Req quality bugfree video card for tv output

[john blox]

I've currently got a matrox g450 which is OK but has no hardware acceleration and though ok in ntsc is awfull and jerky in pal. I've watched on the matrox forum for a year now but they just live in a world of denial and blame shifting (what os / what hardware). I need a new card for a new machine dedicated to dvd/divx output. rom my searching it looks like:-
ati (too buggy , been there with matrox),
hauppage (usb vi/vo looks interesting but does it work well), hollywood+ card (cheap with hardware mpeg2 but what about divx? seems well received)
geforce -mx200???

I have an ati all in wonder pro card but the quality is no good + I prefer it if video is output to tv in an overlay mode as it seems to work out better at high monitor resolutions. Its mainly for divx rather than dvd playback, so it should be able to handle 24 + 30 fps -> pal without the matrox jerkiness in PAL + ideally be a year old or so, so the drivers have a chance of working out of the box + be cheaper

TIA

[Slick]

well what you ask is tall order!

you dont like this, you dont like that, it must do this, it must do that.:rolleyes:

you say you dont like ATI (too buggy). I honestly dont know what your answer is (maybe spend £300 - £400 on dedicated hardware Mpeg card)?

personally & only based on my own expieriences.
I would say buy a Radeon VIVO 64mb ddr or the new 8500 64mb ddr
both are excellent cards for output full screen to tv. Pal /ntsc & plays Divx wonderfully.


I do it all the time without so much as a blip on my 32".

the vivo has both s-video & composite outputs & the 8500 only has s-video.

[DVD-CopyMachine]

I have to put in my vote for...

Nvidia Card w/ BT869 chip and TVTool 5.5

I haven't seen how the ATI stuff compares, but I really like this setup I can't imagine how ATI could be much better.

[john blox]

Well I determined ati's buginness by trawling through all the posts on this forum before I posted. (bad colors on 8500, buggy drivers etc... been there with matrox already :( )

Is there a good www site that looks at the pc->tv part of the chain. There's no point arguing the quality of diff divx methods if the final link in the chain in suspect.

I don't ask much at all, all I want is a card that works out of the box and gives easy and perfect tv output. Hardware becomes increasingly more buggy and problematic as manufacturers rely on buyers to beta test their under developed crap. I no longer wish to do this so will buy no hardware that isn't a year old, and will check user comments first, if it seems buggy then I'm not interested.

Anyone comment on the hollywood+ for divx playback. (seems cheap)

[Awake]

You might want to check on the Visiontek XTASY Everything. From all the articles and reviews I've read it seems well worth it. I don't know whether it outputs to the TV in overlay mode though.

I'm using a Matrox G400 as well, and recently tested an ATI Radeon 8500. The Radeon was great for gaming and even had a slightly sharper/brighter 2D image. The video output on the TV however does not compare to the G400 on my Sony 32" using S-video. Not to mention you have to occupy your monitor while watching videos unless you want to have your desktop showing around the video on your TV.

@ Slick -
The ATI cards do not output in overlay mode, thats why you have to change your res on primary display. When you watch any video source you have to watch it fullscreen on the PC to view ONLY the video on your TV. This is basically what GFT wanted to know in his "Radeon TV out quality" post.

[john blox]

Well I bought a radeon 7000, I haven't done a comparison between it and the matrox g450, but the matrox never worked properly under PAL output being jerky, though seemed to perform fine under NTSC. I will wait a year or so and get a radeon AIW 7500. There seems to me to be a lack of good hardware & software to allow us to build a standalone multimedia machine for dvd/divx/mp3/internet. Ideally the machine would have:-

1) a usb RF wireless keyboard with trackball + 2 USB joystick ports with a range of say 10 meters through walls (not current 2m range) for < £50 (some of us like to relocate noisy pc out of living room)

2) A decent bugfree VI/VO video card with ability to record digital broadcasts direct to disk in native mpeg2 or auto-soft/hardware encode to mpeg4. Haupagge card offers some of this.

3) an all in one front end that offers web/email/media playback/game launching in 1 program that is trimmed down with minimal user options and maximum computer intelligence. Also using fonts sizing suitable for TV output. This together with digiguide + kazaa should cover all reqs of such a machine

Such a unit should be as easy to use as a video. I am sure the development of the home server will become increasingly popular, BUT it should be no harder to use than telextext. I don;t mind sitting for hours with pc probs when coding or similar but when I wanna watch a movie / listen to music / play a game I want a PC to be as easy to use as a games console.

[kilg0r3]

hi mr. john blox!

i#m currently an owner of a matrox g400 dh with 16mb sgram in an asus a7v, and i'm definitely sick off it. if gone through a two or three page ordeal in their support forum. finally the granted me an rma, which by the way was fast as lightning but didn't help a shit.

my movies still look fine on the primary monitor but still have blocks on the second.

so, if you ever find a good card, PLEASE mail me i'll be indepted to you for all my life (ok, nearly ...).

kilg0r3

[sarahjh69]

I watch Divx on my 32" PAL widescreen TV
I have used every combination of
AIW Radeon 32DDR
Radeon 7000 64DDR TV out 2 monitor etc.(powered by)

with pcs using
Celeron 1000@1240
Athlon 1000@1330
Athlon XP1600

all work perfectly, ATI cards have brilliant TV outputs
The 7000 was particularly easy to install and setup the software,
all working off the provided CD (a first for ATI)
I suspect they would not have been so good in a pentium 500.
Plenty of processing power = no jerks

and by the way my Xp1600 with Radeon 7000 can play
4 DiVX movies onscreen simultainiously with no dropped frames
(each using 1/4 screen Zoomplayers)