Video Card and TV

coffincoffin
edited June 2003 in Hardware
Hello,

Let me begin by saying: Welcome back, Incrontic. Very glad you have returned.

I have a question with regard to video cards and my TV. I'd like to be able to hook up my standard TV set to my computer, through the video card, and, among other things, watch DVD movies. I've been reading much about the current video card product lines, including the most recent, such as Radeon 9800 and 9700 All In Wonder, as well as NVidia's Personal Cinema (not that new), and all the reviews and even discussions with sales reps from the companies state that the video rendering on a TV, although allowed through an S-Video out jack on the cards, does not render DVD movies as crisply as, say, a standard DVD player component you'd buy strictly for the TV.

Is anyone aware of any card or even external device that hooks up to the computer to render DVD movies played from the computer crisply and smoothly (without any distortions) on a standard TV set?

Thanks You.

Comments

  • jdccbjdccb Mid-Atlantic USA
    edited June 2003
    Well I guess it depends on how much of a stickler for details you are. My roomate had a lap-top with video out (just plain old red,white,yellow cables), that he occasionaly used to play, well, less than legally-obtained movies on the TV. While the regular computer stuff, desktop et all, looked pretty bad, the movies actually looked quite solid to me and him. I've got an All-In-Wonder, but I've never actually tried the video-out on it to see how well it would work, never had it that close to a TV.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    I wanted to try the TV out on my laptop but the ATi drivers never recognise that a TV is connected and they dont let me select it as an output.

    NS
  • coffincoffin
    edited June 2003
    Originally posted by jdccb
    Well I guess it depends on how much of a stickler for details you are. My roomate had a lap-top with video out (just plain old red,white,yellow cables), that he occasionaly used to play, well, less than legally-obtained movies on the TV. While the regular computer stuff, desktop et all, looked pretty bad, the movies actually looked quite solid to me and him. I've got an All-In-Wonder, but I've never actually tried the video-out on it to see how well it would work, never had it that close to a TV.

    Thanks for that. I'll give it a shot. I'll go out and upgrade my video card today and try running a movie from it. If the OS and general computer stuff looks poor, that's okay, but if the movies look pretty good, that would be great. I'll keep you posted.

    Thanks again.
  • DexterHolland911DexterHolland911 Hong Kong
    edited June 2003
    With an All in Wonder card, you should get pretty high quality DVD video output, even to the TV.
  • karatekidkaratekid Ogdensburg, NY
    edited June 2003
    I have played around with video out on my current Radeon 9500 Pro, and my old Geforce 3, and both put out very nice picture with movies (I also watch movies which are less than legally obtained :|, ) and games. Desktop is horrible though, you basically navigate by memory. Now video in, that is a whole different story. My 9500 Pro has no video in, but the Geforce 3 did, and that looked kinda bad, especially in regards to bright areas.
  • kr4zkr4z Newfoundland, Canada
    edited June 2003
    http://www.ati.com/products/pc/hdtvadapter/index.html

    Supports a whole bunch of ATi cards, outputs HDTV resolutions.. I've never used one though

    I've got an All In Wonder Radeon 8500 that I've used the normal video out on, it looks fine to me. Not good for reading small text, but then, TVs aren't designed for that sort of thing.
  • coffincoffin
    edited June 2003
    Thanks, everyone, for your responses. I got a Radeon 6900 Pro yesterday, which has an S-Video output. I hooked it up to one of my TVs and the movie came out pretty well. But, just like some of you had warned, the desktop and everything else was terrible. Once I shrunk the resoloution down to 800 x 600, it got a lot better, though.

    Jack
  • EnisadaEnisada Edmonton Member
    edited June 2003
    I never heard of a 6900 Pro is that a typo or is that card really out???
  • MattMatt
    edited June 2003
    Originally posted by Enisada
    I never heard of a 6900 Pro is that a typo or is that card really out???
    it's out there
    $204 - RADEON 9700 128MB
    $180 RADEON 9600 Pro Ultra
    $167 - RADEON 9600 Pro 128MB
    $138 RADEON 9500 128MB
    $126 - RADEON 9500 64MB
    $77 RADEON 9200 128MB
    $66 - RADEON 9200 64MB
    $75 RADEON 9100 128MB
    $62 - RADEON 9100 64MB
    $78 - RADEON 9000 Pro 128MB
    $59 - RADEON 9000 Pro 64MB
    $56 - RADEON 9000
    $70 - RADEON 9000 128MB
    $56 - RADEON 9000 64MB
  • EnisadaEnisada Edmonton Member
    edited June 2003
    Well I don't see a 6900Pro on your list but I'm going to assume it is a typo and that it meant to say 9600Pro.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    That was a really, really stupid question
    <img src="http://atomnet.co.uk/dl?funny=noob4"&gt;

    NS
  • EnisadaEnisada Edmonton Member
    edited June 2003
    Typos can be the death of us all...lol
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