Help--> to vivo, or not to vivo!

[jm0ris0n]

Well about 15 minutes ago the airborne express man stopped by bringing with him my Brand Spankin New MSI ti-4400. Now MSI currently produces 2 different types of ti-4400 cards. One is refered to as the G4Ti4400-VTD and the other is the G4Ti_4400-TD_Champion_Edition. There are only 2 differences between the two cards that I know of

1. The ti4400-VTD has VIVO functionality and comes on a green PCB

1. The ti4400-TD DOES NOT have VIVO functionality and comes on a purple PCB

I made sure when I placed my order for the card I was getting the VTD (vivo) model and the orderstatus page of the company confirms I ordered the card with vivo. BUT the card that has just arrived DOES NOT have vivo and is the "championship edition".

It would be possible for me to live w/o vivo as I have never had it in a videocard before, but would it be worth the hassle of returning the card and getting one w/ vivo? Also since the vivo chip is not on the PCB does anyone know how the tv out on this card functions as well as the vga quality?

Thanks for reading my rantings

 

[onelin]

ooh, VIVO...my new love. Yes, I'm that happy about my card. Do you know how many times I've been asked "how can you do that?" since I got this MSI 4400 board? and every time I reply... and go on about how cool the videocard is I use mine on almost a daily basis, the TV out is pristine. (Unless you're using one of those European TVs...I heard there's some kind of slight border around the edges on all GF4's...PAL is it?) I can do everything with it. DVDs and Divx(read: video files) both playback on dual output perfectly...as do OpenGL/directx games and oldschool emulators. Do not confuse this for "two monitors" output, though...as I think that may be incorrect. (I'll be able to verify this week though I hope

That aside: It really boils down to if you'll use it, as I know not everyone will. I use mine heavily, as well as the in (on occasion) but I have firewire for more serious video stuff anyway. If you're as eager as I would be to try that Ti4400 with all my games, maybe keep it. If you think there's a good chance you'd use it, and that the company will replace your card with be able to get you a VIVO (as advertised, they should have to) ... wait for it. It's worth it. Basically, this is better than my friends Mac with ATI boards, and I thought those were some kind of gold standard for TV out. It's really a shame that they went ahead and made a new version that can be confused the VTD owns it. fyi: I got mine from new egg ~2 months back. If I were you, I would show that vendor my wrath and demand what I paid for.

Hope it helps, if you don't think you'll use it, disregard my fanatical display

 

[tenoc]

I like getting what I paid for.

If your supplier is reputable, they'll send you the correct item and pay the return shipping on the wrong one.

If not, not.

And please let us know if not, and who!

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: tenoc
I like getting what I paid for.

If your supplier is reputable, they'll send you the correct item and pay the return shipping on the wrong one.

If not, not.

And please let us know if not, and who!

I agree, I would want to get what I paid for and it could have been just a simple mistake when they sent the card out, but if not, you'll find out soon enough.

 

[jm0ris0n]

Sorry for taking a bit to reply, but as you can guess I've been playin with the card a bit

Sorry if i didn't make it clear, but this card does have video-out, just no video in.

Also, here's whatz up with the situation around which I ordered the card. I ordered it from a company called buyxtremegear.com . I had confidence with my purchase as I called the toll-free number and spoke to a real person before ordering asking if I could have the card ship out that same day (it was 2pm). The guy said no, and they only do internet orders. I thought "its cool i spoke to somebody" + i had confidence as they are a yahoo merchant. I ordered the card for 210 USD + only 15.00 for 2day shipping. I live in texas and I'm impatient, so 2day for only 15 sounded great. After I placed the order i browed reseller ratings to check them out. What I read was not good. Misc complaints about shipping delays and poor product return policy. Obviously the company did not do this in my case, and performed as expected ...except for I got a card that is purple w/o video-in. I decided I may as well keep the card and "if" i ever need video-in I'll buy a tv tuner card. It just wouldnot have been worth the hassle.

