Best Gfx board with the video out!

khaverblad wrote on 8/27/2002, 4:40 PM
Well, since I do not play games at all I don't really care about the latest 3D Gfx boards. But, what I do need is a board with good quality of the output signal when it comes to record either to VHS or S-VHS tapes.

I've looked at the Matrox G550, but is there anything way better than this board. Looking around I get the feeling that people are pointing to this board when it comes to solid picture quality, or?

/Kim

Comments

pelvis wrote on 8/27/2002, 9:30 PM
For outputting to tape (or external monitor), the best combo for Vegas is the Pyro 1394 card and the Canopus ADVC-100.
Chienworks wrote on 8/28/2002, 3:34 PM
I've played with several Matrox & ATI video out cards. None of them even come close to using a firewire port and an external DV converter. Buy a dirt cheap display card or get a dual-head card for dual monitors instead of a video out card. Invest in an external converter instead.
jeffy82 wrote on 8/31/2002, 5:01 AM
Everything has it's compromise. I believe Matrox & ATI are leaders. I personaly own the Matrox 550 (I use the Dual Screen for editing Premiere & DV500) & various ATI Radeon AIWs (usually for TV tuner Capture). And have dabbled with Firewire out to Camcorder to SVIDEO TV/VCR.

I know this probably sounds like a broken record, but the answer can only be based on YOUR specific needs, and as dynamic as your needs are, so are your ideal solutions.

In short here goes:
Matrox: Truely 3rd Generation Dual Screen. (In Other words, can generate separate resolutions & Refresh rates to the different heads.) ATI Doesn't offer this...yet. Why important? Cause when you TV-OUT, your pc monitor's picture gets squashed as your resolution & Refresh rate are reduced to meet TVs needs.

So for the Matrox, despite some interlacing/artifacting drama when playing oddsized video, the TV-OUT IS GREAT. I like using it with the DVDMAX feature. Don't let the name fool you. It is NOT limited to DVDs. When you play any video (regardless of codec) in mediaplayer, or any other player which utilize "OVERLAY" It will send the video to your TV (and full screen) without any other crap (boarders, mousepointer,etc.) ****REALTIME*** I don't know of any other cards that can do this well. Also great when using Premiere & Studio, which use overlay, VV doesn't. Sorry.

Firewire to Camcorder to TV Offers best picture, but it's limited to DV or Rendered Footage on VV Timeline for Realtime. If you have divx 5.02 video, Forget it in VV. But, I trust the SF techs are working FEVERISHLY with divx.com to straighten out issue...Right? :-)

The only other choice I know of is using an Scanconverter. This takes the XVGA signal and converts it to Svideo. I'm currently comparing them for myself. I hear the Focus Enhancement ones have the best chip, not sure though....ANYONE with any expertice? All I know is that you need to get a good one, like the Gold, it has many Flicker, color, etc. adjustments, including Zooming... This is nice, cause it's all realtime. They're in the $100-$150 range.

Hope it helped?
jeffy82@aol.com
Tyler.Durden wrote on 8/31/2002, 7:37 AM
FWIW, true NTSC wysiwyg from Vegas will only happen using the OHCI output to external transcoder/NTSC monitor.

The display boards that encode to NTSC or S-vid do not recompress to DV and do not accurately replicate the encoding performed by the external DV devices.

You might consider a TV-out display board for viewing DVDs and such, but for accurate assessment of video production using Vegas, output to a production-grade NTSC monitor via OHCI will be yer best bet.

HTH, MPH