Advice sought for new video card

[Dazed Woman]

I have an older 1800+ AMD PC I built in 2002. I have a NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 Video Card but would like to replace it with one that has TV-Out. As you can see it is nothing spectacular and has never given me any problems. I am quite happy with the quality of video of this card and am not interested in spending buco bucks for the top video card since I do not game. I have an old CRT monitor with a nice 21” screen I am quite happy with. I use my computer to back up my DVDs and general emails and stuff.

I am replacing the card because I would like to download a few TV episodes I have missed that are available from iTunes. I would like to be able to put them on DVDs. I understand I can write it to my DVR using the the TV-Out. So that said, any advice on what to buy would be appreciated.

TIA

[laserfan]

Honestly given the relatively low resolution of iTunes videos, any video card with S-Video output will probably look the same as any other card.

I would look for the cheapest card you can find (that will support your favorite monitor rsolution of course) and give it a try.

You should perhaps brace yourself for the possibility that S-Vid-Out to DVD Recorder-In to DVD Player to decent-size TV might look lousy by the time you're all done!

[Dazed Woman]

Thanks lazerfan. I am not expecting any great resolution. Actually my cable has lousy reception on the regular (ABC, NBC, ETC) stations. Good thing HBO has a nice clear picture. Can't seem to get them to fix it.

Is there a card that just has TV-out where I do not have to replace my video card? Just a thought... One of those USB things? I must be dreaming.

[CWR03]

I recently replaced the video card in my media PC with an nVidia GeForce 4 MX 4000, which only cost $10 after rebate. If there is a TV-out adaptor, it couldn't possibly be that cheap.

[*.mp4 guy]

You could probably get a 64 MB ATI radeon 9600 on the cheap, they have S-video out, and have high quality digital to analog components, so you should get a nice picture. I have a radeon 9600 pro, and I am also quite happy with the quality of the internal resizing it uses in overlay mode (looks like precise bicubic) which is a nice bonus. The 9600 is probably the cheapest card you can get that fully supports directX9, which is important for future compatibility.