Need best TV out card recommendation

[rcraig]

Hey All,
I need a card that can display on a CRT, LCD Projector (2nd CRT) and TV out all at once. I know with a DVI to CRT adapter many cards can do this, but they only talk about dual head OR TV out, not both at once. The setup is a computer that displays Powerpoint on an LCD projector (2nd CRT) and uses the TV out to display directly into a TV broadcast console, but I would like to be able to view something else on the first CRT. ATI's Radeon 8500 128 has the hardware and the software will let you display PP on one CRT and run something else on the other CRT, but it doesn't say what or if it will be showing anything on the TV out at the same time. If so, can you specify which monitor displays on the TV out?

Also, I read the GF4 4200's out perform the R8500 and cost around the same, but how well does NView work with dual monitors and, again, what about TV out at the same time?

Which gives the best display and might fill this need? This computer is not used for games, just business apps and maybe to show a DVD movie. It has a P3 933 and 128 megs ram, which should be enough, we just need a video card with dual monitor and Video out. The separate displays on diferent CRT outputs would be nice, but if it works best showing the same on all three that will work too.

Thanks for your help,

RCraig

 

[SickBeast]

My Radeon 8500 has a VGA-out, a DVI-out, and an S-video out that can be turned into RCA-out with the adapter that came with the card. I don't know if you can run all three items simultaneously, since the card only has the 2 ramdacs. You could probably run all 3 at once, but you would only be able to have a seperate image on 2 of the 3 displays. In that case, my advice is to get the R8500 and a cheap PCI video card for one of the two monitors. Also, I know people keep saying it, but I find it impossible to beleive that the GF4 has the same image quality as the R8500. If you plan on running at 1024x768 you probably won't notice the difference, but once you try 1600x1200 you most definately will. Good luck.

 

[onelin]

My MSI GF4-Ti4400 will only output to two at once... as I imagine is the case with the R8500 as well. It's a pain whenever I want to watch a movie...it's fiddle around with dual display and nview, change my 2nd display from analog to TV, clone display, etc...

Safest bet is what Sickbeast said, get a card that has dual display ...then get a PCI card for separate TV out so you can use all 3 at once. The only 'single' card I can think of that would do 3 displays is Parhelia, and I don't even know if it has TV out/and or would accomplish 2 monitors + TV anyway even if it did...not to mention I don't think it's worthwhile.

 

[rcraig]

The projector (2nd CRT) that will be the second display only runs at 800x600, so high resolution is not an issue. Also, the projector and TV out need to show the same thing. I think maybe a second video card would work the simplest, but then again, other people not so computer savy run this setup for me on occasion, and maybe I'm making it too complicated.

Thanks,
RCRaig

 

[Peter]

Problem is that the Radeons (7500 through 9000) can drive triple output, but they have only two RAMDACs, so one of the outputs must be running in digital mode. You can run CRT+TV+DVI (with the TV displaying a clone of one of the others, of the DVI-out IIRC), but you can't run CRT+TV+CRT. Please mind that connecting an analog device to DVI-I through an adapter does not do the trick either, you need a truly digital device.

This is equally true for any other given graphics chip except the Matrox Parhelia - many others can't even pull the triple output trick at all.

regards, Peter

 

[rcraig]

The next question would be what card has the best TV out display quality? What about the new R9000 Pro cards? Would I be better with that, an R8500, or an Older Matrox card? Newegg has the R9000 pro for $99 while the R8500 128 is $165. Which would you recommend?

Thanks,
RCRaig

 

[Peter]

The Radeons are all the same in TV-out technology - they either use a separate ATi RageTheater chip (7200, 8500 series) or have it pulled into the main chip (7500, 9000). The signal quality will be visibly better if you choose a card that has S-Video rather than composite. Do that only if your display device has an S-Video input of course. So if all you're after is 2D and triple outputs, you can aim as low as Radeon 7500LE (around $80 for the PowerColor RV2LE for example, which is what I'm using right now on twin CRTs).

regards, Peter

 

[rcraig]

Thanks Peter. You are giving me the information I need.

I've decided the triple display will be too complicated for others to use so I'll only have one monitor and the TV-out running at a time.

The TV broadcast console the computer tv out will connect to only has BNC (cable) connections. Also, this console only has 4 inputs, 3 are for cameras and the computer must share the 4th with a super-vhs player (which only has one video in, and it is already used.) Sharing the console input with the svhs player means I'll need a switch that lets us select which source feeds the 4th input on the console, the computer or svhs, and most switches I've seen only use rca connectors, not svideo though I believe they can be found.

The R9000 Pro Newegg has is made by someone else, so I'll stay clear of that.
That leaves the R7500 LE 64MB DDR for $59, the R7500 64MB DDR for $65, the R8500 LE 64MB DDR for $91, or the R8500 128MB DDR for $165.

Would the extra 64mb on the R8500 128 be needed when this is used only for business apps or dvd's? Price is less of a concern than quality of output. Right now I'm thinking either the R8500 LE 64MB DDR for $91, or the R8500 128MB DDR for $165.

RCraig