my new video card [rant begin]

[meow]

dont PCs anoy you sometimes, well ok a lot of the time at least when you have to fiddle with them. its anoying enough when the components fail but i gues thats unavoidable if they last 3 years your doing well, its usualy quite cheap to get an eqv replacement by then.

I got my new graphics card, saphire radeon hd3650, i spent a bit more becuase it had AVIVO wich i assumed was video in video out, but its only video out ! argh, i might of wel got an nvidia, at least it would be nice to try non ati drivers as ati drivers dont let me fine tune the refresh rate. so i have to use 60 hz for 1600x1200

however it describes it as tv out but doesnt say anywhere what sort of conector it is, but it has a plug with 3 extra connectors, coloured red,green,blue, so i assume this component output (RGB) and is probably not usable for my tv wich just has one video input conector ?

no where does it say anything at all about that conector and ive looked everywhere.

i gues il have to get a new tv too wich i was kinda planing on soon anyway. it at least has a second dvi out, wich as it has audio on it too i think you can convert to hdmi with a converter. does anyone know how easy it would be to get it to work over 10meters away from my TV ? or would the RGB travel further ?

Actually I know the resolution limits the distance it will travel, but have no experience of trying, but I notice some TVs have a 24fps mode wich allows them to synchronixe to films wich are native 24fps, and this avoids not only the conversion from 24fps to 60hz wich reduces quality, but also considerably reduces the bandwith for a full hd resolution, does anyone know much about this ?

why cant they say very clearly what the things have, instead of all this total nonsense about how fantasticly good their megahurtz are etc etc.

plus the new drivers from ati version 8.8 spectatularly fail to include the model 3650 ! with no indication, it just says 3600 series or 3850 wich points you to v8.8 but gives nothing to tell you anything about the 3650. so after wasting loads of time downloading the up to date drivers, i had to resort to the ones on the cd.

it doesnt even list it to point you to previous version wich im not sure may or may not include the 3650, maybe its becuase its powered by ati not made by ati they being awkward.

so im so iritated that i spent extra to get a feature that is so hard to find wether it has it or not, and stupid ati drivers, and then to find i cant even play back videos, not to mention hours farting about with driver instalation.

[end of rant]

however it did install easily, and the drivers from the cd were in fact ok, and i have nice 1600x1200 again although i havnt tried to play games yet. it also looks quite good, not that itl ever be looked at, and the fan is virtualy silent while browsing, and its not using much power or generating much heat wich is good. i supose it will force me to buy a new TV, wich might not be a bad thing cos my tv is soo old, and if i upgrade to a virgin V+ box i might be able to just copy my videos to and from the box to wath in the other room.

I heard the sky+ box sdtores files in encoded format so you cant watch them without the card, does the V+ box have any such stupid restrictions?

[Mars]

Originally Posted by meow

dont PCs anoy you sometimes,

yup lol

Originally Posted by meow

I got my new graphics card, saphire radeon hd3650, i spent a bit more becuase it had AVIVO wich i assumed was video in video out, but its only video out ! argh, i might of wel got an nvidia, at least it would be nice to try non ati drivers as ati drivers dont let me fine tune the refresh rate. so i have to use 60 hz for 1600x1200

AVIVO = audio video in /video out
afaik there is a program that lets you override the refresh rate, visit the guru of 3d's site, i'm sure it's there.

Originally Posted by meow

however it describes it as tv out but doesnt say anywhere what sort of conector it is, but it has a plug with 3 extra connectors, coloured red,green,blue, so i assume this component output (RGB) and is probably not usable for my tv wich just has one video input conector ?

one is video out, one is video in, and one is audio

Originally Posted by meow

i gues il have to get a new tv too wich i was kinda planing on soon anyway. it at least has a second dvi out, wich as it has audio on it too i think you can convert to hdmi with a converter. does anyone know how easy it would be to get it to work over 10meters away from my TV ? or would the RGB travel further ?

there should be mutliple solutions in the form of adapters, and send /recieve devices that will allow you to convert/send/record etc.

Originally Posted by meow

Actually I know the resolution limits the distance it will travel, but have no experience of trying, but I notice some TVs have a 24fps mode wich allows them to synchronixe to films wich are native 24fps, and this avoids not only the conversion from 24fps to 60hz wich reduces quality, but also considerably reduces the bandwith for a full hd resolution, does anyone know much about this ?

not me :S

Originally Posted by meow

plus the new drivers from ati version 8.8 spectatularly fail to include the model 3650 ! with no indication, it just says 3600 series or 3850 wich points you to v8.8 but gives nothing to tell you anything about the 3650. so after wasting loads of time downloading the up to date drivers, i had to resort to the ones on the cd.

the 3650 is in the 3600 series.

