Inexpensive (but good) card for TV-out

[griley]

I'm new to Sage, I'm kicking the tires and I like what I see. Seems to work really well with the ati eWonder card.

Anyway, the one thing I don't like is the way my MX400d (nVidia) card looks on my TV. Not only when using Sage but even when looking at my desktop. It only seems to use about 70% of my 36" Sony Wega screen connected via an S-video cable.

I had hooked up an ati 8500DV in the past to this same TV and was reasonably happy with the way it looked. It used all of the screen and looked much sharper.

I tried to tweak the setting on the nvidia driver/software, but it doesn't appear to have any settings to change the screen size.

So I have 2 options (i think)...

- Buy a better tv-out card (looking for recommendations)

- Use a ati AIW 9800dv that I have - but I'm afraid this would cause all sort of havoc since it is also a capture device. Can I use this in conjuction with the eWonder card w/Sage?

Any help or suggestion is much appreciated.

[kny3twalker]

just use the 8500 and you should be fine

[jominor]

Originally posted by kny3twalker
just use the 8500 and you should be fine

I use that card. If you use this, use the RAVISENT decoder that comes with it. It is hardware accelerated for that card and looks phenomenal.

[griley]

Originally posted by jominor
I use that card. If you use this, use the RAVISENT decoder that comes with it. It is hardware accelerated for that card and looks phenomenal.

Thanks all, I've hooked the 8500 in and all is well.

However, I'm a litte confused by your remark jominor. I'm using the 8500 strictly for TV-out. Are you saving that you are using the 8500 as a recording device as well - I thought the 8500 wasn't supported as such in Sage? Also, where do I find and how do I "use" the RAVISENT decoder.

I'm already happy, just want make sure I'm not missing out on something good.

I'm a complete newb at this stuff...

[jominor]

Originally posted by griley
Thanks all, I've hooked the 8500 in and all is well.

However, I'm a litte confused by your remark jominor. I'm using the 8500 strictly for TV-out. Are you saving that you are using the 8500 as a recording device as well - I thought the 8500 wasn't supported as such in Sage? Also, where do I find and how do I "use" the RAVISENT decoder.

I'm already happy, just want make sure I'm not missing out on something good.

I'm a complete newb at this stuff...

You would use it for just TV out, but when using Sage, you'll have to select an MPEG decoder. The one that comes on the 8500's driver disk is hardware accelerated for the 8500. For me, the difference in quality between the Intervideo CSS and the RAVISENT was almost as large as the difference between a HW encoder and software encoder.

By switching to that RAVISENT decoder, I got more vivid colors. Then, some minor tweaking of the color calibration settings of Sage (sharpness and brightness), I got a picture that was better than my standard signal. In fact, just for an objective point of view, I had Sage on one evening with company after about 20mins, I showed them the "real" TV. They were pretty impressed.

I believe you will be too.