Now onto my first impressions of this card. The system the card is on is the following:

Samsung Syncmaster 700NF
Athlon XP running @1.60Ghz w/ a 145fsb and a 11x multiplier.
Iwill KK266+ motherboard w/ 1024MB Pc-133
Enermax 431watt PS
turtlebeach santa cruz audio
Ibm scsi...etc.

Over the course of my hobbyist computing career I have owned the following cards in oder with duration listed:

ATI RageIIc 6months -50USD
VoodooII 12MB 3months -70USD
Diamond viper II (savage 2000 chopset) 9months -200USD
Voodoo 3 3000 1month - free, borrowed from friend
ATI Radeon 32MB DDR Retail 14months -160USD
ATI Radeon 7500 retail 7months -125USD
MSI TI4400-TD - 225USD -the present


blah, blah, blah...now onto impressions: WoW!

In the 3d arena I can not believe this cards ability to go into higher resolutions: 1280*1024; 1600*1200; 1920*1440 and still remain competitive in the framrate category. It is unbelievable

Now to the otherpart...ermmm all I can say is I am hoping the output adapter needs a sort of "break-in" period. The vga quality can almost be described as "fuzzy". Now I know I haven't had the card a long time, so I refrain from making any definite judgment. I just need more time to play around with it.

Now also a factor that must not be overlooked is the amazing packaging and brilliant software bundle!!! It is hard to believe this card comes with NOLF; Aquanox; and Sacrifice!! This along with a great manual makes this card a must for anyone shopping for a higher-end geforce. I mean the only practical purpose of these cards is for games, so why the heck pass up something that already includes about 100USD of software right out of the box.

Although the 2d of this card leaves a little to be desired, I can wholly recommend this card as the ti4400/4600/4200 of choice. Why pay 250 for a gaming card with only a dvd application when you can pay 250 get 3 complete games and that same dvd software?


Pros: Everything but some 2d issues

Cons: The 2d leaves a little to be desired.

 

[onelin]

strange, TV out but not in? that IS odd. It is also odd that your quality is almost blurry... as mine is excellent. I once bought one of those Hollywood Plus mpeg decoder cards (hardware dvd decoding tv-out) and it had the same symptoms, I RMA'd it as faulty. (Software DVD players to this day looks better -- and pass through cables suck.) Sigma makes great cards, that I know...just shows that no company is perfect. I was ordering from a company I trusted, and still trust (I had no hassles.)

TV in honestly is not the cards strong-point, so I wouldn't worry about just that feature... however, it sounds like you picked the wrong vendor and that TV out may not be the same as what's on my card If you're really curious, you could open 'er up (Your comp, not the card) and look for what's written on the chips, for if it's a Philips chip or not. Hell, *I'M* curious now and it really shouldn't concern me If you can take a break from your fun times...it may be good knowledge for fellow forum members.

Good luck w/ this at any rate, sounds like you're having fun I too find it amazing what these new cards can do...I upgraded to this board from an original Geforce (probably below your Radeon in speed) and wow! I'll have a beefed up monitor in a few days when it comes in, then it'l be even more sweet.

 

[TerryMathews]

Any WinTV card can do video in as well as a VIVO GeForce card; it will also work in Linux, something that VIVO GeForce cards can't claim.

Not to sound elitist, but if you really want to do video capture you can find better solutions for less. If you're running Linux, get an Iomega Buz for ~$30 USD in the FS/T forum. It captures in MJPEG, so the data rate tops out at around 10MB/sec, and quality is very good at under 3MB/sec. If Windows is your bag, grab a Pinnacle DC10+ the plus is important for ~$100 USD. The Iomega only has (buggy) Win98 drivers, the Pinnacle has good Win2k/XP drivers. The Pinnacle drivers are not interchangable with the Iomega card; I tried.

Really, the best solution would be a FireWire card + Dazzle FireWire bridge. Converts FireWire to analog video/audio for both in/out. I.E., can output FireWire video stream to VCR, and input VCR recording to FireWire capable recording program. Designed for Macs, works great with Windows. Completely invisible, bridge requires no drivers and no computer to be honest. Expect to pay ~$300 USD for this puppy (Last time I checked).

Hope this helps.