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Koert 2003-06-25 13:48
New computer has a GeForce4 MX440 and works great for video recording and playback on the TV. It has VGA, s-video, and composite outs. My primary monitor gets the vga, the tv gets the s-video, leaving me with the composite.
I have another LCD monitor that I would like to incorporate into the system. It would be perfect if it showed the same image as the TV (exept at 1280x 1024). Can I use the composite output with a vga converter to do this?
The second monitor would be a huge help while working, but I don't want to lose the tv setup.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
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Trevis 2003-06-26 07:15
I’d get a second and third opinion but I would think that using the composite and svideo simultaneously would be an issue. And even if you could convert composite to VGA would you really want to? That would give abysmal image quality. You’d probably be better served with by having a card with dual vga outputs to do that. Which is similar to what I’m doing now, or trying to do at least.
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Koert 2003-06-26 08:30
Trevis,
Thanks; after doing more research, I'm starting to realize that I'm barking up the wrong tree.
The other option would be to plug in a second video card, but I'm wondering what happens to the tv outputs when I do that. Do you suppose I would lose them, or would nView show the tv as a third monitor?
Also, in regards to system stability, how risky is it to introduce a second video card? Would I be messing up a currently stable system?
Thanks again
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Trevis 2003-06-26 08:54
I've used the svideo tv output in the past, but not much in the last couple of years. I have a desktop system which has 2 video cards in it and it seems like both cards are fully functional. Nither has TV output, but i wouldnt expect to loose that because i was running an additional monitor. My current dual monitor PC is the one that i use for application development and it's been running dual monitors for 2 or 3 years. I've got no stability issues. I even changed the second board once (to a slightly nicer one) and had no problems.
(That machine is an older one. A P3-800mhz running a GeForce2Ultra as the primary card and a GeForce3 PCI for the second monitor.)
My current HTPC (The computer that i use as my home theater hub) has an Radeon AIW 8500DV in it but not dual heads, unfortuneatly. It has svideo output, but i have never really used it on that machine.
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ecarlson 2003-06-26 13:35
I've never had a stability problem on my dual card system at work, and I haven't heard of many stability problems, so, except in rare cases, stability seems to be a non-issue with dual video cards.
I don't see why you would lose the S-VGA out on the first card by adding a second VGA card.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Koert 2003-06-26 16:08
Cool. So I'll use the existing card with my tv and smaller monitor.
Now, I need to buy a second video card. Should I get one with the same MX440 chipset as my first card? I'd assume that if I can use the same driver things will go more smoothly.
My "good" monitor has both vga and digital inputs. Should I try to find a card with dvi out, or is the image difference negligible?
Any card recommendations?
Thanks for all the help.
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ecarlson 2003-06-28 07:04
Yes, get DVI. You should notice a good improvement. Any NVidia based card should do fine. It doesn't have to be a 440 chipset. I'd go newer. You can use other brands too, but I like NVidia.
Also, please tell us your opinion about DVI vs analog after you try your new card.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Koert 2003-06-28 14:51
Now I'm really feeling stupid for not coming up with this sooner, but looking for a PCI card with DVI, I came up with the Gainward GeForce4 which has vga, dvi, and s-video. They say that these outputs can be used in any configuration.
So, I may as well get the AGP version, replace my current card, and just run all three monitors off the same card.
A quick look at Googlegear shows the Gainward FX PowerPack! Pro/660 TV/DVI GeForce FX 5200 AGP 8X 128MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out & DVI at about $86 (pretty close to the price of MX440 card I was looking at). There is also a GeForceTM FX 5600 card at $165. (a 5600 must be better than a 5200, right?)
Anyway, if I go with a whole new card, does the $85 card sound like a reasonable choice?
Thanks for the smarts. I'm also interested in seeing the difference between vga and digital and will report back.
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ecarlson 2003-06-29 08:45
Yes, the $86 choice sounds reasonable, but I'm pretty sure you'll only be able to use any two outputs at the same time. At least that's how my GeForce4 Ti4200 works. It can only output two simultaneous video signals, so you have to choose which two of the three you want to use at any given time.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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