Computer question video card w/TV out

Does anyone have a video card in their PC with TV out?

I want to get one to hook up to my TV so I can watch DVD's from the DVD player on my computer.

Will this work right? Will the image quality be comparable to a standalone DVD player?

I do have RCA Video out on my laptop, and I can use TV as a computer screen, but for some reason it does not let you watch DVDs

Don't tell me that!

Well a lot of your run of the mill video cards offer composite video out which will not be DVD quality and I know some offer S-video out. I'm not sure if any offer component video out which I believe is the best. Reviews I have read say that the video out of most video cards leave a lot to be desired.

So a $40 DVD player can out-perform a $1500 computer used as DVD player. Why am I not surprised.

I can't speak from experience so I am not sure. I have a decent 19 inch monitor and DVDs thru my computer and computer monitor are much sharper then thru the home DVD player and TV.

Originally posted by Sean:
So a $40 DVD player can out-perform a $1500 computer used as DVD player. Why am I not surprised.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Not at all. You need to have the right video card. A cheapo card is what the issue is going to be. The ATI All In Wonder cards have the best overall output to the TV, with the Nvidias second.

Both cards can be had with S-Video out. The ATI Radeon 9700 All In Wonder has Component Video Out (amongst many other features), but its $400 because its the top of the line! The ATI AIW 8500 can be had for about $250, but your not going to get the latest video acceleration for games, nor component out, so it will be a compromise.

Computers have a much higher resolution than TVs, and for the most part DVDs played on a computer are going to look nicer than on the TV.

Cards with only composite out usually have crappy quality and a max resolution of 640 pixels. The ATIs are beautiful and can be shown at up to 1028.

Originally posted by FC-Fire/Rescue:
I do have RCA Video out on my laptop, and I can use TV as a computer screen, but for some reason it does not let you watch DVDs

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Laptops frequently skimp on quality video hardware. But it is probably your DVD software that won't let you watch through the component out, or you are unaware of how to configure it properly. Given most laptop video hardware, you probably wouldn't want to see it anyway. Like I just said, you'll specifically need to get a laptop with ATI or Nvidia video hardware if you want to see DVDs with any quality on TVs.

I have an ATI All in Wonder Radeon. The video is very good. Mine's about a year old, forgot which version, I'll check tomorrow. I get them at wholesale from Tech Data, I'll check on prices tomorrow if you're interested. A good site to read up on video cards is anandtech.com

when you hook up your laptop to the tv, is it going straight to the tv input or via vcr? dvds won't play back thru a vcr (or tv/vcr combo) due to copyright issues (unless the vcr has a mode to prevent it from recording the stream). i can do photo slide shows on tvs/vcrs, but can't play dvds (video files are OK, dvd's aren't).

when you hook up your laptop to the tv, is it going straight to the tv input or via vcr? dvds won't play back thru a vcr (or tv/vcr combo) due to copyright issues (unless the vcr has a mode to prevent it from recording the stream). i can do photo slide shows on tvs/vcrs, but can't play dvds (video files are OK, dvd's aren't).

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Hmmmm ... My Toshiba flat-screen TV/VCR in the bedroom runs DVD's through it just fine, and records them (of course in typical VHS "quality").

In fact, none of the three VCR's here have a problem with any of the three DVD sources I have, including my 'puter.

odd. when i tried two different times (vcr and tv/vcr combo) dvds wouldn't play, but everything else would. looking at the software faqs, it said it wont play back thru a recording device unless that device had a copy protect something or other.

Gun Nut,

So what your saying is that this isn't any good.

Also, what do you think would be better for video capture from an analog camcorder (to be converted into a DVD). The ATI AIW 8500 or this?

I have an old Voodoo 3500TV card. I was using PowerDVD 3.0, and it refused to run because it thought that I had the TV-out enabled. This is because if you can output the signal from your computer, then you can run it to a VCR, and bypass the MacroVision (CrapoVision) protection. (Of course, you can also bypass CrapoVision by buying the right DVD player)

PowerDVD XP (4.0) does not have this limitation, and it works even if TV out is enabled.

Originally posted by Sean:
Gun Nut,
[...]
Also, what do you think would be better for video capture from an analog camcorder (to be converted into a DVD). The ATI AIW 8500 or this?

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">What you showed me is an add on to your original video card, it won't take the place of your video card.

Also, you might want to try out www.pricegrabber.com! It might save you some money...

Its all up to you on the money you want to spend. I am personally planning on getting the AIW 9700, and putting it in this...

Just not until my job situation stabilizes, or maybe a year from now when hopefully the prices come down to something I can better afford.

a year later, you'll have better gadgets to drool over! not to mention the SF L1

I have never used a TV out card in my home built computer. I did have a DVD-ROM drive (Artec) that died. When I went looking for a new one a Circuit City, I was looking for a Creative DVD drive. If not that, then a CD-ROM drive and a DVD player. It was the latter I wound up with. My JVC DVD player's output goes into my Broksonic VHS VCR, which ges into my Zenith 13" tv/vcr combo. (no room for a larger tv in this room). The setup works just fine, even with those 'protected' dvd's.

I tried to hook the dvd player directly into the tv, BUT, it cut off the tv's tuner. These are RCA jacks (composite).