GeForce 3 Ti and DVD quality - DON'T MAKE ME BUMP! I'LL DO IT YOU SON OF A BITCH! DON'T TEST ME......................

[Luke727]

I'm getting a GeForce 3 Ti 200 (Gainward), and am wondering how DVD playback quality is. I've got a laptop with an ATI Rage Mobility and it plays DVDs very well. I've also got a desktop with a Voodoo3 and DVDs look like ass. Is the GF3Ti more towards the Mobility or the V3 in terms of DVD quality? I was considering getting a Radeon 8500, for just $20 more, but all these horror stories about the drivers are deterring me. Yes, I will be using the card for gaming. Unless someone buys me an AIW 8500. DO IT
:disgust::|:Q:frown: - MY FACE HURTS!

EDIT:

And what the hell is THIS about? Porn-free internet access? I might as well go to CHURCH!
I absolutely LOVE the picture of the happy family by the fence with the words "Porn Free Internet". How hillarious is THAT?!

 

[AGodspeed]

I have a VisionTek GeF3, and I've played plenty of DVDs with it. The quality is great, and I'm comparing to my Radeon LE at my house. I don't really care a lot about playback, but since you do I would have to say the Radeon is a bit better. Mind you, it's nothing spectacular, it's simply a little better with the Radeon.

And what the hell is THIS about? Porn-free internet access? I might as well go to CHURCH!
I absolutely LOVE the picture of the happy family by the fence with the words "Porn Free Internet". How hillarious is THAT?!

Sorry, I'm having a little trouble seeing what this part has to do with anything, but I'll give you a lol.

 

[Mucker]

I own a Visiontek GF3 Ti200 and have been pretty happy with it except for DVD quality. I previously owned a Voodoo 5 5500 and thought it had superior DVD quality compared to the GF when using Win DVD. I can't seem to tweak the DVD on the GF to get a better output (recommendations please?) The only thing I can do is reduce the picture size so the image looks less jagged. I was a bit dissappointed to say the least.

GPJ

 

[Luke727]

I was afraid of that. I was looking into getting an older ATI PCI card just for DVD (and capturing video), but even the older ones are still $120 or so. I'm off course talking about the AIW 128. I guess it's reasonable for hardware DVD support and a TV tuner, but isn't that card a couple of years old? Are there any $50 cards with hardware DVD, tv tuner, and composite-in capturing? I was looking at those Hauppage WinTV cards, which are nice, but I want something with DVD playback similar to my Rage Mobility.

Sigh.

:disgust::|:Q:frown: - MY FACE HURTS!

 

[AA0]

the 8500 driver problems are totally blown out of porportion. I haven't had any problems, my system is very very stable. And all the games I've tried work well, and look a lot better than before with smoothvision.

 

[jfunk]

I don't think you're gonna get ATI quality DVD playback without a dedicated card.

That and 2D image quality are two of their main features.

From your wants, I'd say go with the 8500 instead of the GF3.

At this point it looks to me like the only problems with the Radeon drivers are they are not getting all the performance out of the card they could, but that doesn't matter, it is still way faster than anything needs to be right now and that will improve with time.


j

 

[Hawk]

There really aren't that many problems, especially if it's not WinXP.

The PCI card just for DVD wouldn't work cause you can only use TV/DVD features if it's the primary card, and of course, you can't use the Geforce to play games if you set the Rage as Primary. You could of course use Win2k (and WinXP too I am assuming) and switch primary/secondary on the fly, but that's probably annoying if you had to do that every time you wanted to watch a movie and/or play a game.

 

[Luke727]

Well, I've been reading a lot of reviews, and I must say that the 8500 is looking QUITE spectacular. Near Ti500 performance for much less. Wish I had enough to get the All In Wonder. I think I will go for this card. If I don't like it, I can always return it and get a GeForce 3. A question, though. How much of a leap is the 8500 from the Radeon VIVO in terms of performance?

EDIT:

Bleh. The VIVO is right around a GeForce 2 in performance. Maybe I'll get the 8500 and a separate TV tuner card...

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Go 8500 - it is spectacular. Worth it for the screensavers alone ... well maybe not