g400 + TV Tuner + DVD Decoder

[aenomie]

Well, as I sit here waiting for my MAX to show up (they said next week!!) I've been considering upgrade options for the card...I'd eventually like to add both a TV tuner and DVD decoder board...I know that the Rainbow Runner card will do the TV in, but I don't really need any of the extra video editing features that it comes with...does anybody have any experience with using other TV tuner cards on the G400? Also, what kind of connection is used to connect the tv tuner and the DVD decoder card to the G400 (i.e., will I be able to attatch both at the same time, or do they use the same connection?)

[Helmchen2000]

I use a Hauppauge WinTV Radio with a G200. I think if you don't need any videoediting it's the simplest solution because you only have to plug it into a free pci-slot (no connection to the videocard needed) install the drivers and it should work. The picture is great I now can scale it up to 1280x960(1024) at 32bpp, I hope it will work with higher resolutions when I get my G400max. The transfer of the TV-data goes all over the pci-bus by busmastering therefore it don't uses any CPU-Time (On my system the TV-window works even if the whole system crashed ). Another reason to take a seperate TV-Card is that you can use it with future video cards and it's possible to view encoded TV-programs (there's a lot of software allowing this). Since you use a G400 I suppose you use a fast prozessor, something beyond 400MHz, if this is so I think there's no need on a DVD-decoder board, your System should be fast enough to do this by Software this is better too because of the region codes which could better controlled with a software player (people told me).

hope this helps

Helmchen

[Trav]

Hi Aenomie.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but there are no plans to produce a DVD add on board for the G400.
The software DVD performance with the G400 is supposed to be on a par or even better than that of a hardware decoder.

Trav.

[Lucid]

How powerful a processor is needed for an enjoyable DVD (movie) experience?

Is a P2 300 MHz enough?

[Helmchen2000]

Trav
I think you're right. But there are some reasons why a separate decoder board will be usefull. If you use the dualhead feature you will be able to work with the full performance of your prozessor on your monitor while watching DVD on your TV, to that I have a question: is it possible to play a directx game and watch DVD on the TV.

-----
Lucid
As I know it depends on the prozessor AND the graphic card which should do the motion compensation whatever this is. If your graphic card is capable of doing this a PII 300 at least should be enough.

[This message has been edited by Helmchen2000 (edited 07-29-99).]

[Trav]

Helmchen2000

Yep, no arguments from me there, I have a Dxr3 and have no intention of scrapping it when my Max eventually arrives.
Apart from the CPU utilisation benefits, it has an S/PDIF output for AC-3 too.

[Diddl14]

I am using a Hauppage WinTV Theater with G400DH-32MB. Works great, 1024x768x32! With overlay disabled you can use Dualhead Zoom to display on a second monitor. Still experimenting with the frame grabbing on my 450 PII, 2940U2W SCSI, IBM DDRS39130-LVD. With full PAL (768x568, 25fps) CPU seems to be the reaching its limit (???) on W98.

[Lucid]

I've been thinking about getting a G400 to replace the current Viper330 - Voodoo2 combo.
I'm just afraid that my processor (P2 300 MHz) may not be powerful enough to work well with this card. And I'm talking about DVD performance here, not 3D. (I don't play 3D games online at all.)
Those who *know*, please, tell me the *truth*

[Helmchen2000]

Diddl14
Why did you overlay turn off? The video quality is much greater in overlay mode because of the deinterlacing that is done.
And the colors are better too.

I don't have my G400 yet. Therefore I need to know in which way the Dualhead Zoom works. I guess it works like the Hardwarezoom of my G200 and if it's that way the quality isn't usefull for video scaling.
Please tell me that I'm wrong!

Helmchen

[Diddl14]

Hi Helmchen!

Main reason for turning overlay off is because it simply doesn't work with DualHead. Clone and Zoom display a purple area, which is normal with overlay. DVDMax doesn't (yet?) work with HaupPage WinTV. Video is froozen on TV unless the display-window is moved around the screen with the mouse (??? very weird). DVDMax also does not work Maxtrox DVD player (see other posting).

With Hauppage 'force primary' video display mode, video is display ok on primary monitor (didn't notice a difference yet in color or interlacing artifacts).

I dont know what how the hardware zoom of the G200 works or if its identical with the DH-Zoom feature of the G400. By making the video window full PAL or NTSC size and selecting exactly that area for DH-Zoom, there shouldn't be to much scaling going on (?). DH-Zoom provides a hotkey to switch smooting on and of. With text its best to switch this on, video gets crisper if its switched off.

Hope this helps a little bit.