Nvidia output quality on standard def tv question

[Alex Wai]

I have a Radeon 9550 (which I think is more or less like a 9600 as far as tv out is concerned) and I find the output to be kind of fuzzy. I think it's due to the de-interlacing/re-interlacing that is done when outputting to s-video (which is all I can do on my standard def tv).

I also can't quite get the sizing right and I always end up with a very slight black bar on the top and bottom because the ATI card doesn't allow me to vertically scale the image big enough to cover the overscan area.

I also have an Xcard now and the output looks flawless. Of course, STV support for it is still progressing.

So my question is:

Would getting an Nvidia card solve the fuzziness (de-interlace/re-interlace) problem or is it more or less the same when it comes to standard definition tvs?

[JUC]

I have a 9600XT outputting via s-video and the quality seems great to me (although I don't have the xcard to compare it to). But--i too have the problem with the small black spaces on the top and bottom. I can resize it correctly to remove the bars on the left/right, but am maxed out with the vertical resizing and it is almost gone, but not quite.
JUC

[korben_dallas]

I'd suggest:

1. Get new Catalysts, at least 4.9 or above
2. Make sure hardware acceleration is on in SageTV settings
3. Use VMR9 in SageTV as the video and DVD renderer
4. In the Nvidia codec, set Hardware Acceleration and Prefer VMR9
5. Use DVD Standard Play or MPEG-2 Max Quality as your default recording quality
6. Use a high quality Svideo cable to your TV

I have a 9800 Pro, and it was really configuration and software settings that drastically improved my PQ on my standard tv, over when I first started using SageTV. Sometimes it looks so good that I forget I'm using SageTV, and I'll sit through half the commercials before I remember this was recorded yesterday and I can just skip forward.

[something fishy]

I bought a 6600GT in the hope that it with purevideo could replace a PVR350. The desktop quality is great, sharp edges with good saturated colours. However the software MPEG decoders weren't a match for the hardware decoder in the PVR350 so in the end I switched back even though it meant losing integrated DVD playback. I have an xcard in the same machine (I used it with TVedia) and as far as picture quality is concerned I think it is slightly better still than the PVR 350. As soon as Ersatztom is able to enable DVD playback in Sage I will switch across. IMO for picture quality into a SDTV the hardware decoder cards can't be beaten.