Best card for TV-OUT????

[ajw107]

Hi

I need to buy a new graphics card (my old GeFroce MX2 400 died on me) and I was wonderign if anyone has any advice! I admit to not being a games player, so I;m not too interested in all the gamign features on cards, the main thing is the ability to play movies at decent quality via TV-Out (via the video overlay, not just what is on the screen)! I have to admit, it seems, from what I hear, that ATI has better quality output than GeForce, is this true? The card just needs to eb able to play any NON mpeg files to the TV (mpeg files are already played at good quality by my hollywood plus card)! I am also running Win XP,. so the cards drivers need to eb able to eaisly support TV OUT on Win XP!

Thank you for all your help!

[Enchanter]

An ATI card should give better image quality when it comes to output on either your monitor or TV-out, when compared to nVidia cards. I can vouch for the more accurate (and vivid) image reproduction that I have from my Radeon card. I can't say the same for the TV-out as I have not tested it before. However, other Radeon users have reported good quality, especially when compared to the poor TV-out quality of the MX card (I have the same card too, and am not impressed at all by its image quality).

If you're not an avid gamer, a Radeon 7500 or VE should do just fine.

[pixler]

i have the radeon ve and its tv output is very good, i use bspalyer and have no truble with it, the ve is also good for dual screen wihc i use for 3d work. i have it 4 like 6 month and i think today u can find better deals for the same money (80dollars) go with the radeon there quality is good.

[hacker_on_fire]

i was about to purchase a tv-out and video capture card when i realised i could not find a lead long enough to connect from my pc to the tv. the lead needs to be max about 10meters.

can anybody help me?

thanx

[ajw107]

Thanks for your help everyone, it does seem like ATI are the better poepel to go to here, for their TV OUT (my old Geforce was a bit crap in that department), sop have just got a All in WOnder 7500 on ebay for £50, it should eb here tomorrow, wish me luck!

[Enchanter]

my old Geforce was a bit crap in that department
Most (older) GeForce cards have this well-known feature called NVBlur. :evilaugh:

p.s. Try the Catalyst driver for ATI cards. I'd personally recommend Omega (http://www.omegacorner.com/ati.htm)'s Modified drivers. He makes some of the best tweaked driver for ATI and recently, nVidia cards.

[ajw107]

ow, thanks for the drivers, can;t wait until my cartd arrives at some point today! Will let you all know how it goes!

[hacker_on_fire]

any help about the leads?
i feel left out :confused:

[Enchanter]

No idea about the leads. Sorry, Hacker.

Or were you talking about the Composite/S-video cable out? If so, you could try any local electronic stores that sell such. It's not difficult for me to locate one around where I live (They're common items) and I imagine it should be as easy for you as well.

[ajw107]

Erm, do you mean the adapter lead for the SVHS? if so, you don;t need one, even though it has 5 times more holes than it needs, a standard svha cable still plugs into it!

Anyway, got my cards, it turned out to be a standard 7200 with vivo! Anyway, I didn;t get a driver disk with it, so I got the drivers from the web, and loaded them up, everythigj seems to work okay-ish! Only on the TVOUT I can;t get it to output just the overlay! the full screen will go out, and the overlay will show up in the right place on the TV screen, butt here is no option to just put the overlay on (you can not select primary dispay or anythign within the Displays section of the display setup either)! Was wondering if anyone knew how to get this to work propely?

[hacker_on_fire]

enchanter u were close. on one end the lead has a scart plug, and the other has a composite plug, which would allow to connect my tv/vcr to my video capture card. the problem is getting leads long enough.

any ideas?

[Glanz]

i have the ge force mx420 and i hate is it is equilivent to a ge force 2 it sucks dont ever get one anyone dont get it

[Enchanter]

@Hacker,
I'm not very familiar with setting up TV-Out from my cards, but I suppose it all boils down to getting the card connected to the TV using a common interface. For example, I'd connect my Radeon to the TV using a Composite cable (The Radeon has a S-video out to which I connect a S-video-to-Composite convertor). My Geforce card has a composite out jack and hence it is a simple matter of connecting a composite cable to the card and the other composite end to the TV.

@ajw107
'Anyway, got my cards, it turned out to be a standard 7200 with vivo!'
If your deal says about AIW7500, then you should insist on getting that one instead of a lesser model!

[hacker_on_fire]

@ Enchanter
Yes they the type of leads i need, but them at least 8meters if not more long. Have u seen any this long?

[Enchanter]

You need to use an extension lead. Ask around in your local shops. They should not be difficult to find (I do have one that I happen to have purchased just for the heck of it though).

[hacker_on_fire]

do u know roughly how much they cost?

thansk
HoF

[Enchanter]

As cheap as any ordinary composite cables cost.

[hacker_on_fire]

enchanter thanks once again, i'll have a look around for them.

HoF

[bobbystill]

Ive heard alot of good things about maxtor scan converters but I havent really researched it yet.

but i hear its good for TV out.

[Glanz]

hacker on fire go to cyberguys.com check there for cables converters everything u need its awsome prices i got good stuff there

[hacker_on_fire]

thanks Glanz

HoF

[Gondo]

I'd check out the decoder cards made by Sigma Designs. I have the older Hollywood Plus and the TV out is flawless. The new XVID card does DivX Mpeg-4 and the TV-Out is crystal clear.

No video card can compare to the Video Out of these DVD/Mpeg-4 decoder cards. Get yourself one of these and a cheaper video card.

[chickeneater]

if you want to find amazingly low prices for good quality computer components such as graphics cards, i would suggest going to www.pricewatch.com. i got my geforce3 ti200 there for 80 dollars with tax, shipping, and handling. it is very good. our old computer had an ati card and it was junk.

http://www.pricewatch.com:cool:

[hacker_on_fire]

does it cost extra to deliver to the uk like cyberguys.com

[Glanz]

im not sure about the shipping to the U.K. thing. But it is a pretty good site i bought an s video to composite converter there for like 5 dollars and that same thing at radio shack was like $20. Im sure they would probably ship it to the uk it might still be cheaper than going to a store to buy cables.

[zetce]

Hacker,
if all the cables in the shop are to short, why don't you try to by the cable of suitable length + proper plugs and solder them together? My computer is around 8 meters from TV so I did like this and everything works fine.
ZetCe

[hacker_on_fire]

i did not want to do that as the quality of the video captures might of been degraded.