Need help choosing a video card for TV out only.

[Chu]

Hello all. I've scoured the net trying to find reviews of these cards when it comes to TV-out, but can't really find anything more then "good" or "looks ok." I am currently putting together a computer for my living room, primarly for watching media files. In other words, I could care less about gaming. The video out on my current video card looks wonderful (ATI Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO), and I've seen GeForce2's video out, and they look noticebly worse. Anyways, after a bit of hunting, there seem to be two very promising options.

1. ATI RADEON 7000 32MB SDR W/TV OUT (pic)

2. ATI XPERT 2000 PRO 32MB 4X AGP W/ TV-OUT (pic)

They are within $2 of each other, and I assume there has to be a good reason why because the XPERT is *MUCH* worse in 3D then the Radeon is. Anyone have some insights as to the TV out quality of these cards, or know another good canidate (for instance, some of Matrox's offerings)?

Thanks in advance,

-Chu

 

[osmononame]

Well ive not had any experience with any of the cards but i have got a radeon 8500 and its tv-out is better than my gf-4mx and v3. I think that the radeon 7000 and 8500 share the same rage theatre chip so tv-out should be the same? If it were me id go for the radeon 7000 because its based on a newer core than the XPERT 2000, and it supports ati's new unified drivers while the xpert does not.

 

[Blurry]

While the Radeon 7000 does not have a Rage Theatre Chip, its still the better buy.

 

[Chu]

>> While the Radeon 7000 does not have a Rage Theatre Chip, its still the better buy.

Hrmm, so what is the cheapest ATI card with the rage theatre, and what exactly does it get you?

-Chu