TV Out card.

[rawbee]

My video card doesn't have TV out. Neither does my WinTV card. I don't really want to replace anything. What are my options? I'm running Windows XP.

Thanks!
Robby

[RobertH]

you can get a device called a scan converter that will take a vga signal and convert it to a composite or svideo output but most of these devices cost almost as much as a low end geforce 4 card with tv out.

[johns]

Will a scan converter give you a better picture than the SVIDEO output on a video card? (I have a GeForce 4200)

[RobertH]

not really because they are designed to convert the vga signal, most new nvidia cards can do the conversion inside the graphics chip so the signal is MUCH clearer, the only way you would get similar quality is to get a top of the line model converter

[johns]

Thanks.

I'm definitely unimpressed with the SVIDEO out on my video card. The picture is horrible. Now it could be because I don't have something set correctly. The resolution is 800x600 @ 60HZ. It's not bad when I'm watching SS, but as soon as I go to the Windows XP desktop it gets bad.

Is there a current video card that is known for a great TV out?

[RobertH]

are you using tv clone mode on the nvidia? you might want to adjust clone mode down to 640x480 and use true fullscreen at 640x480, also you may want to tweek the flicker filter on the card in the nvidia control panel this causes the image to be blurry while removing the flicker horizontal lines cause, 640x480 is about as close to tv "resolution" you are going to get

supposedly the gf FX cards (the 5200 comes up a lot) has a great tv out, i have a gf4 mx440se and it has a crystal clear picture but if you drive it higher than 640x480 the image gets compressed and blurry

[rawbee]

Just installed a pci gf fx 5200, and it's working great!!! I can't say enough good things about my new pvr =)

[johns]

Mind if I ask why you went with PCI instead of AGP? Just trying to figure all this stuff out so I can get the best setup possible. :-)

[rawbee]

my computer's agp slot is occupied with a qudro fx card that doesn't have tv out. i didn't want to replace the card, and thus, just added a pci card =)

[johns]

Outside of the Snapstream app, are you happy with the quality of the SVIDEO out onto your TV?

[rawbee]

Well, to be honest with you, I got the card specifically for Snapstream and only installed it last night. So far though, everything's great. What I like the most about it is the control that nVidia's driver has. I'm able to fine tune a lot of things. There's one thing that I haven't been able to figure out though. In order for Snapstream to go Full Screen on my TV, I have to set the TV as the primary monitor. However, this makes it so that every application I launch goes to the TV. There are some workarounds, but I'd really like it to be automatic. All in all though, I'm very happy with the whole setup!

[RobertH]

if you set the 5200's monitor port as the primary then enable display cloning in the nvidia properties then enable true fullscreen mode in snapstream the tv out will be fullscreen (you might have to change the tv out's resolution to be the same as true fullscreen res)

snapstream will only display on the primary display device.

if you arent using the monitor out on the 5200 then you will be out of luck. because then the only way to have it drive the tv out is to set the tv as the primary device.