Using TV-OUT for DivX, what's it like?

[BluDChyLD]

I'm thinking of picking up a tv-out card so I can watch my DivX films on my tv. I've heard that they look good due to the low-res of a tv but the macroblocks are alot clearer to see, ruining to picture. What do you think of tv-out for DivX?
Thanks,
BluDChyLD

[KenAdams]

I loooove my TV-Out:) I've got the Matrox G450 DH it's a ready good quality TV-out! Never seen a better one. It has the DVD Max option which allows you to see the movie in fullscreen on your TV no matter what size it has on your PC-Screen. It's not just for DVD but any type of video.
The picture quality is better on TV, because of the reason you mentioned. When you see big blocks on your Pc-Screen you see then an your TV too, but not that sharp.
Imo with a high quality DVD rip you can't tell if it's a rip or a DVD.
But proof me wrong:)

have fun,

Ken

[BluDChyLD]

looks like i'll pick one up :) One problem though, my tv upstairs hasn't got scart on s-video support. So i'm going to have to find a card with the old phono-style aerial output. Any ideas if you can get them?

[KenAdams]

I don't know what you mean by old phono-style serial output, but the G450 has Composite (cinch, that's what we call them in Europe) and S-Video output. So you won't have any probs attaching your Pc to your TV as long as your TV has a composite input (those 3 jacks yellow = picture, red/white = audio left /right).

btw though many people say S-Video output is much better quality than composite, I can't see any difference.

And: Don't buy the G450 when you want to play 3D games on your computer, I don't play games so it makes no difference to me:)

bye,

Ken

[BluDChyLD]

i know what you mean, we call it scart. The aerial cable im talking about, is just one plug that sends the video and audio. It's a really old design, I think it might be called an RF cable.

[KenAdams]

I see, I think you mean the antenna cable?! If so I have to disappoint you, there's no graphics card with TV-Out via antenna. It's always S-Video/Composite, sorry dude.

Maybe you should get a new TV too? :)

regards,

Ken

P.S.: I just read that aerial means antenna. I'm not a native toung:)

[BluDChyLD]

damn, thats a shame. My friend said he knew someone who had one, must of been mistaken... I'm not getting a new tv for upstairs anytime soon, and I can't really trail a lead to the living room for the other tv either :( Never mind, i'll have to stick to my monitor.

[KenAdams]

that's really a shame, TV-out is such a cool thing to have. but I don't want to make you jealous:)

I think your friends is mistaking, I'm pretty sure there is no card that would solve your problem.

just put a TV on your next wishlist for b-day (Xmas will take a while:)):)

greets,

Ken

[nerdboy80]

Actually I thought I saw an NVidia based card with coaxial out, which is the RF of which you speak. BTW even if you do only have S-Video out and have and RF input on your TV you're NOT screwed. I have connected my Hercules Prophet GTS (S-Video) and my TV (RF-Coaxial). I used an S-Video to Composite (the yellow video cable) hookup, then ran that to a composite-to-rf conversion box I picked up at radio shack for $20. I also plugged in my stereo out to audio composite cables (also at the 'Shack), and ran them to the converter box. Now it plays fine. Except for annoying black bars at either side of the screen, but that's an issue with the card I think and not my setup. So now I don't have to hear my fiancee bitch about having to watch DVDs on my computer screen.

[Swede]

Or if you got a VCR you could just feed the signal into that... And then use the aerial to the TV as usual..

[KenAdams]

@nerdboy: I didn't know of such converters, good to know!

@Swede: The VCR-plan is a good idea, that would work either.

bye,

Ken

[BluDChyLD]

the vcr ideas good, i've got one next to my tv so thats ok :) On the front panel of the vcr there's on input for video and one for audio. They're phono style sockets if that's the right word. Y'know when you connect your pc speakers and you have an mini jack on one end and two plugs on the other end for the L&R channel? It's that type of plug socket.
BluDChyLD

[NeVeRLiFt]

I love watching my DivX's on my TV using TV-out! :D

[skyline]

I know this is a little off-topic, but does anyone know if the scart connector separates luma and chroma like s-video does? or does it mix them up and give poor quality like composite?

[Kandor]

Scart is only a connection standard not a signal standard. so it will depend on the tv you have what it will be able to do.
I know the Loewe tvs even can do component video throw scart.
and all newer tvs can do svideo, composite, rgb via scart.

so hope my info helped.

[pennst26]

I use a new radeon graphics card, and it advertised "no tv out", yet it had s-video plug. My tv is nice, but it has no svideo in, so I bought a rf switch at an electronics store and used my pc speakers for sound, and it works great. Only, make sure you use a lower screen resolution before you hook it up to your tv, cause iy is very small graphics, and fonts are too small to read. I suggest 800X600 or less.

[ookzDVD]

I use GeForce 2Mx 200, 32Mb, with Video composite out,
connect to my 14" RCA TV, use TVtool from TVtool.de!

The quality is superb, just like DVD! imho.

Good luck!

[nikthebak]

BluDChyLD,

What you have heard about TV output is basically correct. These are my experiences of watching compressed videos through TV vs. monitor.

Due to the less-than-perfect picture-generation mechanisms of a normal (LD)TV (Low-Definition TV :D ), they forgive blurred source very easily. That's why low resolution, H.263 quantization, bilinear resizing, Temporal Smoother and/or Spatial Soften can be used with very little, if any, visible damage to the picture.

However, macroblocks and severe noise seem to be amplified (the noise pixels stay on the screen a bit longer) and are painstakingly easy to notice. Since severe macroblocks do not happen when using proven encoding methods (SBC, XviD 2-pass) and a reasonable bitrate, the most dreaded artifacts are noise pixels especially around moving objects.

Because I don't have a 32" wide-screen monitor I watch everything through a television nowadays. I also optimize my rips for TV usage, meaning maximum of 640x resolution, H.263 and smoothing filters. Ideal for 1CD rips anyway :D

[MaTTeR]

I've been watching Xvid/Divx movies on a 27" tube TV for about a year now. I love it and the quality is especially good over an S-Video cable. The quality will vary depending on good your encodes are of course. Divx 4.x displays more macroblocks in dark scenes on my TV, however with Xvid you would think your actually viewing the DVD with 5.1 sound;)

TVtool 5.5
TNT2 M64 with S-Video
27" JVC Tube TV
CeleronII 700
256MB RAM
Asus P2B 440BX Mobo

Try it and I think you'll like it:)

[Acaila]

@MaTTeR:

I know you did an XviD/DivX5 comparison to watch on TV.

So, what are the results of that test?

[MaTTeR]

Originally posted by Acaila
@MaTTeR:

I know you did an XviD/DivX5 comparison to watch on TV.

So, what are the results of that test?

The main thing I was looking for on TV was the block artifacts that were so apparent in Divx 4.x encodes. Divx 5 improved upon Divx 4 in this respect but the blocks still exist in dark areas. Then I played the Xvid clip....ahhh perfect black backgrounds with hardly any noticeable blocks;) So I'll stick with Xvid as expected. Nics build from yesterday is giving great results by the way. It also seems faster than Divx 5, maybe 1-2FPS faster.