Radeon 9550 advice

[conguero23]

I have a radeon 9550 and I am need some advice.

I am going to buy a tv this week and I am trying to decide the best way to hook my computer to my tv that will give me a good quality tv out. My radeon support dvi and s-video out. I still dont know if my tv will have dvi, or hdmi additionaly from the composite and component inputs. The tv is either an crt sony wega 32 inch or a samsung 30 inch widescreen. Im seeing there are some adapters that will convert from svideo to component etc. Im asking anyone that has had experience with this card for a little help.

I also have a hauppage 150 that the picture quality is terreble I cant get the settings to work correctlly with GB-PVR. The colors look washed out and like a vhs transferred to dvd. With the original software it looks a little better but not by much. I tested the signal directly on a tv and it looks great and Ive searched the forums but have not been able to find a definitive awnser to this problem.

Thanks in advance.

[Brian_W]

I have a 9550, and currently I am using an s-video connection to my 36" Sony WEGA SDTV. I bought the DVI->Component dongle, but have not been able to get it working to my satisfaction yet (overscan issues). The s-video output is pretty good. I also have a PVR-150, and in comparison to direct output from my cable box, the quality of the 150 is pretty close. There is a tweak tool out for the 150/500's, but I have never used it. The biggest component of getting a good picture is your decoders and the speed of your cpu. I have a P4 3.0 running the NVIDIA PureVideo decoders, and the quality is pretty good.

Sometimes its a trial and error with regards to getting the right combination of decoders and settings. Looks for posts from CSY, he knows video cards and TV's very well and has given some great advice on how to get the best possible picture.

Brian

[conguero23]

Thanks.

My specs are athlon 64, 3200+ at 2.2 ghz 1 gig of ram and the 9550 and the pvr 150. I think thats good enough to run a pvr. Im still in the process of deciding if I want widescreen flat tube or a regular sony. I dont know witch would look better.

[Brian_W]

As far as TV's go, I'm not the one to ask. I'm still trying to learn all of the intricacies of TV technology and interlacing/de-interlacing etc. Your computer specs are good, you shouldn't have any problems there.

Brian

[conguero23]

Thanks I used the nvidia purevideo decoder and it was a big difference and ticked vmr9 it still needs some work but now its a least wachable. I have to play with the colors and it still has a little shadowing but i can live with that.

Thanks again.

[fuzzweed]

Use the DVI output!!! Get a nice LCD screen with a DVI input - the video quailty is top notch

[csy]

DVI is hugely superior (quantum leap improvement) over component or S-video, however the 9550 is too low spec to support native LCD widescreen resolutions (eg 1280x720).

My recomendation is to buy a display with DVI-D (digital) and upgrade your video card (video cards are cheap compared to the cost of displays).

[fuzzweed]

Mine seems to run in 1280i and p - have I got a rougue card????

[csy]

I get very bad jumpy movement @1280x720 with video decoder aspect ratio correction enabled, but smooth with it disabled. Higher-spec card resolved the issue. I suspect it is related to the 64bit memory interface bottleneck on my card (9550SE). You may not have this problem if your 9550 has 128bit memory interface, however I believe you will be running the card at the edge of its capabilities at that resolution and would be prone to occasional studdering or jumpiness.

[nitrogen_widget]

Hi Brian,
I'm using a sapphire 9550 with the DVI to component dongle on my JVC 32" TV.
Anyway all I did was download the the latest catalyst drivers, set the card to clone view. Booted up with the TV attached & a second monitor & ran the HDTV wizard.
Picked 480i I believe at a 30hz refresh & My screen was centered without much tweaking.
There is some overscan, but It's actually less than I get with the Directv Tivo.

It's torture though to adjust the driver's colors at that resolution.

I have a 9550, and currently I am using an s-video connection to my 36" Sony WEGA SDTV. I bought the DVI->Component dongle, but have not been able to get it working to my satisfaction yet (overscan issues). The s-video output is pretty good. I also have a PVR-150, and in comparison to direct output from my cable box, the quality of the 150 is pretty close. There is a tweak tool out for the 150/500's, but I have never used it. The biggest component of getting a good picture is your decoders and the speed of your cpu. I have a P4 3.0 running the NVIDIA PureVideo decoders, and the quality is pretty good.

Sometimes its a trial and error with regards to getting the right combination of decoders and settings. Looks for posts from CSY, he knows video cards and TV's very well and has given some great advice on how to get the best possible picture.

Brian