TV out resolution?

[AndyJay]

What resolution do video cards put out using TV out jacks? I've done some searching and haven't really found anything other than that its 640x480 or 800x600 which I already figured. A few places I looked sort of acted like only PAL could do 800x600, but didn't actually say it. Other places that said 800x600 didn't mention anything about NTSC or PAL. One also said specifically not to set a refresh rate over 60hz or it will permanently damage the TV so I'm kind of wanting to know so I don't screw up my TV (I don't know if setting a certain res would damage the TV or just not work with it or what). Anyway, I'm in the US and have a regular NTSC TV (32" VVEGA) which I'll be hooking a computer up to here soon and am wondering what resolution I will be able to get on it. Also, do different cards do different TV out resolutions? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Anubis]

my ATI Readon 64 DDr does 800x600. so does my old Geforce 256 i havent seen any that do higher but i beleive they exist.

 

[AndyJay]

TheEvil1, have you used the 800x600 on an NTSC TV? Or are you just going by what the manual says?

 

[Workin']

800x600 is very common for NTSC TV out. I've used it on an ATI Rage Fury, Rage Fury Pro, Radeon 64 VIVO, and Gainward Geforce3. Radeon 8500 is alleged to output 1024x768.

Refresh rate MUST be 60Hz for NTSC, actually, when the TV output is enabled that's the ONLY refresh that will come out of it. You don't have to worry about that particular detail.

For the WEGA I recommend getting the Focus TView Gold scan converter instead of a graphics card with TV out. The quality is much better for text than ANY graphics card device. You should be able to find it for about $180. It can output up to 1600x1200 and requires no drivers or modifications to your computer. It connects to the VGA connector of your graphics card and converts it to NTSC video.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Before going for my trusted ASUS v7700 Deluxe, I had for a few days an ASUS v7100 Pro, which had a 1024x768 TV-out resolution.

While the resolution really worked at these specs, I wasn't too impressed overall with the card, so I returned it and got the v7700.

I remember an ABIT GF2MX400 card I saw aslo had the same resolution. I think that this type of TV-out is only present for a few MX400 cards, because I haven't seen it advertised anywhere else.

 

[rbV5]

My AIW 7500 supports up to 1028X764@60hz, currently hooked up to my 32"Sanyo via S-video. Picture quality is excellent, and the new Theater mode is a great feature ( run your media player minimized, shows full screen via TV-out) It doesn't matter what you set the refresh rate, it only displays @60hz NTSC. Different cards do support different resolutions, even amoung the Radeon cards. My Radeon VIVO and AIW Radeon support up to 800x600, my current AIW 7500 supports up to 1024x768.

 

[Pariah]

Radeon's TV-out resolution should only be limited by your TV, assuming you don't have some freakish TV that does 2048 or something. 1024 works fine on mine, it will go higher but the output is switched to a virtual desktop. 640 looks excellent, 800 is pretty good, 1024 is great for movies but unuseable for text reading.

 

[Anubis]

yes i used mine on a NTSC TV and it worked finr. the text was kinda fuzzy but that was about it. also i know my ATI can do highter because it outputs whetever my comp is runnin at but the tv dosent scale itr to the tv you have to scroll arround to see teh hole image. probilly cause i have a crappy TV

 

[Workin']

<< Radeon's TV-out resolution should only be limited by your TV, assuming you don't have some freakish TV that does 2048 or something. 1024 works fine on mine, it will go higher but the output is switched to a virtual desktop. 640 looks excellent, 800 is pretty good, 1024 is great for movies but unuseable for text reading. >>

Just to clarify - your TV's resolution doesn't change, just the size of the elements displayed on it. So as the PC resolution goes up, the TV's resolution stays the same, just the picture elements become smaller and therefore more fuzzy. Your TV's always going to show whatever NTSC resolution (i.e., 400 lines approximately) it always does. In other words, as you change the resolution of the TV-out from your graphics card, it is converted to NTSC video - and the resolution of the NTSC video DOES NOT CHANGE when you change your PC display resolution. For example, at 640x480 the TV-out resolution is (let's say) 400 lines. At 1024x768, the TV-out resolution is STILL the same 400 lines! So 640x480 looks the best because that is the closest to NTSC resolution.

BTW, 1024 wouldn't likely be the best resolution for playing DVDs - their native resolution is 720x480, so 800x600 would use the least scaling of the "standard" resolutions and (theortically, anyway) provide a cleaner picture.