PAL Pc to tv converters?

[John_Jordan]

Hi, i wasnt sure which forum to post this, Sorry
I am looking for a s-video/rgb pc to tv converter, so i can watch movies from my pc on my tv! I was looking at ones like this:
AVerKeyiMicro
http://www.aver.com/products/comptv_AVerKeyiMicro.shtml


but its only ntsc, so i am wondering if anyone could reccomend a good pal one?

thanks!!

[John_Jordan]

Howdy

I am wondering whether getting a new pci card with s-video out would be as good as a converter?

[John_Jordan]

Bump it up!

[reboot]

A good video card, with video out, and some good cables would be better (IMHO).

[John_Jordan]

A good video card, with video out, and some good cables would be better (IMHO).

Thanks RB, i am no gamer (so what kind specifications should i be looking for?) I currently have a crappy 64mb geoforce card.

[reboot]

There's nothing wrong with your "crappy" card.
If it's got TV out, then it'll probably work.
I've had PVR's running Radeon 7000 PCI cards, Geforce Ti-4400's, X600's, 9200's, etc. If it's got TV out, it'll work.
At the most, you only need 1024x768 for the TV, and some actually work better at 640x480.

[John_Jordan]

Hey there Well there is something wrong with it its only composite! And the quality of the tv out on composite is crap!! Picture quality is very downgraded.

What kind of price do you think i am looking at for one with s-video? I hope the s-video is alot better than the crappy composite

[R55B]

Composite vs. S-video

The Radeon 9xxx series AiW provides an S-video (Svid) out connector on the card itself...where you line it to is your choice. They also include the standard CRT for monitors and DVI out for flat panels. There are two factors which determine lined-out video quality: a good card and good cables. You will find that most here prefer Monster or RG6u cables:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279960&highlight=cables

[reboot]

Even composite video can give a good picture, with the right cables, and depending on how far you run them, and how shielded they are, and how close to other electrical cables.
R55B suggests good cables, and I agree!
I run video out from a Ti-4400 via S-vid to a composite adapter (about 6" long) then 3' to a remote transmitter. The reciever has a 3' cable going to the TV, and picture quality is great.
Any more than 6' though, and things go bad quickly.
A used Ge-Force (with S-vid out) should be less than $50 for a decent one.
The X600 is my recommendation, if you're going to spend money on something new. It's a great card, and may seem overkill now, but you won't be replacing it in 6 months either.

[junkmalle]

I suspect your expectations are too high. This should give you an idea of the difference between composite and S-video picture quality:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1373492

Note those images are video captures not video output from a computer. But the relative differences are the similar.

A bigger issue will be the quality of the graphics cards' video output. Some cards have bad designs that result in a lot of noise on the TV output.

In no case will you be able to use a TV as a computer monitor via composite or S-video. Even a 640x480 desktop will be blurry.

Most video cards have a "theater mode" that lets you output just the media player's picture to the video port. That will get you the best picture quality. Use a compute monitor for the desktop, the composite or S-video port for watching video files.

[MackemX]

I've got a crappy 64MB Geforce 4200Ti with S-video output. I've used TV out for quite a few years now and I've had ATI cards also. The 4200Ti isn't that bad at 800x600 res and I can still use it on a CRT TV. My old 26" TV showed a decent picture

Seeing as I used TV out a lot I bought a 36" Sony which has CRT that doubles the lines. When using the 100Hz setting there is an amazing difference compared to a normal CRT as everything is clear even at 1024x768 res 8). It was awesome at the time but the sickening thing is I bought this TV early 2003 and for the same price now I could buy a 50" plasma which would kick it's ass

I don't know how it works as it may be the TV converting (though my older TV's surely couldn't have been NTSC capable) but I've never had an issue with NTSC/PAL during my TV-out times. I used to play my imported DVD's (ah the old days when you got them cheaper & quicker) no problem and that's one reason I didn't buy a DVD player earlier than I did