[Gllug] TV out

[Xander D Harkness]

Mike Brodbelt wrote:

>On Fri, 2002-11-01 at 15:15, Xander D Harkness wrote:
>
>  
>
>>I was going to go buy a Matrox; however I have just received a response 
>>back from Matrox (who I emailed at the same time as Gllug).  As a result 
>>of their response I think I shall go Nvidia :-)
>>    
>>
>
>I'm curious as to why you'd go Nvidia - they are *entirely* closed
>source. Matrox aren't perfect, but at least it's possible to use most of
>the functionality of their products without resorting to binary only
>code. It looks to me as though you should be able to use the Matrox
>cards without resorting to proprietary drivers, even though the
>necessary patches aren't blessed by Matrox.
>
I realise this and I will probably move towards ATI who I have found 
give just the sort of assistance I would hope for from a sensible 
company.  ATI have Linux listed as one of the OS' that one might use. 
 They also have a PDF which shows the capabilities and compatibilites 
for a range of operating systems from Solaris to QNX.

Although Nvidia do not release any of their specs and therefore provide 
closed drivers are almost in the same as Matrox, but on the other side 
of the argument.  Doing very little in the way of drivers and Nvidia 
doing a lot in the way of drivers but not assisting with specs.

There is some really useful information on ATI's site:

http://mirror.ati.com/support/faq/linux.html?cboOS=LinuxXFree86&cboProducts=RADEON+9700+PRO&eula=&choice=agree&cmdNext=Next

TV Output

    ATI is investigating the possibility of supporting TV Out under
    Linux for products which include this feature.

    The GATOS Project <http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos/> mentions
    limited use of this feature in some of their configurations.

    Linux ATI TV Out Support Program
    <http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/lennart/projects/atitvout/> is
    a work in progress by Lennart Poettering
    <mailto:mz617469 at poettering.de> to control the TV Out feature of
    certain ATI graphics products under Linux. It has currently been
    tested on Rage Mobility P/M devices only, but should also work for
    RADEON and RAGE 128 according to the author.

 

DVD playback

    The GATOS project <http://gatos.sourceforge.net/> is currently
    working toward hardware assisted IDCT, which is an important
    component for DVD playback.

    Currently, there are legal difficulties regarding DVD playback in
    any Open Source environment such as Linux. OpenDVD.org
    <http://www.opendvd.org/> provides a detailed discussion on this
    topic. It is an excellent resource for anyone trying to configure a
    Linux system for DVD playback.

I think I was a bit annoyed at the time that their sales staff could be 
so ill informed.

Kind regards
Xander



-- 
I cannot draw a cart, nor eat dried oats; If it be man's work I will do it.



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