Media centre pc with tv-out only

  • Thread starter Thread starter HamRadio
  • Start date Start date
H

HamRadio

Hi there,
I'd like to assemble a "media centre" pc to view dvd's, internet tv, etc.

I guess I'd need a video card with tv-out, as I'll have just the tv screen
and no vga monitor.

My problem is the following:

will I see the bios screen and everything I normally see on a vga monitor
*before* the operating system loads the video card driver, thus enabling
the tv-out?

I'm asking this question because I have a laptop with tv-out and I see
nothing on the tv screen until linux starts the X server (and loads the
videocard driver) or until windows completely loads (so loading the video
card driver too).

Many thanks for answering.
 
ATI cards automatically detect what outputs are connected and activate
them, so with these cards you will see everything on the TV. But you
might also consider building a VGA to Scart adapter and use PowerStrip
or tweak the registry to set the right frequencies on the VGA output.
That can be done for ATI, NVidias, some Matrox and maybe others. This
provides more configurability of modes and better quality. For example
it is possible to set 720x288 progressive on the TV to view low
resolution movies and programs without interlace artifacts. You also
get a 1:1 matching between pixels and TV lines.
 
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