Regarding TV video output

[codemix]

Hi all.

I have some questions regarding playing movies on my PC to watch on my TV.

I had a matrox g400 millenium graphics card that did this and did it well, i could playback a movie on my PC and watch it on my TV while someone else checked their emails or do general web surfing on the internet.

My Pc died on me a few months ago and i had to build a new PC my new PC has inbuilt graphics the 6100, i wish to upgrade the graphics with a discrete graphics card that has S-video.

My question is how do modern graphics card handle displaying movies on the TV? my old card had Dual display clone mode which i see is what just about all graphics card has to enable dual display output. but my g400 also had DVDMax output mode which enabled me to use my monitor as my primary display and my TV just for watching movies on from the PC.

so for any previous G400 owners or anyone who knows can i watch movies on my TV with any of todays GPU card without having to use clone display on them?

Thanks

P.S my primary concern is watching movies via my PC on my TV not gaming

 

[codemix]

just to add to my post what i want. i've checked out various cards from ATI and Nvidia online and I would like to get a 8600GT or 8600GTS card but my main concern is being able to watch movies i have on my PC on my TV not via clone mode. I just want the TV to kick in and display any movies I playback on my PC. this is something the matrox g400 millenium could do. but there is no mention at all! how current video cards do this or if they can.

thanks, i hope i can get some response on my post

 

[Thunderfox]

Yes, you can do this. You can use the TV as a second display, just as if you had a second monitor. You can move your DVD program onto this screen and maximize it.

There is also the option of automatically displaying overlay video on the TV. This doesn't require any interaction from you. If your player displays its video using an overlay, it will automatically be displayed in the TV. I believe this is how the old Matrox cards worked.

 

[codemix]

thanks for the reply Thunderfox

do all graphics card like the nvidia 7600, 7900 and 8500GT and 8600GT allow me to watch movies on my TV like you said?

Also the overlay option is that dependent on the graphics card or the playback sotware like windows media player and PowerDVD etc?

Regards

codemix

 

[Thunderfox]

I would imagine it works on all modern cards, as it's mainly a software issue. I have used a Radeon X850XT and a Geforce 6200 to do it within the last year, and it worked on my old 9800pro before that.

The overlay depends on the player software. In the past, virtually all media players used overlays, but some newer ones might not. It is just a matter of how the program is designed. Some have options to choose whether to use one or not.

 

[codemix]

I see, thanks very much thunderfox

its a big relief to know I'd be able choose just about any new graphics card and not worry about if they will playback movies on the T.V

I have PowerDVD version 5.0 hopefully that should use overlays, my old G400 worked with it so I think I should be ok software wise.

I'm glad I ain't got much to wory about hardware wise.

thanks for the heads up, you've been very informative

best regards

codemix

 

[Thunderfox]

I hope everything works well for you