Help Improving my picture quality

[bigjohn]

Want to improve the video quality of my setup by purchasing a new video card but don't know which way to go! My system now:
Biostar mini, 1-AGP - 1 PCI, Geforce 2 chipset, XP-2000, 512meg, onboard Geforce 4 MX, 120gig, PVR-250
TV - Hitachi Widescreen HDTV - svideo and component video in only. I am using a VGA to Svideo converter for now. Does anyone have a suggestion? Should I go with Svideo or Component? Which video Card? Thanks for your help!

[stanger89]

Component all the way baby! It's like 1000x better than S-Video.

OK, I've calmed down now. Seriously, component is way better than S-Video. Your best bet would be an ATI Radeon 9500 or 9600 with the DVI-I to Component HDTV adapter. This would be the easiest way to go, and you probably won't get much/any better PQ with anything else.

[GbrNole]

i'm kinda partial to my dvi-d connection

provides pretty much the same result as stranger just mentioned but without the resolution limitations of the ati dongle.

you have to have a tv with a dvi input though.

[GbrNole]

your cheapest method is to pickup a transcoder and use the card you have but you will be limited to progressive resolutions with that GF2 card.

otherwise get a radeon 9500 or better and a component dongle. you should be able to find the combo for less than ~$150.

[stanger89]

Three things, the PQ from a new Radeon (9500+) or Geforce FX will almost certainly be better than that of the GF2.

The Audio Authority transcoder is $130 and the Key Digital one is $200, the AA is on the order of a new video card and the KD one is more. I've heard of no other transcoders that are worth getting.

Going with a transcoder will require the use of powerstrip if you want to run any resolutions other than 480p. Powerstrip is much harder to use and more prone to problems that the ATI component adapter which is pretty much plug and play.

But if you can go DVI or VGA those would probably be better/more versitile, although they may also require powerstrip to fully utilize your HDTV.

[GbrNole]

the AA transcoder can be had for ~$120 shipped (got one for my dad for xmas) the other good one for a similar price is the crescendo systems offering but they were out of stock when i ordered my dad's one.

powerstrip really is pretty easy to use and the resolutions are predefined for the most part and just need a little minor tweaking to center on the screen properly.

the 3 resolutions i use are 920x500p for near perfect screen fill with just the tiniest hint of overscan.

960x540p for sage tv use and 1920x540p for dvd playback. i prefer 1920x1080i for dvd playback but my radeon 7000 wont take that resolution whereas the 9500 would and looked absolutely stunning.

[JJarmoc]

You may want to take a look at avsforum.com as they're HTPC forum is pretty much the definitive place online for this sort of info.

That said, I'm using an Audio Authority transcoder with an Nforce2 motherboard's onboard GF4MX video card. The newest Nforce drivers support HDTV resolutions, so I no longer have to run powerstrip. It's much much easier than things were under powerstrip. I usually run at 720p (I'm not on the HTPC now, so I'm not sure what the horizontal resolution comes to) but have had success running 1080i using powerstrip. I prefer 720p anyhow as text and the windows desktop are sharper, and I see very little difference in video quality (both HD and SD)

Powerstrip is powerful, but difficult to use. Many video cards now have drivers supporting HD resolutions, which make it unecessary if you're squeamish. If you go the powerstrip route, it seems there are more known resolutions for radeon cards than GEforce cards.

Hope this helps!

[GbrNole]

jjarmoc, are you using a dlp display with that 720p setting?

my tv will do 720p but its native resolution is 1080i (540p) so while the 720p looks decent for video playback on my tv the desktop doesn't look nearly as good as it does in 540.

[stanger89]

My point with the transcoders is that they aren't cheaper than a video card, and that the used of powerstrip (I use it in my setup) while not hard, is more difficult than the adapter.

Here's a Radeon 9600 for $102 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...102-289&depa=1
And here's the adapter for $29
http://buy.ati.com/shopati/product.a...c=&country=USA

It's essentially the same price as a trancoder, and would give much better PQ than a GF2.

[davey_fl]

don't buy a 9600, they have firmware problems with dvi out. While there is a work around for it, it's a pain in the you know what...

[JJarmoc]

I am not feeding a DLP, I'm feeding a Sony KV34XBR800. It's a tube TV and it's native resolution is 1080i, it'll internally convert 720p signals to 1080i for display, but I still find a 720p signal to look as good as 1080i. The differences aren't noticeable at all to me under regular watching.

[bigjohn]

Hey Thanks everyone for your help! I think I will try the radeon and a component dongle tho it looks like ATI only supports the dongle with a AIW card.

[GbrNole]

ati supports the dongle with any 9500, 9600, 9700 or 9800 card

[stanger89]

I'm running a dongle on a 9500. I think when they state AIW on the page I linked to it only refers to the 8500.

[Myth2Sage]

Originally posted by GbrNole
i'm kinda partial to my dvi-d connection

provides pretty much the same result as stranger just mentioned but without the resolution limitations of the ati dongle.

you have to have a tv with a dvi input though.

I am fortuanate enough to have a Video Card (Radeon 9700 Pro) AND an HD TV with a DVI-D output/input.

But finding a cable?? Now THAT has been difficult..

GbrNole, do you have a particular place you go to for DVI-D??

Also, it seems my DVI-D Connector on my Radeon is slightly different then my TV.

The Video Card looks like this:

. . . . . . .
-- . . .
. . . . . .


But the TV Connector looks like this:

. . . . . . .
-- . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .


Crude depictions....

[rotaryracer]

Not sure about DVI connection ends (I'm not in front of my HTPC right now), but I picked up my cable at Digital Connection (www.digitalconnection.com) for $29 (I got the 10-foot cable).

I'm running a Powercolor 9200SE 128MB at 1280x720P (using Powerstrip 3.45) and sending that over DVI to my KV-34XBR910. My TV is similar to JJarmoc's, in that it converts a 720P feed to 1080i, but the PQ for DVDs, TV, and even general PC work is amazing.

[AJ Bertelson]

Depends on your viewing device.

If it is CRT go with component, s-video or VGA.

If it is DLP, LCD or Plasma go with DVI.

[GbrNole]

Depends on your viewing device.

If it is CRT go with component, s-video or VGA.

If it is DLP, LCD or Plasma go with DVI


well i'm using a crt dased rptv with dvi and it looks fabulous and at least 2 others in this thread are used non rptv crt's with dvi and having the same terriffic results.

for dvi cables digital connection is good as is pacific cable. make sure to buy a dvi-d dual link cable though as these can push more resolution than the single link cables.

also keep it as short as possible. mine is a 6 footer and causes zero problems.

your connector difference is because your tv is only dvi-d whereas your card is dvi-i capable. all you need is a dvi-d cable.