Got HTPC, What card best for TV-Out?

[WyWyWyWy]

Hi,

Long time no see

Basically I have pretty much finished building my new HTPC, I have got a PCI Radeon 9000SE as a temporary solution, and a coming PCIe Radeon X600XT as another temporary solution (grrr...).

The TV-out from the 9000SE to my SD Panasonic 28" CRT is frankly... CRAP. It is so crap I can't believe anyone would actually use it. The quality is just toooooo far from my Parhelia or G400!

It is a shame though I can't use Matrox cards on my new HTPC, because...
1. The mobo doesn't have AGP
2. I can't afford an APVe, and even if I could I'd keep it in my desktop PC not my HTPC!
3. P650 PCIe is also too expensive, and I can't find any 2nd hand ones on eBay.
4. Can't use Parhelia/P650 PCI either... because I don't have enough PCI slots!
5. Matrox drivers are out of date and not MCE compliant.
6. It doesn't have the "new-gen" video decoding capabilities... like PureVideo or AVIVO.

I hadn't been keeping up with the Gfx card industry until recently, so I don't know whats HOT in terms of HTPC TV-out.

Can anyone recommend me a Gfx card from a specific make please?
Please bear in mind that I don't have an HDTV (yet!).

Oh by the way, my Silverstone LC10S-M is soooooooo sexy!!!!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc10m.htm

Many thanks.

[dZeus]

afaik the latest generation(s) of ATI and nV cards have integrated tv encoders so I don't think there'll be much difference in quality between the different brands of cards.

I doubt SDTV output will have improved over the past few generations on nV and ATI cards, if only because HDTV is all the hype these days... you'd have to try some cards and compare to a PC with a G400

P.S. the case looks sexy.... for a massive black brick not that my ATC-600SX1 is that much better in that regard

[Mehen]

check out an ATI X1300 or NV 7300

[WyWyWyWy]

Thanks Mehen!

Looked at the X1300, the AVIVO surely is very impressive (not just for TV-out), and the nVidia PureVideo isn't bad either!

Will surely look at buying a cheap 512mb X1300 or X1600 with component out and dualhead dual-link DVI in two/three months time... and will probably get a Plasma and Sky HD at the same time too!

In the mean time I got myself a very cheap 2nd hand X600XT (which supports component out) for use until the HTPC scene becomes a bit more mature.

dZeus :

Mine is silver not black! To match my Pioneer amp... same material they use!! It is as sexy as sex!

Although... MCE + Hauppauge combo is proving to be a XTREME nightmare... 4th time clean install now, hope I can get it right one day -__-

Many thanks!