is ti-4200 tv out quailty as good as the Radeon 7500 or 8500?

[DukeN]

Im considering getting a 128MB ti-4200 or ti-4400 card. Would the TV out, (for dvd movies only) be as good as an ATI Radeons?

Thanks.

 

[HeXeDOSOK]

I'm sure it all depends on what company you go for. I personally have no experience with the Radeons but can tell you that the PNY GeForce 4's are poop when it comes to video out..too blurry. The Card I had before (Leadtek GF3) has a VERY nice tv-out...(actually was first GF to offer max 1024x768 without strethcing the screen) and the output was very nice. Not nearly as blurry as the Other video outs I have seen. But remember that 2 things are very important to the output.. the fact that you are connecting with S-video cable..and the quality of your TV is also important. I have my comp hooked up to a 36' Sony V/EGA XBR400 (HDTV) and I can definitely tell the difference between the 2 cards. If you are hooking up your comp to a standard TV, then there might not be as noticable of a difference.

Also remember that the 8500's and I think the 7500's have the ability to hook up through component inputs giving you much more clarity in the picture if you are using an HDTV. If you are not planning on using this feature...I would find out what people think of the output on the new Leadtek GF4's. If they are still as good as the GF 3's then you have a winner... (good TV-out + the 3d performance of a GF4 ti 4200). All in all I have heard nice things about the s-video out in Radeon 8500's...maybe someone with an 8500 would like to share their views?

Hope this was helpful...if not I probably just confused the crap out of ya with my constant jabbering.

 

[DukeN]

Thanks.

Ill check out some other opinions on the TV out. I just shudder to go back to ATI - have had 4 diff ATI boards all giving some sort of driver issues.

Don't have a HDTV tho.

 

[onelin]

Running an MSI GF4 Ti4400 and TV out is solid...if their 4200 is the same, it's sweet. prob is, I have no idea what all the 4200's have in terms of VIVO. So far I've only been able to test normal TVs (RCA hookups) but it looks pristine. No HDTV, I wish if composite is good, I imagine svideo is even better (it does both out & both in)

 

[jiffylube1024]

From what I've heard and read, the 7500 has the best tv-out out there, far better than even the 8500's. With that said the Tv-out on a GF3, I know from experience isn't great, but is good enough for some mild dvd or divx watching on a TV. Forget about reading text, however. Hopefully it's better on the GF4 series (and from what I hear, it is).

 

[max105]

Rearing text from a TV-out display isn't very good on ATI cards either. Also, where did you hear that the 7500 tv outputs are better than the 8500? I thought they used the same tv-out technology on all Radeon cards.

 

[rbV5]

I thought they used the same tv-out technology on all Radeon cards.

Technology...yes, implementation...no. The RVxxx cards (Ve, 7500, 9000) have the Rage Theater embedded into the core, while the Rxxx and AIW cards use a seperate Rage Theater Chip.

All RVxxx cards and the 8500 series cards support 1024X768 via TV-out while the R100 cards support up to 800 X 600. The 8500 cards gamma problems were fixed with catalyst, and are now ~ equall to the RVxxx cards concerning TV-out functionality and IQ.