TV out?

[TuShan]

im thinking on getting a new graphics card and want to use TV out. with the card im using right now my TV screen is really fuzzy. is that because of the TV or the card? and would using svideo out be any better than the composite video out?

[Stoo]

S-Video will be sharper and better quality, but it could also be the gfx card as well..

Which card do you have?

[directhex]

depends on the card as well as the TV - a Radeon will give a beter picture than a cheap Geforce, and we use a Radeon 7000 for a GORGEOUS picture via Composite in my house.

--jo

[TuShan]

i have a cheapy geforce 2 MX so thatl be the problem then

[bertie]

Depends on the TV-out chip on the card too - i hear specific philips ones are meant to be good.
Also are you using TV Tool? It might have some options to sharpen up the image on your TV.

[Zathras]

GF2MX cards invariably had very poor quality TV-out. Mine certainly does, as did my brother's old card. The TV-out on my GF4Go is far superior though. The encoder chips vary by manufacturer as well as by actual card name, so one manuf's gf4 TV-out may be far superior to another one, identically named but different manufacturer. You don't often go wrong with genuine ATI cards though.

[Spritzup]

Just a thought. The quality of the cable as well as the length of cable going to the TV will directly affect picture quality. But I've also heard that ATI cards are superior to Nvidia with regards to Tv out.

Hope this helps a tad.

[TuShan]

im just using my TV as a second display right now. its verry blurry on the desktop and with internet explorer open but the video quality on dvds and mpgs is better than on the monitor. im using ultramon and TVtool seems to mees that up so i dont really want to use it. i think ill buy an ati card as soon as posible though

[Bindibadgi]

nvidia with philips chip = piss poor quality, dont even bother
ATi with rage theatre chipset = very good, very compatible, good native software support.
Ati with Rage 20 (newest one on 9700 and 9800s) - havent tried, meant to be better than the rage theatre
Matrox - my g550 is good, although i prefer ati driver tweaks.
Nvidia with Conextent - not tried, meant to be comparable to the rage theatre.

You WONT be able to use your tv as a monitor - period. The technologys are different and a tv isnt designed for small text as the pixels are too big and its interlaced.



^^ i use straight Svideo out with a well shielded cable.

[TuShan]

so i wont be able to read text or anythoing on it anyway? im just using a composite cable conected into a scart-3composite thing like your using. im only using 1 lead though for the video my sound goes through my sterio

[Bindibadgi]

sound thru stereo is better usually.

Text will be very hard to read, no impossible. The lower the res the more its possible and the better the quality tv out - matrox/ati with svideo at uber sharpness would be the best.

[TuShan]

what is the advantage of using svideo and does using an addapter to change to composite affect it?

[directhex]

svideo caries the chomulence & liminance lines separately, so slight line errors are less pronounced. composite stores all video data down one line.

--jo

[dirtydog]

Originally posted by Zathras
GF2MX cards invariably had very poor quality TV-out. Mine certainly does, as did my brother's old card. The TV-out on my GF4Go is far superior though. The encoder chips vary by manufacturer as well as by actual card name, so one manuf's gf4 TV-out may be far superior to another one, identically named but different manufacturer. You don't often go wrong with genuine ATI cards though.

GF2 MX cards with a BT869 chip certainly don't have very poor quality TV-out It's very good in fact - need TVTool to enable overscan and more adjustment options than are possible with nvidia's drivers though.

Bindibadgi, Philips TV-out is only poor if using the SAA7102 chip.. the SAA7104 and 7108 and later chips have very good quality.

The best quality nvidia TV-out is with a Conexant CX25871, found on some Geforce2s/3s/4s. The integrated TV-out found on some MXs/FXs is also good, on a par with the Philips or the BT869. Other MXs/FXs have the Philips chip, usually a 7114H which is just a SAA7104 with video-in.

Finally, ATI cards' TV-out is not always good at all - 8500 and 9100 cards with the Rage Theater chip have substandard tv-out at 800x600, it's a known hardware problem and has never been fixed. Check the Rage3D forums for lots of unhappy people. Also the ATI drivers do not make it easy to adjust the screen (also no official overscan).

[Zathras]

Dirtydog, I'm sure the odd GF2MX had decent tv-out, but I'm just trying to reassure the OP that his poor TV-out quality is probably a lot more to do with his card and not the limitations of what a TV is capable of showing.

[dirtydog]

You said "GF2MX cards invariably had very poor quality TV-out. Mine certainly does, as did my brother's old card." but cards with the Conexant BT869 chip had good quality - and that includes possibly most GF2 MXs.. it's a very common chip. Perhaps you were unlucky and had the Chrontel or early Philips chips.

If Tushan has a BT869 or CX25871 and is getting very poor quality then it's not his card (unless faulty) it'll be something wrong with his set-up, either in Windows, the cable, the TV or a combination of the three.