TV Out/VIVO Vid card

I've been tasked here at work with putting together a system that will go into a new conference room that's being built.

Now, the system is no problem - I can get any low-end Dell workstation and plan the video controller of my choice into it, basically. But I don't have any experience whatsoever with the intricacies of putting a PC display onto a TV screen. If it were just for gaming or CAD design, I'd have made up my mind already...

What I'm going to need this PC to do is basically put images (presentations, feeds from other sources, etc.) into a huge (72" to 84") rear-projection TV screen.

The image quality going onto the screen will be paramount. What's a really good, easy to work with VIVO-capable video card? From what I gather, the ATI software for this application is pretty decent, but I don't have my heart set on it. I do not need TV tuner capability; just good output quality to an exceedingly large television.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Any ATI or NVIDIA card from the last couple of years will output to a TV and all have a DVI output as the second output. Vid quality will be not bad with either one, I have used both. You only need TIVO if you want to capture from the TV to the computer, which doesn't sound like your case.

What I think can come in handy, is VIVO (not TIVO). A lot of cards got this, even a very low end ATI9200 that cost next to nothing.

The thing is that you can connect other sources through the PC, keep the same setting on the TV/projector, as well as record stuff to PC. This what you want?

Yes, Veland, this is exactly the versatility I'm looking for. I know my FX5900 came with a VIVO break-out switch thingie, but I've never used it and haven't had time to yet.

So are the low-end cards with VIVO still pretty decent, or is there real incentive where image quality and versatility are concerned to get a higher-end card?

VIVO (not TIVO).

Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. I guess I have been doing too much reading on DVR as of late. VIVO is what I meant

Well, I'll be using the 9200 VIVO to do som TIVO as a DVR..

Fun eh?

But I won't get this up and running for a week yet, so can't say much about the quality. But they should be able to capture the source at TV resoultion and output at much higher. So you won't loose much by running such a setup. The only consern may be cpu load, but it depends on the card. If it can "route" the video directly from video in to video out, then no problem!

MY project is using a Shuttle as a HTPC, running my satellite decoder through the video in for digital recording and timeshifting functionality. And then I'll have the shuttle as my tv-box, my dvd player, my divx player, my cd player, my mp3 player, my surfbox, my digital photo viewer and my game box.

All running myHTPC

theflyingrat said:

Yes, Veland, this is exactly the versatility I'm looking for. I know my FX5900 came with a VIVO break-out switch thingie, but I've never used it and haven't had time to yet.

So are the low-end cards with VIVO still pretty decent, or is there real incentive where image quality and versatility are concerned to get a higher-end card?

Click to expand...

I've own many VIVO cards:

ATI AIWs, ATI Radeon VIVO, ATI 9000 Pro VIVO, Geforce 2 MX VIVO, Geforce 3 VIVO, Geforce 4 TI4200 VIVO, Geforce 5900 nu VIVO...

From my experience, and please correct me if I am wrong, I think that ATI's 2D Video quality appears more crisp and sharp than Nvidia. I also feel that the software that it comes with (ati multimedia center) is a lot easier to work with and with more features. So, for VIVO features I would vote for ATI, however, the trouble is that there isn't too many ATI card, especially in the high-end bracket, with VIVO, and I think mainly because ATI wants to sell the AIW series, which you have to pay a little more for the TV functions, but which you don't need (unless you want a remote since it comes with the AIW series).

I also learned that it doesn't matter if you get a low end or high end card (again, correct me if I am wrong please), because the VIVO chip is the same no matter if get a ATI 9800 pro or a 9000.. or a TI4200 or TI5900nu.

So, if you don't need 3D, I would suggest getting a low end (9000 or 9200) ATI card with VIVO for your purpose(from Sappire or other 3rd party supplier since ATI doesn't make any VIVO card anymore other than AIW series)

At my school every classroom has a computer with a 7500AIW that is hooked to a tv via svideo. It works great for presentations and watching movies(that is, when the teachers can get past the finicky dvdroms). I highly recommend these cards.

Why bother with the crappy Video out? Most high end projection tvs like that have inputs capable of accepting the VGA signal directly from your computer. For anything other than motion video, the image will be total crap on something that large. Even with s-video, the highest would be 600 lines. Most of the higher end ATI AIW cards now have adapters that enable them to put out an HDTV signal. I would consider this to be a bare minimum.

But, if the TV only has lower level inputs, I recomend ATI. I'm using a 7500AIW, and it works great! Plus the Remote could come in handy for presentations!

Alright, people, here's the story.

It looks like we'll be getting one of the following:
Mitsubishi 73" Platinum
Mitsubishi 65" Diamond
or one of the Hitachi 65" units.

I believe both of them do have both 15-pin D-Sub and DVI inputs. Now, that's all fine and dandy. What I need to know now, is whether or not ATI, nVidia, or any other companies offer HDTV or 16:9 desktop support as a native resolution. Projection TVs are NOT supposed to be used often at normal resolutions, where it leaves black bars on the left and right-hand side of the screen.

Is anyone using a run-of-the-mill VGA card with a 16:9 aspect ratio projection TV?