Tv-Out and a matter of cables

[Battle Angel]

So, my dilemma lies in the matter of tv-out. I have a G200 .. ageing .. slow .. lacking tv-out .. and I need to get a tv-out to view Dvd and DivX (mostly the latter).

My options include buying a G450 DH or getting a used G400 DH (the G400 are not sold anymore you know .. at least not here in Sweden). Either way I get a card that is quite old in its design .. still slow .. but has the much longed for tv-out. Have also considered external scan-converters but become aware of the fact nothing seems to be able to beat a G4xx in terms of quality.

Now .. to the problem (which I have already discussed in depth with AV-installation-firms .. of course they would never use a graphics card as output .. and the signal would almost always end up in a projector of some sort)
Anyway: The distance between tv and computer setup is approx. 18m. A hidden ductway (set up by me) is supposed to carry the signal .. via a pair of 75-Ohm-Coax-cables I figured. The people I spoke to said that they'd been involved in 35+m even having to place cables close to electrical wireing .. so .. on paper it looks OK. (and if you must know .. sound will be output digital and sent in a third coax.-cable)

Has anyone here tried a G400 as video output over such a distance?

[Maggi]

Well, not that far, but the 10m that I have to bridge, using S-Video connections, work like a charm ...

Are you gonna use s-video connections too ?

Cheers,
Maggi

[xortam]

I run my TV out on the composite connection via a 50' RG6-QS (Quad-Shielded) coax with RCA/F adapters. Looks great. A better, more expensive option is to get a high resolution TV that will accept VGA imputs.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

Battle Angel,you can still get a G400 DH in your neck of the woods by shopping online at the matrox shop http://shop.matrox.com/europe/produc...mary.asp?Dep=2

[Novdid]

Ta en titt på sidan pricerunner.se eller .com där kan man lätt hitta försäljare som säljer G400. G400 MAX är rätt val.

For you who don´t speak Swedish it was a tip where to find a G400.

[Battle Angel]

Maggi: Yepp, s-video it is, I got a bit carried away there with cables and forgot to mention that. I will use an adapter tp split the s-video-signal into Luminance + Chrominance and using two coax.-cables. Same thing at the other end.

ayoub_ibrahim: £103 for a card? I think not. I've seen the 16Mb version as low as £68 here BUT the last one turned out to be an advertising-trick .. very few ACTUALLY HAVE G400 .. maybe the 32Mb .. but not for long ..

Novdid: Why on eath would I want a Max? No, really, what I want is the cheapest G400 I can get .. with DualHead. Looking into used cards ..
-- Edit: Found a retailer with a G450 (16 MB SDR, AGP 2x/4x, 360 MHz RAMDAC, DualHead, Bulk) for £75 (=1100Sek or $110, whatever). Best one thus far.

Is there any reason to think the DualHead-feature and tv-out-quality has improved even more with the G450?


[This message has been edited by Battle Angel (edited 22 November 2000).]

[impact]

Yes there is. Secondary RAMDAC.

[Battle Angel]

Impact: I see. Whats the specs for the G450 secondary ramdac then - and also the old G400 DH?

[Maggi]

Skip the G450 ...

It has a 2nd RAMDAC (G450-230MHz vs G400-135MHz Maven TVout chip, afaik), but it's slower than an OCed G400 Vanilla.

The G400 can go up to 1280x1024x32bpp @ 75 Hz and that should be enough, at least it's more than enough to feed your TV.

Cheers,
Maggi

[impact]

Yeah that's right. The G450, although superior to both the G200 and G400 in 2D, is not a great performer in 3D.

[Battle Angel]

Ok. I'll keep that in mind.

But apart from the 3D and RAMDAC .. I'm wondering if there is a difference in QUALITY .. the amount of flicker (when output on tv) .. etc etc.

[Maggi]

I didn't see a difference between my former G400 32MB DH and my new G450 32MB DDR DH on my Sony 28" 16:9 ...

(well maybe, but only maybe the G400 looked a tiny little bit better on my TV, when having the desktop @ 1024x768x32bpp, but that could be just a subjective observation, since I didn't compare 'em one after each other ... there was a timeframe of ~2 weeks in between)

The flicker reduction works on both cards brilliant, so go for the G400.

Cheers,
Maggi