ATI and HDTV ?

[Davinci]

Hi,

i searched in this forum but did not find any valuable answer to my question. I am currently looking for TV, but have not yet decided if I should go to HDTV. I have ATI9700PRO and was wondering if I could hook it up to HDTV for watching movies. Looks like it is possible with (or without) adapter ? so : what is the best solution ? where can I find such adapter ? what type of input should the HDTV have ? (i am not looking for a TV > $1000 so the choices will be limited).

Thank you for your help

 

[anazoal]

ATI sells an adapter, but it might only be for 8500 series cards. Try the ATI web site. If this fails, you could also look for an HDTV that has VGA input (I saw a couple of Panasonics that had that).

 

[DClark]

This page and this page have information about ATi's HDTV Component Video Adapter. It appears that ATi has two; a black version for use with the 8500 series, and a purple version for use with the 9500/9700 series and the AIW Radeon 8500s.

Edit: Here's a page on how to use the connectors, including images of both black and purple versions.

 

[Davinci]

thanks guys. ATI also mentionned that there is overscan, but it should be corrected in the latest drivers.

I also read that :
"To re-enable support for a standard monitor, simply reboot the system with the monitor attached."

that kind of defeats the purpose (like TV-output).

what is your opinion on that ?

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: Davinci
thanks guys. ATI also mentionned that there is overscan, but it should be corrected in the latest drivers.

I also read that :
"To re-enable support for a standard monitor, simply reboot the system with the monitor attached."

that kind of defeats the purpose (like TV-output).

what is your opinion on that ?

Their overscan "fix" is just a new resolution 640x432 which shows up as a "optimized" 640x480 resolution in their display tab. It doesn't solve overscan for any other resolutions, and it only works with in Windows desktop. If you attempt to play a game in 640x480, you're stuck with overscan again. The limitations of the ATI adapter was frustrating enough that I got a Audio Authority VGA to Component adapter instead to hook up my 8500LE to a Toshiba HDTV. You can also switch from monitor to TV w/o having to reboot.

 

[Guspaz]

Why would you want to "fix" overscan? Most people don't enjoy watching movies or playing games with big black borders around the image. 5% overscan on a VCD, for example, would only be 18 pixels on the horizontal!!!

People actually pay for tools like TVTool to turn ON overscan.

 

[Davinci]

Guspaz, remember that watching movies is not the only interest here. There are also 4:3 movies BTW.

Boogak, thanks for the advice. 640x432 is a pretty low resolution <> High Def TV.

I did a search for that VGA adapter you were mentioning
http://www.audioauthority.com/aacconsumers/9a60detc.html

is that what you got ? $129 is damned expensive tough.

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: Davinci
Guspaz, remember that watching movies is not the only interest here. There are also 4:3 movies BTW.

Boogak, thanks for the advice. 640x432 is a pretty low resolution <> High Def TV.

I did a search for that VGA adapter you were mentioning
<a href="http://www.audioauthority.com/aacconsumers/9a60detc.html">http://www.audioauthority.com/aacconsumers/9a60detc.html</A>

is that what you got ? $129 is damned expensive tough.

Yup, that's the one, I got it from www.copperbox.com for $109.


BTW, overscan is OK for movies but bad for games and applications when you can't see the entire screen. You miss out on health meters, the Windows Start button, the taskbar, etc.

 

[keyeye]

I was interested in getting the ATI component adaptor, but after reading this thread, I am hesitant. I just got a Samsung 3296. It looks like the key digital and the audio authority are the two major transcoders available. Did you find anything that would suggest getting the key digital (60 bucks more) over the audio authority that you got? I've read of a couple TV incompatibilities with the audio authority, but I didn't see that this was resolved with the key digital either. Thanks.

 

[SickBeast]

can you not just use a bnc component output cable? if so, you can get one for $20 or so. i use one on my monitor.

 

[keyeye]

Not pretending to know much, but I believe the HDTV analog input is YPrPb, and not RGB as for a computer monitor.

 

[Wag]

Right- either you have to have a videocard that can output the signal properly over YPbPr or you have to purchase a transcoder.

Luckily my HDTV has switchable 5BNC/Component inputs. It also have a VGA input that takes RGB. Cool stuff.

 

[xchangx]

Just reviewing this thread...

I have a vga to rgbhv cable.

Can this be use to output hdtv from computer to tv/projector?

Michael Chang

 

[Wag]

Does your projector have RGB inputs?

 

[SpeedFreak03]

I bought a 48'' Mitsubishi HDTV, and not to burst your bubble, but I'd wait if I were you to buy HDTV. On basic cable there are no hdtv channels, and if you get digital cable or DSS there are about 3-5. The rest (non-HDTV channels) IMO look crappy (except for DSS - they all look great!). DVD's and HDTV channels look unbelivable though. Just my $0.02!

 

[xchangx]

Yeah the projector has RGBHV inputs

Michael Chang

 

[Wag]

Yeah, just find out what resolution your projector supports and take it from there.

You might want to try www.avsforum.com