TV-out graphics card recommendation?

[maqo]

Hello, I'm currently running SS3 on my main Windows system with a Radeon 9700 Pro video card, and after getting everything fully functional I'm trying to put together a separate dedicated box to run it on.

I'm quite satisified with the TV-out quality on my Radeon 9700, but since the new box will be a dedicated system for just Snapstream I don't need anything nearly that high-end (and I need the 9700 for gaming!), so I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good mid-range video card with decent TV-out quality.

I've been eyeing an Asus GeForce FX5200 for under $80, but don't want to be stuck with a sub-standard TV-out picture and don't have any experience with this chipset. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

-M

[soulscreme]

I don't know about the FX but I have a GeForce 4MX and use the S-Video out. I had used it with an S-Video to RCA Video converter. Now I have a TV with an S-Video input. Bottom line, pciture quality is awesome. Use it to watch DiVX, DVD, play game, etc. It actually outputs to the TV in 1024x768. Now that the FX is out you may want to look for a 4 MX, shoudl be far cheaper now than when I got it.

[heath]

Be careful on card selection for S-Video TV-out. Quality often differs and you can get excellent quality from a very cheap GeForce 4 Ti4200 card if you select the right manufacturer and model... As I posted here on another thread...

[maqo]

This site seems somewhat out of date, as there's no coverage of the GeForce FX 5200 cards. Also try as I might, most of the cards that are listed as using the preferred Conexant chip seem almost impossible to find!

[heath]

Originally posted by maqo
This site seems somewhat out of date, as there's no coverage of the GeForce FX 5200 cards. Also try as I might, most of the cards that are listed as using the preferred Conexant chip seem almost impossible to find!

I'm lucky enough to have a 4200 with the Conexant chip. Note too that the XBox uses the same Conexant chip for its output.

As I posted it, I thought it might be out of date... but it does make one more aware that you should be careful with S-Video out on graphics cards.

Next, I suppose we should try to find out if NVidia has integrated S-Video out in their newest GeForce FX chips. It wasn't integrated in the GeForce 4 chip (hence the problems with different solutions).

Try to search for reviews that mention TV-Out quality. Also, have a look on the different HTPC forums around for people's opinions on specific cards.

I believe that ATI has a good reputation for its S-Video out, but I cannot personally make a comment, since I don't use my ATI card for TV.

I'll have a look as well and post here if I find anything.

[RobertH]

from what ive seen all the gf4mx and the fx cards unless the manufacturer decided to use another companies chip have the tv chip built into the GPU

[heath]

Probably was obvious to GeForce FX users, but I have seen confirmation at TomsHardware that the TV Encoder is built into the FX series chip.

So, Nvidia has gone the way of ATI and included S-Video encoding in their chip.

Now anyone tried S-Video out on a FX 5x00 and can compare the quality with the S-Video out on a Radeon 9x00?

[jeffreyd_tx]

To me the 9800 looks better. Colors are crisper.
5900 had slightly better smoothness of picture but the colors seemed dull and overscan was really bad.

[maqo]

For $300, I would certainly hope so! ;p

(prices like that for just a video card--assuming anything less is unacceptable--make Tivo a much more attractive option)

[Terminal]

I have done a comparison between the ATI Radian 7500 and a PNY Nvidia FX5200. The PNY was far superior. This is a comparison of more comparable priced cards.

[cmasters]

The 7500 is using the older shipsets. The 9000 + are quite a bit better. Plus the 9000 is priced at the 5200 FX level. I too find the ATI too look better, but not night and day. I was happy with either. The nice thing about the ATI is that they support custom resolutions with their drivers. As well as overscan. For HTPC users or users connection to a digital or HDTV these items are a must.

On a side note, does anyone know of an nVidia that has component out?

[heath]

Originally posted by maqo
For $300, I would certainly hope so! ;p

(prices like that for just a video card--assuming anything less is unacceptable--make Tivo a much more attractive option)

Actually I think the comparison is a good example.

We should just be worried about comparing the same "generation" of chips from ATI and NVidia.

What the manufacturer does to make a cheaper card (ie: cripple the memory throughput, reduce the number of pipelines, etc..) only affects the 3D graphics speeds and shouldn't make a difference to TV-Out quality.

So a comparison of any GeForce FX to any Radeon 9x00 for TV-Out should tell you what you need to know.

You can then go and buy the one that fits in your price range.

[Sef]

A while back I borrowed an FX5200 from work to do a comparison with my Radeon 9200. Using the S-Video output on both cards, they were very good quality. I got the impression the 9200 was slightly better but without seeing them side by side it was difficult to put my finger on it.

The main differences for me were the driver support and the board temperature.

With the Radoen, I had to install a tweaker app called Rage3D to enable the overscan feature in the drivers (this is fixed with newer ATI drivers). The FX had overscan support built into the driver, which also had a zoom feature that lets you change the 'size' of the overscan. This was great except that when SS started up, it switched off overscan.

When I came to take the FX out of the PC, the extra-large heatsink was incredibly hot, much hotter than the Radeon ever gets. While this won't bother most people, it's an issue if you're trying to make your PC quiet since more heat equals more cooling equals more noise.

In short, I'm sticking with the Radeon.

Hope that helps.

[maqo]

I was originally inclined to go with an ATI Radeon 9200 as well (since I've been happy with the TV-out on my 9700 Pro), until I realized the 9200 doesn't have DX9 support--something that Snapstream recommends.

Since I've only used a DX9 compliant card with Snapstream, I have no basis for comparison w.r.t. how important this really is. I don't really want to shell out another $300 just for the video card on a dedicated PVR box (which motivated my original post).

Does anyone have any thoughts on SS with non-DX9 cards?

Many thanks!

[cmasters]

SnapStream recommends a card that is "DirectX 9.0 Compatible". You will be hard pressed to find one that is not. Every card I have purchased over the last 3 or more years would fit requirement.