Bad TV out with Ti4200?

[brendini]

I'm looking at the MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200 card with 128megs and VIVO. It's a sweet deal for $145 at newegg. I have one reservation though. I've heard that the TV output on the Ti series is anywhere from mediocre to awful. When THG did their roundup on the Ti4200 cards they mentioned this as a big drawback. Is this a big problem? Is there a mod/fix for this? Thanks to all who respond!

<Brendini>

 

[Crashman]

Yes, although it depends on the manufacturer's choice of TV-out chips, most are marginal to awefull. Have you considered the Radeon 8500DV? It's about the same price as the card your considering, nearly the same performance level, and comes with some awesome features like an excelent remote controll, the best TV-Out, and TiVO-like video recording (it also includes a TV tuner).

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[brendini]

Yeah, I've definatley considered that card, and it looks really good. The one question I have about it is if it is up to par with the Ti4200. I don't play many 1st person shooters, but I do play a lot of 3rd person games like Hitman 2 and Max Payne. Image quality matters more than framerate to me. Will the 8500 suit my needs? If it does then it is the true and essential bombdiggity, and I will sprint to my local computer store to buy it.

<Brendini>

 

[Crashman]

Well, the 8500 is almost the same speed as the Ti4200. Then you have the All In Wonder cards, there's a bit more going on there:
The 8500DV is an AIW with 64MB, all the fancy AIW stuff (tv tuner, breakout box, etc), and a 1394 Firewire port. It cost around $150.
The AIW 8500 128MB doesn't have the 1394 port, but it has more memory.

Performance difference? the AIW 8500 128MB is a full speed card. The 8500DV is a slower version about the same clock rate as an 8500LE.

Image quality for these cards is top notch. In fact, ATI has been YEARS ahead because they don't rely on the lowest bidder for TV-out hardware, they have their own. My ancient Radeon DDR LE TVO (a cheap version of the Radeon VIVO) has better TV-Out than most (probably ALL) nVidia cards.

Look around the forums and judge for yourself, if the 8500LE is fast enough for you, the 8500DV will be too. If you want a bit more, the AIW 8500 128MB is the same speed as a standard 8500, and about equal to a Ti4200. But it will cost you a bit more.

And yes, these cards are the bombdiggity

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[brendini]

Thanks for the summary. I'm looking towards the 8500.
And thanks for using the word bombdiggity. My friend started saying it and I got hooked. Let's start a revolution!

<Brendini>