video out?

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briansmccabe

Can anyone recommend a basic "video-out" card? I am interested in
having a very basic XP box added to my home theater setup that simply
maps drives to other machines and plays video / audio from them,
passing the video signal onto the home theater.

thanks in advance -

CV
 
Can anyone recommend a basic "video-out" card? I am interested in
having a very basic XP box added to my home theater setup that simply
maps drives to other machines and plays video / audio from them,
passing the video signal onto the home theater.

thanks in advance -
Click to expand...

I haven't looked into it much but I believe there's a whole range of
products that do this for around the price of just XP.

Michael
 
Can anyone recommend a basic "video-out" card? I am interested in
having a very basic XP box added to my home theater setup that simply
maps drives to other machines and plays video / audio from them,
passing the video signal onto the home theater.

thanks in advance -

CV
Click to expand...

I'm not a multimedia guy, so your question seems a bit ambiguous.
Video output has changed a fair bit over the years, and has gone
from composite (RCA connector), SVHS, some kinda RGB (component?),
DVI, and HDMI. Depending on what technologies you already own,
the answer could be quite different.

You can get a feel for the spectrum of solutions in this thread:

http://www.meedio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20444

Video cards have had a basic TV output for quite a few years
now. This site ( http://tvtool.info/index_e.htm ) has a hardware
FAQ, and for its generation, was recommending certain TV encoder
chips on video cards. Finding a named video card may be difficult.
Google on Conexant CX25871 and perhaps you'll find a list of video
cards using that chip.

For its time, this was apparently the best chip for TV.
Video cards now tend not to use this kind of chip any more, as
every chip adds a few bucks to the price.
http://www.conexant.com/products/entry.jsp?id=278

Many video cards are multi-head, so TV (composite or SVHS) can
be output on one screen, while a VGA or DVI connector is used
to drive the computer monitor. But for the cards that I've owned,
I found the TV output to be just horrible. I suspect the quality
of the format (composite or SVHS) makes a difference, as would
the qualities of the TV front end. My TV sets suck, so that
disqualifies my comments about video output.

To jump ahead a bit in time, this card has a component output
(RGB, so separate cables for each color). It also has an available
DVI-D input, for playing passthru HD from a set top box. (You cannot
record from the DVI input, for obvious reasons.)

http://www.digitalconnection.com/products/video/mdp130.asp

While the author of the short article here thinks you will some
day be able to record via the DVI-D input, don't hold your breath.
This article is mentioning a previous version of card.

http://www.byopvr.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=123

An even earlier version of myHD is described here:

http://www.modthebox.com/htpc5.shtml

Manual for the MDP130 is here:

http://www.mitinc.co.kr/mitinc/e_site/support/manual.jsp

I expect there are as many ways to do this, as there are ways
to spend money :-)

Have fun,
Paul
 
Someone mentioned that all computers have a "video out" built into
them. I guess that makes sense; a computer would not be much use
without some means to hook up a monitor.

What I am looking to do is essentially have my television as a monitor.
Is there some sort of adapter device that plugs into the monitor jack
on the back of the computer and accepts an S-Video cable or composites
to run over to the television?

Thanks
 
Someone mentioned that all computers have a "video out" built into
them. I guess that makes sense; a computer would not be much use
without some means to hook up a monitor.

What I am looking to do is essentially have my television as a monitor.
Is there some sort of adapter device that plugs into the monitor jack
on the back of the computer and accepts an S-Video cable or composites
to run over to the television?

Thanks
Click to expand...

An adapter is likely going to result in an inferior picture
compared to having it built into the primary display adapter
(video card). Get a traditional AGP or PCI Express (based
on what the motherboard supports of course) regular video
card with "VIVO" features.

You might do some Google searchs for something like "best TV
video card". Output quality can vary so it's not just a
matter of having the feature but also how well a card can do
it. I don't know which is best at the moment, hence the
suggestion to Google search.
 
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