jwtillema]

I don't want to buy another monitor. I chose the specs of the computer because I intended to play at relatively low resolutions (by computer standards) on my TV. Additionally, I will use the home theater system for surround sound. I plan on buying a HDTV at some point, so the purchase of a TV is not out of the question, I just don't feel like doing that right now. Right now I would like to verify that my new system works.

[Xayd]

If it doesn't give you a usable display without an OS, the only option really is to install your OS with a monitor.

Once the OS installed ATI does have options to tweak the TV out to clean up the signal, but that does require an OS and drivers.

[seanc1930]

take the pc somewhere else or borrow a mnitor to get the os installed

then you can rule out it just needing drivers before you spend any money

[jwtillema]

seanc1930, thanks man. That's exactly what I was thinking, but I wanted to hear someone else voice that opinion.

[jwtillema]

Cool, it worked thanks for the help. I really think I should buy a monitor though. It doesn't look good on my TV. (It's a crappy TV though)

[glc]

Sending VGA to a TV is only decent looking for watching movies or playing games - text looks terrible on a TV and there isn't anything you can do about that.

[jwtillema]

Even with a HDTV? Cuz you're right, it absolutely sucks. I have it set at the lowest res right now with the largest text, and things are 'just OK.' Small text is still impossible to read. Reading the palm pilot on Splinter Cell is almost impossible. Will the HDTV help?

[glc]

I don't know about a HDTV, but you can buy a 17 inch monitor for $100 that will look better than any TV I've ever seen.