Good 2 x RAMDAC or simulaneous (DVI + TV out) cards other than Matrox?

[Edgy]

Using the computer as DVD player, and I am really sick of switching to tv-out display to play dvds and reverse for pc.

Any other solutions that can do what Matrox can do - play dvd on tv out & use the flat panel for computer use at the same time?

Can Hydravision (ATI) or Twinview (NVIDIA) do this?

If so, what's the recommended card on a budget? (not much gaming but DVI is essential).

thx.

 

[JeremiahTheGreat]

I'm quite sure a nice ATI Radeon (or higher) class video card can do this..

I've used my Radeon 8500 TV out for playing some movies, while using the analogue for displaying work.. so in theory it should work wif the DVI port as well.

 

[Edgy]

Actually I have a Radeon AIW original and this thing can't do it.

I believe only cards with 2 (1 for primary display (dvi) and 2nd for tv out or vga output) ramdacs can do this.

Jeremiah - your 8500LE can do independant multiple outputs? Does that have DVI connection or vga only?

thx.

 

[JeremiahTheGreat]

Mine has a DVI, Analogue and S-Video out port..

Its a bit odd how it works, you kind of have to drag the DVD player screen to the 2nd display (eg the TV-out) and maximise it, and it full screens on the TV but the Monitor still retains the normal desktop.. this has to be in extended desktop mode and not the clone desktop mode.

Its been a while since i did this (about 1yr), hopefully i remembered it correctly and it still works..

 

[Edgy]

A few more questions Jeremiah:

1. Can your primary display (desktop) & display on tv-out be in different resolutions?
2. Is your 8500le from ATI or powered by Ati?

Thx.

 

[Peter]

ATi cards can run the TV and VGA/DVI output on different resolutions. The only thing you can not do is run two CRTs AND a TV at the same time. CRT+TV, DVI+TV are allowed.

Their Windows drivers (the XP ones at least) also have "Theater Mode", which like Matrox "DVDMAX" clones any video overlay from the main screen to the TV output - in fullscreen mode.

So you can switch to and fro using the TV as a secondary monitor, extending your desktop, or as the full screen display for any kind of moving images.

 

[JeremiahTheGreat]

yeap, as peter said.

Mine is .. an odd card. Has big Targo (OEM) stickers all over it, but has Hynix 3.6 ram on it. So i'm guessing its a rebadged ATI made card..

 

[Peter]

Why? Do you think ATi disallows their OEMs to make fast cards? They don't!

 

[JeremiahTheGreat]

My card was one of the first couple of non-ati brand Radeon 8500's out there (got it from hk). As far as i know, ATI was just selling their own production cards to increase supply before the companies themselves ramped up production of their own (like wat they did wif the r300).. i think i got one of those cards. I noted the 3.6 Hynix cause it was the same as the ATI Made cards thats all.. i always installed made by ATI drivers at least.

There were some really really bad non-ati cards r8500 too *couf* crucial *couf* and their horrid 8500lele (250mhz core / 180 mhz mem!).

 

[Edgy]

So is 8500 le the minimum card to achieve dual head?
Anything less expensive?

As far as I can tell the only lower model with ati seems to be the radeon VE (yeek~)


Any idea about geforce solutions to this?

thx

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Edgy
So is 8500 le the minimum card to achieve dual head?
Anything less expensive?

As far as I can tell the only lower model with ati seems to be the radeon VE (yeek~)


Any idea about geforce solutions to this?

thx

I'm not sure about the lower end models but Any Radeon 8500 or above (meaning 8500, 9500, 9700) or any GeForce4 Ti card have two RAMDACs and can do dual monitors or monitor+tv out simultaneously provided the connections are there. So if it has a VGA port and a tv-out port, you can do both at once. If it has VGA and DVI and tv-out then you can do any combination of 2 of those 3 at once.

Look into the GeForce4MX. They can also do dual-output (I'm pretty sure) and are much cheaper than both the Radeon 8500 and GeForce 4 Ti series.

 

[Angus]

try ati radeon9000 or radeon9100.... they have two ramdac inside the chip

 

[Peter]

The only Radeon that does NOT have twin RAMDACs is the original Radeon-256 aka R7200. The 7000, 7500, and everything that came after them do. Cards need not necessarily make use of the feature though - there have been reports of 8500 cards that don't, so watch it.