Best PVR only vid card <$100

[capone]

Question gets ask a lot, but I'm looking for a card that is just going to to GB, and nothing 3D.

I had the 5200, but I hated that you couldn't fit w/o stretching. I had a 9200, but the coloring seems restrictive, and I get an audio sync problem w/ recording now.

I can still go w/ either, if there a is manufacturer that really shines. I'm just trying to find a pvr-only solution.

[capone]

I should add this is for a non-HDTV set-up.

[jquinlan]

There was a thread last year that discussed a Maxtor video card was better at the de-interlacing for S-Video and composite video output. I'll do a quick search and try to return the link if I can find it.

[capone]

I found some of the posts, and looked at the cards. The problem would be none seem to have an s-video connection.

[jquinlan]

Ok, I use MVP's for my video so I dont have much to help in this area. Good luck.

Here is the link I found, you may have already seen it.
http://gbpvr.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&amp;f=6&amp;t=3496

[capone]

Thx for the help anyway.

It looks like for the price range, it's a 5200, 9200, or a 9250.

I guess the bottom line is ATI, or nVidia?

[capone]

Thx...I'll stick w/ ATI then.

I'm going to step up to a 9250, so I can get a faster speed out of it. The one I have now is 333, and it's causing a sync problem w/ mpegs (not frag issue...even happens when I put on network). I think it's not handling the decoder fast enough, and I don't have ATI specific ones (this card was a referb...no disk).

Btw, I still game plenty...just not on the TV

[cwills]

For what you'd be using it for, I don't know that it would help much over a 5200 or 9200, but you can get a Chaintech GeForce 6200 128MB w/ DVI/TV Out AGP 8X for $102 at Newegg.

Or for a little cheaper you can get an Asus ATI Radeon 9550 128MB w/ DVI/TV Out AGP 8X for $74 at Newegg.

They both have DX9, the Geforce is probably better for 3D with pixel shader 3.0 and opengl 1.5, but like I said, for what you'd be using it for, I don't know what the improvement's going to be over what you already have. Reviewers rarely go into details on 2D image quality anymore, just frames/sec in the games. I used to like Leadtek because multiple reviews said they had the best filters and the best 2D image quality, even better than expensive Matrox cards designed for 2D. The problem was, mine and 3 other people I talked to in a forum ended up with fried memory chips within 6 months of buying them, and ended up RMA'ing them. The second one I got back ended up frying also. Now, I buy and recommend BFG Tech because of their 24/7 tech support and lifetime warranty. That kicks the cr*p out of most manufacturer's 1-3 year limited warranty.

[capone]

I ended up getting a 9250 from newegg for about $66. I'm going to ebay the 5200 they send back (I rma'ed it for repair). I chose the gigabyte after reading about the cooling here. Good review if you want to compare 9250s

http://www.hardwarezone.com/article....3&pg=11