sigma Designs X-card / tv-out / imon etc...

alkjonesalkjones
edited June 2006 in Hardware
Hi

OK, follow on.

from research the x-card seems to be the daddy in ragards to dvd quality playback from PC to TV.

I want to use the Imon VFD suite in conjunction with this card - not the xcard remote and recvr

however

From what I'm reading the xcard doesnt output the PC desktop, only video. In order to get the desktop onto the TV - and I only want to do this so I can see the Imon software - Ill need to use a TV out from a graphics card going to the same TV.

Firstly, is this correct?

If so, is something here intelligent enough (the xcard, im hoping) to do the maths on the video data on the xcard and then output that data through the same, as opposed to the data being crunched by something else and then outputted through the TV-out of the video card.?

Ultimately I want to get the desktop onto my PC so I can see and run the imon software, then have the xcard take over the video rendering and output, as the xcard seems to be the card of choice for this task.

Is this possible?

If im going about this completely the wrong way, could someone let me know, as im working all this out from research on the net as opposed to talk to a tech support line (who I think are in Korea, and the US...)

Thanks people

Comments

  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited May 2006
    I'll admit I've never heard of the X-card so I'm not entirely sure... but is it impractical for you to have a small flatscreen (14" or something) for your PC desktop and then have the output from the X-card through your TV?
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    I looked up the Xcard when I was looking for a card that did everything (video, sound, 1394, usb, etc.) but found it a little lacking. You can put a passthrough from your main video card into the Xcard but the desktop will be on the HD15 analog out on the Xcard ONLY. The only reason you'd want to do this is to get hardware video overlay on a computer monitor.

    The Xcard can decode MPEG2 directly to its output but there are caveats. I think it only does this for DVD sources which won't help if your video is on your hard drive and/or encoded in MPEG4. As I recall, the Xcard is essentially a hardware MPEG2 decoder with surround sound support. You can't use it as a normal sound card either.

    In other words, it's a DVD player that you can stick in your PC.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • CharlesCCharlesC
    edited June 2006
    drasnor wrote:
    I looked up the Xcard when I was looking for a card that did everything (video, sound, 1394, usb, etc.) but found it a little lacking.

    ...which won't help if your video is on your hard drive and/or encoded in MPEG4.
    Did you ever see details of TVedia that works with the Xcard? What the Xcard can't decode, this app will do in realtime and send it out via the Xcard.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Q: What about other formats such as WMV, DV and DIVX with quarter pixel?
    A: For formats that are not supported by Xcard's hardware deocder, software decoder and reencoding is used to play them. You need to install the software codec though. If the file can be successfully played in Windows Media Player, TVedia can automatically detect what codec to use as well. Otherwise, you need to specify the codec in the SoftwareDecoders.xml file.
    Nifty. It supports DirectShow.
    Q: How does web browsing work in TVedia?
    A: TVedia doesn't have an internal browser. It uses Internet Explorer to provide browsing functions. When Xcard is used, because of performance reasons, the browser is still displayed on PC display. The image is captured and projected to Xcard. You can move the cursor around with arrow remote buttons, and simulate click by pressing the SEL button. Press the PLAY/PAUSE button to magnify the view. When PC display is used as the output device, you cannot magnify the view. In that mode, you can set the default text size in Internet Explorer to get a clear view of the pages on TV screen from a distance.
    I can't imagine that would be fast but it's probably the only way for it to work. If you're clever you could probably use Internet Explorer in this fashion as Windows Explorer and be able to access your disks. Still, I would view that as a workaround.

    At $35 it isn't a bad deal on software but on the hardware side Xcard just isn't compelling. You need an additional video card and sound card to make it work in the first place and a decent video card and sound card can do everything it can do.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    yeh, if your looking for a good hardware mpeg encoder/decoder, hapauge has some good stuff, almost bought one of their cars a while back when I was considering building an htpc.
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