Is the Matrox Millennium G550 the best card for Tv out?

[don_care100]

This morning I read a lot on the forum to find my answer to my question.

What is the best pci-e videocard with tv-out to watch DVD's?

What I learned is that you have to watch to the following items

1) It must be able to do advanced hardware de-interlacing
2) It must have a 128 bit memory interface
3) Be sure it has a dvi out connector (for the future) (do not have a LCD yet for HDTV)

I read a lot of good things about the matrox G550 videocard but i can not find an answer to points 1 and 2 and there is a problem with the overlayed info screen? (or maybe it is solved already) The card is 139,- euro's and has 32 mb memory.

Are there other cards who are better or the same in quality, maybe with a lower price? Or is the Matrox the best card there is? (there are cards with much more memory for less money!)

My goal is to watch recordings from analoge tv and DVD's in iso format. The quality for watching dvd's must be the same as from my old standalone dvd player.

Thanks in advance.....

Don

[the_e]

Hi don_care100,

First off, I don't know anything about the PCIe version of the G550. All I can tell you is that I have an older AGP G550 and the tv-out on it leaves a lot to be desired -- tv/video just stuttered on my set-up the whole time.

Regards
the_e

[don_care100]

The E,

Thanks for you're response. Do you already change to another codec? or what i read is to change it from vrm9 costumer to regular. Maybe it helps...

Good to know that you have problems, read only good things about the G550

Don

[the_e]

Hi,

I tried several different combinations -- I can't remember which because it was quite a while ago. I am currently using a G400 -- I had been using VMR 9 with the G400, but have switched to Overlay to see how it is. It seems to stutter until the onscreen menus disappear (i.e. the menu that pops up when you change channel). I have no idea what modern graphics cards are like in comparison to the G400, sniff.

Regards
the_e

[don_care100]

The E,

I read the following post from CaptainVideo about the g550. Notting but good things about the G550. I reconsider my opinion (hope my englisch is right hhahahaha)

Do you know any other good videocards?

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...light=g550

Don

[the_e]

Don,

Just after reading that post about the G550 and might give it a try when the recording shedule gets a bit emptier :-).

Sorry, but I haven't kept up to date on modern graphics cards.

the_e

[the_e]

Don,

Well the fingers were just itching too much. I tried the G550 with a number of combinations of VMR 7, VMR 9, VMR 9 Custom, Overlay, and a mixture of DVDMax on and off, etc. It didn't help -- the video still stutters so much that it is not watchable. I have gone back to my G400 and it is ok again.

It could be just my set-up -- I'm running on old hardware. It may well work fine for you, but it doesn't for me.

Regards
the_e

[don_care100]

Thanks E .... Today I spend some time to find better options. With the same amount of money I found the following 2 cards with more memory and more details.

-Nvidia GeForce 7600GS
-Ati Radeon X1600 Pro

Both have a 128 bit interface and 128 mb memory. I know there is/was a problem with the aspect ratio of the Nvidia. but don't know if this is solved ?

Does someone have some good advice for me ?

Don

[Braklet]

-Nvidia GeForce 7600GS
-Ati Radeon X1600 Pro

Both have a 128 bit interface and 128 mb memory. I know there is/was a problem with the aspect ratio of the Nvidia. but don't know if this is solved ?

I like my nVidia 6600-based card, but I'll be the first to admit that nVidia software is very quirky. The nVidia PureVideo decoder gives me the best video quality of the ~5 decoders I tried, but requires some tweaking to get it stable.

I believe I've seen the aspect ratio bug in my setup but I was able to get rid of it by changing my GB-PVR and PureVideo settings. I used to use VMR9 with custom renderer but had to switch to Overlay when I added an HD tuner. So the aspect ratio issue is present but solvable.

I have no experience with ATI cards other than hearing complaints about them from Linux users.

[don_care100]

Braklet,

I'm looking for a card who gives me the same quality as a normal dvd player does when playing dvd's. The quality of the nvidia or the matrox seems to be the best for that but both have some problems.

Are the problems with the nvidia easy to solve? And do you think that there are ati cards who also can produce good quality?

Don