Which card provides a good tv-out?

[Stargrove1]

Hi,

I'm using the PVR350 which has a very good picture quality on the TV-out. Unfortunately, sub stopped the support for this feature a long time ago because of the buggy drivers fromm Hauppauge. Now I'm searching for another solution which provides at least a quality that comes near to the Hauppauge. Has anybody an idea? (I do not want to a MVP).

Thanks for answers and thanks for great piece of software sub!

[csy]

While there are subtle differences in picture quality across the TV-out encoder chips deployed in video cards, the parts that make the biggest difference is the deinterlacing capabilities of the video card and which type of TV-out interface you use.

Buy a video card that is capable of spatial-temporal pixel-adaptive deinterlacing (ATI 9550 and upwards, Nvidia 6150 and upwards)
ATI: http://www.ati.com/products/home-office.html
Look for ATI cards that support DirectX9 and associated DirectX-VA
Nvidia: http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

Component TV-out (YPrPb) produces much better picture quality than S-video, so if you TV supports this, then buy a video card that has HDTV (component) TV-out. Note however that ATI do not support PAL HDTV-out, so you need an Nvidia card for PAL HDTV-out.

But directly answering your question, I have compared an ASUS/ATI 9550 and Legend/Nvidia 6600GT, and in my opinion the Nvidia card has slightly better picture quality, but the difference is very subtle.

Something else to consider is the Nvidia cards are very prone aspect ratio problems, so I advise caution with Nvidia cards.
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=16198

[Stargrove1]

While there are subtle differences in picture quality across the TV-out encoder chips deployed in video cards, the parts that make the biggest difference is the deinterlacing capabilities of the video card and which type of TV-out interface you use.

Buy a video card that is capable of spatial-temporal pixel-adaptive deinterlacing (ATI 9550 and upwards, Nvidia 6150 and upwards)
ATI: http://www.ati.com/products/home-office.html
Look for ATI cards that support DirectX9 and associated DirectX-VA
Nvidia: http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

Component TV-out (YPrPb) produces much better picture quality than S-video, so if you TV supports this, then buy a video card that has HDTV (component) TV-out. Note however that ATI do not support PAL HDTV-out, so you need an Nvidia card for PAL HDTV-out.

But directly answering your question, I have compared an ASUS/ATI 9550 and Legend/Nvidia 6600GT, and in my opinion the Nvidia card has slightly better picture quality, but the difference is very subtle.

Something else to consider is the Nvidia cards are very prone aspect ratio problems, so I advise caution with Nvidia cards.
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=16198

Thanks, I got some more questions. First let me say that I have a quite cheap TV, but the picture that the PVR350 brings to the screen is very good. So what kind of signal uses the PVR to the scart connector? Is it the mentioned composite signal? If this is the case, could I use for example an ati card with no expensive 3D engine but that tv-out? If I remember right, the PVR350 generates a pal signal with the resolution of the tv-signal and that is the main reason for the tv-like picture. Can I expect the same quality when the new card calculates the picture from for example 1024x768 to the tv-signal?

[nitrogen_widget]

You would want to set your TV as the primary display & also set it to the resolution of your TV for best picture.

I have also seen vga or dvi to scart adaptors on the net.
Some you can build yourself.

I'm in the U.S. so I don't know much about scart or the quality it can give.

I didn't know ATI didn't support PAL HDTV out.
I'm NTSC so I would never need PAL but most sapphire ATI cards have a jumper on them & I always thought when you hit the HDTV resolutions it was mostly custom anyways.

Interesting.

[Stargrove1]

You would want to set your TV as the primary display & also set it to the resolution of your TV for best picture.

I have also seen vga or dvi to scart adaptors on the net.
Some you can build yourself.

I'm in the U.S. so I don't know much about scart or the quality it can give.

I didn't know ATI didn't support PAL HDTV out.
I'm NTSC so I would never need PAL but most sapphire ATI cards have a jumper on them & I always thought when you hit the HDTV resolutions it was mostly custom anyways.

Interesting.

I already use the TV as the primary and only display with the hauppauge, but some features are missing and sub does not support new stuff on the PVR350.

Where can I find the self built scart adapters, as an electrical technician I should be able to build one.

I'm from germany, so I have no idea of the NTSC quality, but I know that the Hauppauge TV-Out is very much better than every else TV-out from gfx cards I have seen.

I don't want to move to HDTV, at this time it is to expensive in my opinion. I'm just looking for a cheap alternative to my PVR350.

[csy]

So what kind of signal uses the PVR to the scart connector? Is it the mentioned composite signal? If this is the case, could I use for example an ati card with no expensive 3D engine but that tv-out? If I remember right, the PVR350 generates a pal signal with the resolution of the tv-signal and that is the main reason for the tv-like picture. Can I expect the same quality when the new card calculates the picture from for example 1024x768 to the tv-signal?

My limited understanding of scart specification (and I may be wrong) is it only specifies the physical connector, and the connector has pins dedicated for composite, s-video, and composite, and it is up to the equipment manufacturer to decide which pins (video interface) they will wire-out. Ususally the equipment specifications state which video interface is useable on the scart connector.

The video card deinterlacing capabilities (hardware deinterlacing) is only available with DXVA+VMR, and VMR9 uses 3D, so I recommend a card that supports 3D.

As nitrogen_widget mentioned, best picture quality is obtained by setting your video card resolution to match your TV scan lines (576 lines for PAL), and in fact best quality is obtained by matching MPEG2 SD resolution of 720x576 for PAL.

[nitrogen_widget]

http://www.idiots.org.uk/vga_rgb_scart/


http://www.linuxnetmag.com/en/issue7/m7tvout1.html

I know the second one is for linux but it still might prove useful.

[csy]

The RGB-scart converter will only work if your TV supports RGB input on its scart connector. Check the TV owners manual to see what video signals are supported on its scart connector.

[Stargrove1]

My limited understanding of scart specification (and I may be wrong) is it only specifies the physical connector, and the connector has pins dedicated for composite, s-video, and composite, and it is up to the equipment manufacturer to decide which pins (video interface) they will wire-out. Ususally the equipment specifications state which video interface is useable on the scart connector.

The video card deinterlacing capabilities (hardware deinterlacing) is only available with DXVA+VMR, and VMR9 uses 3D, so I recommend a card that supports 3D.

As nitrogen_widget mentioned, best picture quality is obtained by setting your video card resolution to match your TV scan lines (576 lines for PAL), and in fact best quality is obtained by matching MPEG2 SD resolution of 720x576 for PAL.

Is it possible at all to set a resolution of 720x576 under a windows system? AFAIK there are only res like 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, etc.

[Stargrove1]

Can anyone tell me some card modells which a not that cost intensive and easy to get. I think it should be an ati with the mentioned hardware deinterlacing and a good picture quality.