[mythtv-users] better tv-out cards

[Rob Rogers]

On Thu, May 08, 2003 at 08:48:40AM -0700, Ray Olszewski wrote:
> At 09:23 AM 5/8/2003 -0600, Jeffrey Brent McBeth wrote:
> [...]
> >For 3D, you are correct, NVidia is the only game in town.  For 2D, you are
> >full of ****.  As far as clean output goes, you cannot beat Matrox.  They
> >have been known for this for years, and their newest hardware doesn't 
> >change
> >that.  Their TV out works just fine with overscan etc.  They are much more
> >willing than NVIDIA or ATI to release their specs, and have been supported
> >for much longer and with a more complete function set than anybody else.
> >You just don't need 3D for mythtv, and that is all nvidia has going for it.
> 
> Do you then know of a procedure for running TV out on a Matrox card and 
> simultaneously supporting xVideo? The docs at 
> http://www.bglug.ca/matrox_tvout/g450_tvout_howto.html seem to say that you 
> cannot get xVideo to run with TV out on the G450 and G550 ... and these are 
> the only Matrox cards I am aware of that support TV out with X.

How about the G400? IIRC, the 400 had open source drivers released by
Matrox, and has Xv support, but The 450 and 550 didn't get OS drivers 
because of the addition of Macrovision. The 400 doesn't have a built in 
TV-out Connector, (just a second vga connector) but you can get the 
adapter for less then $10. I can't seem to find the page on their site 
for the 400, but here's what they look like for the 450 (might even be
the same one)
http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/upgrades/g450mms_cable.cfm

Matrox page about the g400 and Dual Head:
http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/mill_g400/applications/dh/home.cfm
If you decide to get a 400, make sure you get the dual head. The also
had a single head model of the 400 (but not the 450 or 550 I believe)

"Xv is supported on the Matrox G400"
http://linuxgamers.net/lsd/hardwaretalk/x42.html
This page is a bit outdated (refers to XFree 4.1.0) but has info on
TV-Out and Xvideo support at that time.

HTH,
Rob