[meow]

thanks, the converter with 3 leads all have arrows on them poimting out so i cant see that any of these can be video in, and if it has video out i cant see whats the point of this yelow converter wich gives compositre out wich i found in the box, neither converter or cable is mentioned anywheree!

the 8.8 driver has 3600 driver, but the catalyst wont instal saying there is no natching driver.

the 3600,3560,3850 all have sequential pci_dev numbers.

looking in the 8.8 drivers in the .inf file the pci_dev number for mine isnt listed. its listed in the .inf file in the driver on the cd.
it works and the drivers arent that old probably so i dont care for now.

ive tried one of these refresh rate overides with powerstrip, but it cuased problems becuase it sets the hardware up but doesnt inform direct x so it cuases realy jumpyness if you try and use frame sync.

[Mankind]

Ati Tweak Tool should let you set the resolution to anything your monitor or TV can do. I think the Catalyst Control Centre should let you do this anyway.

All I know about the 24fps mode is that it's a TV thing really and your card should have no problem doing it. And that it's mainly a videophile thing, you only notice in certain kinds of panning scenes.

DVI cables have a fair bit of bandwidth, I think 10 metres should be ok. Although you do need two of them to do 2560x1600 lol.

[meow]

Ive tried several of these tools, but none of them ive tried so far can set the best refresh rate properly
theres usualy only a choice of 60hz or 70hz for 1600x1200.
my monitor can do 66hz, wich is fine, 60hz sucks. its also an old crt display so has no plug and play thingy to tell the pc what monitor it is, but ive instaled the right monitor driver. (viewsonic 21)

[LippoW]

Try 1280x1024? That's resolution I used when I had Nokia 21" crt and that was fine @85Hz.
Or cough up some cash for a 20-24" flat panel (wide). Once you try widescreen you don't wanna go back.
And wih energy efficcient flat screen you'll save with your electrical bill as well. Just don't take plasma, go with TFT aka LCD.

Here's 20"-23" from Pixmania, you'll need to add delivery and prepare to wait for about 2 weeks for the delivery to arrive. I bought my widescreen from there, only the delivery time sucked. £109+delivery for 22" wide screen is a real bargain IMO. And if you order from Pixmania you need to cancel the fair trade fee or some sort which is like an insurance and adds 8-10% as a payment. It has a popup screen link and you need to scroll that down to be able to cancel it. Dodgy frenchies!
Pixmania 20"-23" flat screens.

[meow]

thanks, but the last thing I want is a widescreen monitor, and I dont realy want 1280x1024.
at least not for desktop, its fine for games or watching movies in full screen.
the screen you mention isnt wider than mine its just shorter !
I just want the software to do its job properly, ie use a refresh rate that isnt crippled by stupidly written software.
my monitors max horizontal refresh is 83khz which is fine if there was a way of geting it to use it all the time, that value is even in the monitor driver file.

[LippoW]

What kind of CRT you got then? 26"?

[meow]

oh i only looked at the first page, the resolution of HD displays is about 1080,
my monitor is 1200, but what I mean is I dont like the wide format as I have limited horizontal width on my desk lol.

my monitor is viewsonic 21" its old and ive had to replace one of the crt drivers, but its also still very good, I need to upgrade my TV.

wide screen is purly an old kludge to get round the fact that they couldnt make the old film any bigger vertically, becuase of the speed it would have to go through the camera. so they made it wider and wider.
its good for panaramas though, but not for working on what I do my desktop.

ps i was trying to work out what size widescreen id need to have the same height as my 21", but its still morning.
pps it would be nice to have a slim panel type though, my monitor takes up so depth.

[LippoW]

Originally Posted by meow

wall of text

Mate, just go and see in some shop how the big wide screen looks like. I had a 19" flat (1280x1024 aka 4:3) and I was bored to it, so I was aiming for a 22" or 24". That said, I was looking for a 24" bargain, but it appeared that no reseller was able to sell it ie. it was sold out.

I was looking for some other 'el cheapo' 24"ers, but then I found pixmania selling this 26" Samsung with almost everything but speakers. I wasn't looking for speakers in a screen so I decided to buy it.

Now I have this H-U-G-E 26 inch screen with 1920x1200 and I was wordless when I looked at it for the first time. I can have my browser on the left and still have space for messenger/winamp/whatever windows on the right side, and I mean my desktop is like "no words" for it.

This screen has DVI, VGA and HDMI inputs, optical (S/PDIF) and stereo audio (3.5mm plug) outputs, USB hub so I can double one of my USB ports.

Next thing I'll need is digi-box with a HDMI out so I can use this screen as my telly and computer screen.

[meow]

i just want my video card to do 66hz im not interested in spending big money on a monitor.

[Mars]

why would you want such a low refresh on a crt? can't be any good for ur eyes ><

[meow]

i want a higher one not a lower one, curently it is at 60hz, 66hz is a lot beter than 60.
recomended minimum is 70hz, but my monitor wont quite do that at 1600x1200.
66hz looks ok to me.