Radeon 7000 VE and video playback

[dsobiera]

I finally got SageTV working on my Ubuntu Feisty setup. So next I wanted to see if I could get my tv out working on my Radeon 7000 VE to hook up to a tv. I did!

First, I found out that the fglrx drivers that ATI gives out doesn't support anything older than a 9000. So onto the free xorg ati driver!

I followed the directions here:

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Tvout

This was a no brainer and worked so easily I was surprised.

I already got the streamzap remote to work so along with vnc, I hooked my computer up to my living room tv (standard def).

The menus work great. And when i watch tv/recordings it works great......except. I am getting the infamous "tearing" on video that pans left to right when I watch the videos on my tv. This is especially noticeable during high action scenes like American football games.

I had this same problem before when I was a BeyondTV person on MS Windows. I had to fiddle with the bobweave setting for NVDVD to get this to go away (IIRC).

I also understand that ATI support is sketchy for Linux. So does anyone know how to fix my current dilemma (version of bobweave for Linux)?

If not, I heard NVidia support is much better on Linux. Can someone suggest a low end NVidia card w/ a tv out that will work as close to plug and play with Ubuntu and SageTV as possible (good tv playback w/o jumping through hurdles)?

Thanks!

[_Demo_]

For standard definition tv output the easiest solution is using a media extender or a hd media extender.

_Demo_

[dsobiera]

Originally Posted by _Demo_

For standard definition tv output the easiest solution is using a media extender or a hd media extender.

_Demo_

Thanks _DEMO_. However, my computer is literally 3 feet away from my tv. Doesn't a media extender seem like a bit of overkill for that?

I'm not doubting the media extender would make things simple. In fact, I'll keep it in mind if all else fails. But I have to think there's a way to get tv out to work directly to my tv either with this old Radeon card of mine or a newer card (if someone can recommend one that hasn't given them any troubles).

Otherwise....I might have to think about going back to MS Windows if Linux really is that horrible at tv output. I'm not bashing Sage at all. It seem like Linux support for MPEG-2 playback via an output on a graphics card is what is lacking here. One would think it trivial to run a sage client on my Linux box with the sage server and output the video playback to a standard tv directly from the graphics card.

If I don't hear a recommendation for a NVidia card that works from a Sage user I guess I'll go over to the MythTV resources and see if they can recommend a good no brainer card for tv out. If it works for Myth I'd like to think it would work for Sage!

Thanks again for the response.