[mythtv-users] Recommended graphics card with tv-out?

Mark fairlane at voyager.net
Mon Aug 4 20:07:01 EDT 2003 

I put a disclaimer in the first sentence.  "If your time is worth 
something to you.... "
If you are unemployed, your time is worth something less than it was, no?

Joe V wrote:

>Mark,
>
>Like I said, at the moment, I'm currently unemployed,
>and have been so for the last two months.  Spending an
>extra $45 to get a MythTV box working is not an option
>for me right now, considering that I live in
>California, and $45 is about 5% of my monthly rent.
>
>At the moment, I'm trying to build a MythTV box out of
>parts that I have lying around my apartment.  I tend
>to upgrade a fair amount, so I typically have parts
>lying around.
>
>In addition, should I get this working (which I think
>I might be able to), it might save some people $45 (if
>they, like me, have an older Radeon card lying
>around), which they can use to offset the cost of a
>hardware MPEG encoder or something.
>
>I figure there'e no harm in trying.  I'll be buying a
>new box to run MythTV on anyway (since I'm finding my
>Athlon 1.4 to be a bit sluggish), but I figure that if
>I can reuse some of the other hardware, then I don't
>have to spend as much money.  Worst case scenario, I
>shell out the money for a scan converter (I'd rather
>do that than buy yet another video card, as I have two
>perfectly good video cards here).  And heck, it's fun,
>I get a kick out of solving problems.
>
>Maybe I lose some time, maybe I don't.  It's quite
>simple to get TV Out working at an older ATI Radeon,
>and most of the time spent is the computer compiling
>stuff.  I start the compile, walk away, and check on
>it inbetween innings of the baseball game.  I was
>thinking about it, and it might be as simple as
>recompiling the X server and Qt, which for me is easy.
>
>On the other hand, if I was employed right now, I
>probably wouldn't be messing with any of this.
>
>Now then, for the rest of you, if I actually get this
>working, without it being completely convoluted (which
>I think is possible), I'll post instructions to the
>list, and later on, get them on my website.
>
>-- Joe
>
>--- Mark <fairlane at voyager.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>I don't know what your time is worth to you, but
>>mine is fairly precious.
>>With that said, go out and buy a Geforce4 MX440SE
>>card w/TVout.
>>I got mine from newegg.com, it cost like $45. 
>>Install nvidia driver.
>>flawless TVout in less than 30 minutes.  Mines' an
>>Albatron. Unless you 
>>are the type
>>that needs to bang your head on a wall to feel like
>>you did something,
>>then get an ATI or something.
>>
>>Joe V wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Myself, I've tried with both a G400 and an
>>>All-In-Wonder Radeon (the original R100 series),
>>>      
>>>
>>and
>>    
>>
>>>have had trouble with both.  There is a kind soul
>>>(thanks, Matt) who is assisting me with the G400
>>>      
>>>
>>right
>>    
>>
>>>now, and there's a possibility that I'll actually
>>>      
>>>
>>get
>>    
>>
>>>it working.  Hopefully.  :)
>>>
>>>Somebody else on the list once said, "the Radeons
>>>      
>>>
>>will
>>    
>>
>>>work, but if you spend more time than $30-$45, go
>>>      
>>>
>>out
>>    
>>
>>>and buy a GeForce card".  I'd have to agree with
>>>      
>>>
>>this
>>    
>>
>>>sentiment, even though at the moment I'm unemployed
>>>(so my time isn't worth much right now).  I don't
>>>      
>>>
>>have
>>    
>>
>>>a GeForce card kicking around here, and I'm not
>>>      
>>>
>>going
>>    
>>
>>>to buy one, but I do have the G400 and Radeon here.
>>>
>>>As for the Radeon, you can get TV Out to work -
>>>      
>>>
>>it's
>>    
>>
>>>quite the complicated procedure, and probably won't
>>>work too well with many Linux distributions.  You
>>>      
>>>
>>have
>>    
>>
>>>to install an older distro that has XFree86 4.2,
>>>recompile the X Server with the Gatos "devel"
>>>      
>>>
>>branch,
>>    
>>
>>>and then TV Out will work.  Unfortunately for me,
>>>      
>>>
>>in
>>    
>>
>>>doing that, and building MythTV, well, MythTV
>>>segfaulted right away, definitely because of the
>>>rebuilding of the X Server.  (If anybody wants
>>>detailed instructions on how I built it, let me
>>>      
>>>
>>know,
>>    
>>
>>>and I can post them.  After getting TV Out booting
>>>with X though, I don't think I can help).
>>>
>>>If you're going to use a Radeon, expect to have to
>>>build everything from source.  I know how to do it,
>>>it's just not worth my time.
>>>
>>>At this point I'm looking at trying to get the G400
>>>      
>>>
>>to
>>    
>>
>>>work again.  If not, then I'm just going to get a
>>>      
>>>
>>scan
>>    
>>
>>>converter.
>>>
>>>It all depends on how much money you are willing to
>>>spend, and what you have already.  I'm trying to
>>>      
>>>
>>get
>>    
>>
>>>TV Out with cards that I already have, but I
>>>      
>>>
>>wouldn't
>>    
>>
>>>buy any of these cards, unless soemthing was
>>>guaranteed (and from reading the list archives, it
>>>seems that nothing is guaranteed).  You might want
>>>      
>>>
>>to
>>    
>>
>>>consider a scan converter also.
>>>
>>>-- Joe
>>>
>>>--- Ellen Spertus <spertus at mills.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>What tv-out graphics card is most trouble-free? 
>>>>        
>>>>
>>The
>>    
>>
>>>>database
>>>>
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>(http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-page.php?pageName=pvrhw_gfx)
>>    
>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>lists 5
>>>>cards, but notes that tv-out is reported not to
>>>>        
>>>>
>>work
>>    
>>
>>>>on two (Radeon 7500
>>>>and Tachyon G9000 Pro).  A third (S3 Savage 2000),
>>>>which I own, has
>>>>issues with xv.  That leaves the following two
>>>>cards:
>>>>
>>>>- ASUS nVidia V9180 Magic
>>>>- Matrox Millennium G400
>>>>
>>>>I've seen people having problems with both on the
>>>>list.  Also, I'm
>>>>wondering if cheaper nVidia GeForce4 MX 440-8x
>>>>        
>>>>
>>based
>>    
>>
>>>>cards would be as
>>>>good as the ASUS.
>>>>
>>>>Thank you for any recommendations.
>>>>
>>>>Ellen
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>>
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>>    
>>
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>>>
>>>
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