TV-OUT quality

[rtyp3]

Hiya folks,
I was thinking about buying a video card with TV out, and I read a little over a year ago that the quality wasn't too good. Has it improved, or has it always been good. Your opinions.

[AnakiMana]

I suggest buying an external adaptor. That way, you can use whatever you want and you're free to upgrade without losing TV output. I used to have a ATI All-in-Wonder Pro 8mb AGP video card, which had video output to TV's. But after a while it couldn't keep up with my games. The last time I checked (about a year ago) most external video out kits did 640x480 resolution, which looks pretty bad on any good sized TV. But I remember seeing one that was 1024x768. By now there should be better (and more) options. I strongly discourage video cards with built in vid-out.

AnakiMana

[rtyp3]

Ok, thanks
By the way- the reason you see only 640x480 resolution on those is because TVs only have a resoluion of 640x480. So anything more would be useless.

[brandon184]

Actually, rtyp3.. I believe the resolution on a standard television is something like 3xx by 2xx, something along the lines of that..

- Brandon

[Krymson]

I think you can get an idea of tv resolution by going into DOS and typing mode 40 25
This mode is what they use to used back in the 80's when they used tvs as moniters.
Im not sure if video out is at this resolution though.

[This message has been edited by Krymson (edited 06-30-2000).]

[Warthog]

Yeah Brandon's right, it's like 320x240 I think (don't quote me).

Warthog

[AnakiMana]

Wow! Ok, then what specs should one look at for those devices? Some give pretty bad output, and some look great. How can you tell besides finding out the hard way?

AnakiMana

[davesdynamite]

Well, still, no one has answered what the best option is for TV using the computer. Is it a waste of time or has it improved quality?

[DanU]

It's not the video card's fault, it's the TV's!

Standard NTSC TVs make for a VERY poor computer display. A standard frame of NTSC video is composed of 525 interlaced lines, but not all of those lines are useable. About 10% of them are lost due to overdraw. I'd say that even the best TV's are limited to displaying 640x480, but even that will be fuzzy.

Note that many cheap TV's cannot display the full 525 lines of NTSC video. Many of these can barely display half this number. This makes the situation even worse.

The best option would be to get a bigger computer monitor http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif. If you still insist on using standard TVs (and there are good reasons to), then get a studio-quality monitor for the best picture. If that's not possible (because of $$$), then consumer grade TV's that have S-Video inputs are a good third option since having S-video inputs suggests (but does not guarantee) that the TV is of decent quality.

[smokin1]

The new HDTV's and especially the plasma screens are a great option. Plasma will do 1024 x 768, and with a computer running a Radeon with TV out..looks great!
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif
even an ATI with the theatre chip like the Expert 2000 looks quite acceptable on TV at 640 x 480.I have no qualms at all in stating that a built in card with TV out will run as well as your TV can handle..the TV being the bottleneck....
2c

[vintron]

a normal technology tv (even if big screen ) CANNOT handle anything above 800x600.

Talking about Plasma screens.... DUDE! u gotta be kidding. Those things are VERY costly. It's like telling someone to get a VIPER when they ask details about a Honda civic

[Gutter Ball]

Hmmm, I used to be able to broadcast my Starcraft games onto my 19' TV with no problems! I also have the ATI All in Wonder. My video card isn't connected to the TV anymore...but if it was, I'd try to run UT on it and then let you know.

[smokin1]

I wasn't telling anyone to get a plasma TV..I was responding to a comment that TV's can't do a higher rez..I DID say that with an internal tuner card you can get acceptable output..so brush up on those reading skills DUDE!
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[booya]

yes you can have a real goo tv out on recent card like geforce

well at least mine work really good

ho i i have a fiend ground me if im wrong but his tv can do 1280*1024

[muno]

Pal tv doews 704x576. Due to that, the maximum resolution output is 800x600.
VHS compresses it to something like 352x288 etc.
-M