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Looking for some Radeon advice... And video capturing advice, in general.

W

Wingznut

Elite Member
I'm looking to spend less than $100 on a video card. It must have good 2D, TV Out, and DVD decoding. Gaming speed is of hardly any importance.

Is the Radeon LE still my best bet, or is there a new Radeon that would better suit my needs?

EDIT: If I decide that I want to do some video capture from a non-digital camcorder, will a VIVO suit my needs... Or would a separate capture card be a better way to go.
 
Yes, the Radeon LE is still your best bet. Even better the Radeo64 can be bought for $99.99 plus tax at Best Buythis weekend after mail in rebate. If you are willing to up your budget a little....
 
The LE can be hard to find with TV out. If you can get the 64 DDR for $100, it is quite a deal. I believe they are dropping to this price with the launch of the newer cards.
 
Having had a GF2 GTS and now a Radeon 64MB VIVO, the 2d on the Radeon is much, much better as everyone says.

I think if you can wait a week or 2, there will be a flood of 64MB VIVO's in the FS/FT forum depending on when Dell ships out all the 8500s that were pre-ordered.

Still, $99+tax at BB is a good price.

Maybe you can also use this 10% off coupon to lower it a bit more.

Not sure if Video Cards are considered a "computer accessory" though.
 
If gaming is not of import, you might want to consider a Radeon VE over the LE.

The VE has hydravision, which will allow you to use the TV output as a 2nd monitor. So you can show a DVD on your TV while doing different stuff on your PC monitor.
 
Ooops, sorry. Looks like the one at Best Buy is the Radeon 64 SDR version which is considerably slower than the Radeon 64 DDR (Radeon 7200). Just hold off a bit, and like the others say the FS/FT forum will be packed with them once dell ships out the Radeon 8500.
 
Tates, that's EXACTLY what I was looking for...

<< "The Radeon VE, a 32MB dual-monitor card with reduced 3D capabilities, is now known as the Radeon 7000, and its price has dropped to $79. The Radeon DDR 64MB card, a robust and popular gaming card, is now the Radeon 7200, and its price has come down to $99. The principal difference between the Radeon 7200 and the 7500 is that the new card has a much higher clock speed--270MHz." >>

I think I'll wait for the Radeon 7200, as it'll be probably two weeks before I get the rest of the parts in.


Wag... I considered the VE, but this PC will be in the living room with the TV being the only output.


I'm still considering a VIVO, as capturing home movies might be something I get into. Anybody have any experience using a non-digital camcorder and a Radeon VIVO? I'm wondering if a VIVO will do fine, or if I should just get a separate capture card.
 
I am not sure that site is correct. I went to the ATI website and found some interesting yet confusing specs on the Radeon 7000 and 7200.

The 7000 has a higher fill rate than the 7200. "PIXEL TAPESTRY&acirc;?¢, the RADEON&acirc;?¢ 7000 rendering engine, powers an incredible 1.6 gigatexels/ second for high fill rates in 32-bit at high resolutions." The 7000 has the same theoretical fill rate as the 7500. The 7200, however, has "an incredible 1.5 Gigatexels per second" which is a lower fill rate than the 7000 but equal to the original Radeon 64MB 32MB DDR boards. The 7200 also uses "64MB of powerful single data rate (SDR) memory". The 7000 uses 32MB of DDR memory, and if it is not crippled, the 7000 should have a higher memory bandwidth which should lead to superior performance. Both cards are shown in pics to have only one VGA connector and the specs seem to prove this as well. The 7200 does have "TV and VCR: S-Video or Composite connector (available for European SKU only)", but I doubt this helps at all.

The 7000 and 7200 look to be 'new' products, not just renamed ones. The 7000 looks to be a toned down 7500, while I have not figured out the 7200 just yet. I would guess the 7200 to have inferior performance to the 7000 due to its potentially slower ram and its lower fill rates. Both card support the bells and whistles such as HyperZ and what not. Both cards look to be under $100 and are very close in price, with the 7200 a bit more expensive. What puzzles me is why the 7200 would be more expensive when it is potentially slower. Maybe it isn't, which would imply that the 7000 sports a crippled GPU... Guess we will have to wait for some benches.

Wingznut PEZ, you seem to still be best off with a Radeon LE or a Radeon 64MB w/ VIVO.
 
I'm not sure what you mean. If the TV is going to be your only monitor, then Hydravision is exactly what you want. You just assign the TV output as monitor 1 and you're all set.

 


<< I'm not sure what you mean. If the TV is going to be your only monitor, then Hydravision is exactly what you want. You just assign the TV output as monitor 1 and you're all set. >>

But why not get the extra performance from a Radeon LE (or VIVO) w/TVout? What's the advantage of Hydravision, if I will only be using one output anyway?
 
Yes you can use any svideo input in the VIVO card. Its' kind of cool cause you can record VCD with ease. There are patches to disable the macrovision.

I'm still not a golden member.🙁
 
I used my Radeon 64 VIVO for capturing from a Sony Hi8 camcorder. Works very nice. Requires a bit of messing with settings though. I still haven't found the best resolution, data, rate, compression, and the million other possibilities. But the skateboarding footage and VHS tape that I ripped turned out nice.
 
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