Video Card opinions

[karnalz28]

I'm going to be building a machine for "basic TIVO-like" functionality, and wanted to get some opinions from those who have done this before:

I've used two seperate cards to run an SVideo-out to a TV. Both NVidia hardware, one was a ti4200, the other a 6600GT. I currently have the 4200 as a "spare", but am not as pleased with it's TV out (EVGA). The Gigabyte 6600GT seems to do better, but it's staying put in my gaming machine.

What cards (on a budget of 100 or less) would you recommend? I've pretty much got the rest of the machine planned out.....

[rfielder]

I have never used an NVidia card, so I can't do a comparison.

I do have an ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV, an ATI All-In-Wonder 9600XT, an ATI TV Wonder VE PCI, and some Matrox video cards - G450, G550, and P750.

For my money, the 9600XT is the best for capturing. Far superior to the 8500DV and the VE Wonder. Actually, the TV Wonder VE was better than the 8500DV.

For TV out, the Matrox cards give a far superior image on the TV than any of the ATI cards I have. Even the old G450 looks better than the 9600XT.

Plus, the Matrox software gives you a TV out signal on the TV, while keeping the desktop on the PC's monitor. With the ATI software, I end up with my TV showing a clone of the desktop, which is not always ideal.

I have three VCR's, but I have not used one to tape a TV show for a few years. We do watch a fair bit of TV. 99% of it gets watched after it has been captured. I have a PC in the family room plugged into the TV for this purpose, and a media server in my office to capture shows. Works very, very well. Using the ATI Remote Wonder products is very nice, as far as they go. I also have a Logitech wireless keyboard and a Logitech wireless trackball to control the family room PC - no wires, more than enough range, easier to hide when not in use.

When I build a new box, I am going to investigate using a Matrox P650 or P750 to connect to the TV, and an ATI TV Wonder Elite to link to TV signals. That will be what I look into, but I am not sure what will actually be purchased until that time comes.

[canada_habs2004]

I have the ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9600XT as well, its decent for captured, and does everything else as well, ie TV Out, FM Radio, TV, Dual Monitor, Svideo and Composite Input

The software ATI gives you isn't bad either

[junkmalle]

I agree with rfielder that the Matrox cards have the best s-video output for standard definition TV. They handle interlaced video perfectly (a problem with some other cards) and do a good job of frame rate conversion etc.

[laspis59]

I have an ATI AIW 9800 SE ,which is cheap and gives good picture quality.

[laspis59]

I have the ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9600XT as well, its decent for captured, and does everything else as well, ie TV Out, FM Radio, TV, Dual Monitor, Svideo and Composite Input

The software ATI gives you isn't bad either

ATI Catalyst 5.6 is buggy though.

[ebenton]

I have an ATI Radeon X300 PCI Express card, an AVerMedia AVer TV Tuner (Philips 1236 MK3) and the Windows XP Media Center 2005 operating system. Windows Media Center does an excellent job of scheduling, recording and burning the TV shows to DVD or CD (if that's what you want). The Media Center has a very easy to use scheduling interface and an easy to use DVD burning interface.
Of course, if you're paranoid and hate Bill Gates...