Which is "worth the money" for TV-out/Some gaming

[Shanteli]

Ok, currently I have a TNT2 and I desparately need TV-out for my DVD watching. My choices are below:

Hercules Prophet II MX (Dualhead) $130
ATI Radeon 64MB DDR (retail comes with TV-out) $230
Matrox G450 32MB DDR (Dualhead) $120

OK, well I know that the Radeon would be the "best" but I'm not really all too thrilled to spend that much. The Matrox card would have excellent quality, just like my old G200, but if I ever wanted to play any games, it would be a disappointment. And finally the MX...gaming in 16-bit would be worth the money, and the dualhead would allow me to watch my DVD's....but how is quality? Mainly I need a card that will last, but is worth how much I am spending for it. Any extra info or advice would be appreciated.

 

[vec]

As an alternative to buying another video card, think about getting a vga to tv converter. Most times they support higher tv-out resolutions than the tv-out video cards and offer overscan/underscan capability to allow you to adjust the video to your TV. I recently picked one up for my viper II to get resolutions higher than 640x480. The video from the converter looked better than the video produced by the Viper IIs tv out.

The good thing about using a converter is you can use it again when you upgrade to a different video card.

There's a lot of manufacturers of these things, but the cheapest I've seen is an antec tvator at onvia for $76 and an avermedia imicro for $90 at outpost.com. Someone mentioned in another thread that people here were getting the imicro for less than $60. They didn't mention where though.

 

[Shanteli]

Humm I'll keep that in mind, thanks

 

[RobsTV]

Yep, the best advice has already been given to you by vec.
After owing 3 cards with TV out, STB Velocity 128 (yuk),
Canopus Total3d 128v (good), and 3dfx V3 3000, (decent),
then switched to a TView Gold scan convertor.

It sucked having to spend the extra money every time I
upgraded video cards. Now, I get better TV picture quality,
lot's more control, features, and resolution, and it will
save me money when it comes time to upgrade my GF2 GTS card.

 

[Workin']

I mentioned that people were getting the imicro for under $60. Just do a search on the forums for "imicro" and you should find the thread. It wasn't too long ago.

That would probably be your best option.

 

[Laz]

If all you will be using it for is DVD's, you might as well rent the video as the quality on the tv from any of the solutions you mentioned will be better from a video tape. If your set on using your computer for viewing DVD's on a tv, I would get a Hollywood + and not connect it to the computer monitor(ie: no passthrough cable). It's the only solution that will give you settop DVD quality on the tv, and also has AC3 if you decide to get a reciever. I used mine for about a year prior to purchasing a settop player, and it smoked the quality of even my Radeon for tv out.

 

[RobsTV]

I must disagee with the quality issues.
I have had a DVD drive hooked to the V3 for over a year.
Also have a real TV top dedicated DVD player.
And of course a VCR.
DVD collection is well over 100 titles, and growing daily.

Even going through 25' of svideo cable, the quality of DVD playback
using the video card's TV output, or a scan converter, blows away any
VCR, and the TV output is just a tad less than using a dedicated DVD
player. Since you mention some gaming, a DVD hardware assist card will
not allow this, and the hardware assist is not really needed anyway if
you have at least a 400MHz cpu.

PC Gaming is GREAT on a TV if you plan on entertaining friends. Playing
a game of YDKJ, Links golf, or Madden 2001, with a group of 3 or 4, using
a PC on a 53" TV blows away having to crowd around a little 17" monitor.
Now if you have no friends, then the usefulness of quality TV out is diminished.

 

[Shanteli]

Thank you all for the suggestions...the main situation is this:

I have a PIII 700 so I can run software rendering just fine. And I have noticed, at least for me, that software rendering had better quality than that of the Hollywood+ or Creative Dxr3 (This is just my opinion). I'm really not too interested in hardware MPEG2 decoding, so becasue of this I'm really not too game to get a Hollywood+. I currently have my DTS/DD receiver hooked up through the optical out in my Fortissmo sound card so then again, another reason not to get the Hollywood+. The suggestions of getting the converter seems interesting so I'll take a peek into that. But it would be more expensive than getting a hardware decoder...that's another issue.

And I play games to the extent that it would never be used with the TV (I tried to play Quake II back in the day when I had a Canopus card w/ TV out and it was awful) So this TV setup would be strictly for DVD's so my friends could watch it from far away instead of looking at a 17" screen.

Thanks again for the suggestions, I'll be researching the imicro