[Gllug] TV out

[Rev Simon Rumble]

On Wed 30 Oct, Xander D Harkness bloviated thus:
> I was wondering that while Matrox and Nvidia provide cards that provide 
> TV out under Linux, are there any that people would recommend?

Be aware that Matrox G450 and G550 do NOT do TV-Out under Linux, and
probably never will.  The Matrox people always go "mumble mumble
Macrovision" and change the subject.  It's something of a sore point
with many Matrox owners as the support under Windows is fantastic.

I would actually recommend a different approach if watching movies is
your aim.  Buy a dxr3 card (dxr3.sf.net) like this one:
http://www.dabs.com/products/prod-info.asp?quicklinx=DJR
(they can be had a lot cheaper than that at TCR -- check for a "Sigma"
 em8300 chip on the board -- there are a number of OEM versions for
 around 40 quid)

This is an MPEG decoder card.  The benefit there is that, for DVDs and
MPEG video, the CPU load is really minimal.  For non-MPEG, mplayer and
xine decode the video and re-encode as MPEG before output.

The video output from these cards is near professional quality.
Rock-solid image and good colours.  The other types tend to be pretty
shonky in comparison.

Driver support for dxr3 is very good and about to get better
(inclusion in mainstream kernel).  mplayer and xine both support the
card very well.

(Moves are afoot to integrate the dxr3 with vdr, the Tivo-alike Linux
 system that works with digital television.  This means you will be
 able to use one of the cheaper Hauppauge "Nova" DVB cards.)

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <simon at rumble.net>
www.rumble.net
Send email with subject "send key pub" for public key.

I've found Jesus.  He was behind the sofa the whole time.
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