HDTV Output?

taylorwilsdon

2[H]4U
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Aug 21, 2006
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I've decided to build a PC that will solely display on my HDTV using a HD tuner, using either Windows XP MCE or MythTV.

However, I need to find an AGP card that will output HD to my TV.

I've seen some labeled as "HD" but they only have S-Video and DVI, so how would that work? My TV has HDMI, VGA and Component inputs... I do have a dongle from another (Pci-e) video card that turns S-Video to Component (I think, I'll post a picture in a bit of it), will that do high quality HD?

Any help would be great. Also, if anyone has an idea of a good HD tv tuner card, that'd be great.
 
You can buy a DVI-D -> HDMI cord. I got one for like $5 at wal-mart out of one of those sale carts for older stuff. Probably like $20 new.
 
I have a DVI -> HDMI cord, but will that be the best I can do? If so, great :)

Edit - I could still use a suggestion for a cheap card strong enough to do HD without hiccups.
 
ANY card nowadays can do HD without hiccups. HD is only standard of preset resolutions. 720p HDTV is just 1280x720 set at a 60 Hz refresh rate... 1080i is 1920x1080 set at a 30 Hz refresh rate... in other words, any card can output in at least 720p fine. You'd have to go back a way to find a card that can't display these resolutions (in other words, they aren't made any more).

The dongle you speak of is most likely not actually s-video on the end (it's got a slightly different pin layout and is meant to plug into the video-out port on your computer). Component can do resolutions well past even 1080p, so if that works, no problem there. If it is actually an s-video to component converter, however, that would be pointless because s-video is capped at SDTV 720x480 (480i)... and component at 720x480 will be, for all intents and purposes, just as good as s-video. I haven't ever seen an s-video to component cable, however, and the video-out port on most video cards do look a bit like s-video ports, so this is most likely what it is. No cards have s-video out anymore either, so I think you're confusing s-video for the video out port on the back of the card.

If you can't get the video-out cable to work for your card, however, you could use your DVI to HDMI cord. The only problem there, however, is that some TVs don't let you pick and choose your audio outputs, and since there's no audio going over the DVI cord, there could effectively be no sound unless you hooked up your computer to a separate receiver.
 
The dongle has different pins then svideo. Its "hd out" to component cables according to the video card manual. I think I'm just going to pick up an AGP Nvidia geforce 6800xt(reme), that should work.

Thanks :)
 
I have a vivo HDTV out MSI 6600GT agp that does a great job of what you are needing. It comes with the 3 cord dongle for HD so theres no extra hassle etc. Dont get too cheap of a card ya know, cuz you never know when you wana play madden 07 on a big screen :)
 
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