On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 00:58:59 +0000, Tony Houghton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, James Gatt wrote: > > > I think all Matrox G450 and G550 cards have tv-out. They are not very > > expensive, and give excellent results with 720x576 PAL. I have a G450, > > it has two 15-pin VGA connectors on it, the second socket also provides > > the rgb/s-video/composite signals. You need a special lead for this, the > > required connections are on several internet sites. I think even Matrox > > themselves publish this info on their site. > > Ah, I didn't realise you could get S-Video from one of the VGA sockets, > that's very useful to know, thanks. I was looking for one with an > S-Video mini-DIN socket. > > However, I've just solved one of the problems with my DXR3 and the other > one is being worked on, so I might stick with that. I keep buying > different cards for my HTPC and finding fault with them! FWIW the first > problem was jitter on some DivX, which I fixed by forcing 25fps in the > output filter, and the other problem is that it can sometimes go out of > A/V sync with VDR (DVB). > > > > -- > TH * http://www.realh.co.uk > >
For what it's worth, I was once in a situation similar to yours. I started with a Voodoo3 card for my freevo box. It worked, but the output was poort at best. I tried Nvidia, but still had problems, quality was better, but it needed X to get the job done (too much overhead). I realized that I had a DXR3 card lying around so I went through the trouble and the hassle of getting that set up. It worked well, but the fact that all the data coming through it has to be software scaled and reencoded was really not good and I had to resort to lowering the encoding quality settings in order to get a faster encoding time to keep things in sync (like when there were trees and the like in the background) Then I decided I'd just go for what I'd heard to be the best. I looked for a month on ebay until finally I found a dual-head G450 for about $30 (yes, I'm an American). Well, that was it. I got that and a cable for the 2nd head output to convert to svideo for $8. The resulting image is by far the best of any I've seen from a video card's TV-out. I don't have to run with all the X overhead, and on top of all that I have the ability to run emulators through SDL's DirectFB output. It was the best thing I could have done, I only wish I'd done it sooner. Good luck with your project, Shawn Dowler -- Want free stuff? Don't want to work for referrals to get it? - - - - - http://congacircle.com/ Conga CIRCLE for free stuff! - - "The more Susan waited, the more the doorbell didn't ring." --Douglas Adams, "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"
