Any ATI model with this feature set?

[pjp]

1) true dual head, e.g. separate res and refresh to separate crt monitors,
dvi not required
2) composite video capture, tuner not required
3) composite tv-out as separate output that displays primary monitor,
s-video not required Note : this in addition to second head for dual
displays.

and of course decent (doesn't have to be latest and fastest) DX9 card with
64/128 megs on board.

Do they make such a beast? Asked ATI sales via email and got standard "bs"
response and no additional response since so asking here.

I have this using a Radeon 64 DDR VIVO and an Xpert98 for the dual head.
Just getting awfully tired of the screw around the two driver sets require
when upgrading etc. to get it all to work nicely.

My two other chocies are

1) dump the Radeon and go for a nVida card with video-capture and tv-out as
I know the Xpert works as second display. Benefit would be a presumably
faster, newer DX9 compatible video card.

or

2) find some old cheap pci based nVidia card and see if it works instead of
the Xpert98. Not preferred solution as they're now hard to find even second
hand with no guarantee it'll work as second display. I have been looking
locally.

Notice neither of those other choices is buy another ATI as the basic
problem is their drivers walking all over each other when installing same.

 

[Ben Pope]

1) true dual head, e.g. separate res and refresh to separate crt monitors,
dvi not required
2) composite video capture, tuner not required
3) composite tv-out as separate output that displays primary monitor,
s-video not required Note : this in addition to second head for dual
displays.

So you want tri-head as TV out requires a seperate res/refresh.

and of course decent (doesn't have to be latest and fastest) DX9 card with
64/128 megs on board.

Do they make such a beast? Asked ATI sales via email and got standard "bs"
response and no additional response since so asking here.

I have this using a Radeon 64 DDR VIVO and an Xpert98 for the dual head.
Just getting awfully tired of the screw around the two driver sets require
when upgrading etc. to get it all to work nicely.

My two other chocies are

1) dump the Radeon and go for a nVida card with video-capture and tv-out
as I know the Xpert works as second display. Benefit would be a presumably
faster, newer DX9 compatible video card.

or

2) find some old cheap pci based nVidia card and see if it works instead
of the Xpert98. Not preferred solution as they're now hard to find even
second hand with no guarantee it'll work as second display. I have been
looking locally.

Notice neither of those other choices is buy another ATI as the basic
problem is their drivers walking all over each other when installing same.

How about a seperate TV card and pretty much any half-decent Radeon?

I see no real benefit in having it all on one card, unless you're really
pushed for PCI slots. If thats the case, then I'd recomend a motherboard
with onboard stuff. I can't fault my A7N8X Deluxe, all the onboard stuff
I've tried (pretty much everything except IEEE1394) is excellent.

Ben

 

[pjp]

I wouldn't call it a tri-head. On my 7200, when tv-out is enabled it forces
the monitor to the same 60Hz, e.g. appears to be a simple tap off the same
signal. It's also only capable of displaying what's on the primary monitor
and not itself act as an extended desktop display. I suspect any replacement
would be the dual-head crt or tv type which would give me third display when
not used for tv-out but that hadn't occurred to me until just now .

I just want to duplicate the functionality I have now but rid myself of the
constant difficulty in updating drivers etc. because of ATI's "too lazy to
fully look at the feature set of all installed ATI cards" installation
routines. As it appears they do not have a card can do what I can do now
using just the one card, that leaves me an either/or situation, e.g. 1) get
nVidia card with video-capture and tv-out with bonus that the tv-out would
actually work as a third display OR 2) find a cheap nVidia based pci card,
e.g. TNT2 or so would do.

I've got a query in the nVidia newsgroup asking what models have
video-capture and tv-out as that's the way I'm leaning right now. I've been
finding it very diofficult to find an older pci based nVidia card to replace
the Xpert98 ... plus I know the Xpert98 works as second display another card
might not.

Can't see any way around it and not really happy about it as I've almost
exclusively used ATI cards since the EGA Wonder.

Someone mentioned why not consider a separate video capture card but the
problem with that is simply I don't have a free int as it is now

 

[Ben Pope]

I wouldn't call it a tri-head. On my 7200, when tv-out is enabled it
forces the monitor to the same 60Hz, e.g. appears to be a simple tap off
the same signal. It's also only capable of displaying what's on the
primary monitor and not itself act as an extended desktop display. I
suspect any replacement would be the dual-head crt or tv type which would
give me third display when not used for tv-out but that hadn't occurred
to me until just now .

Third display, but not tri-head? Regardless of what you wanna call it,
we're both talking about 3 heads (3 independant displays) two for monitors
and simultaneously, a tv out, right?

I just want to duplicate the functionality I have now but rid myself of
the constant difficulty in updating drivers etc. because of ATI's "too
lazy to fully look at the feature set of all installed ATI cards"
installation routines. As it appears they do not have a card can do what
I can do now using just the one card, that leaves me an either/or
situation, e.g. 1) get nVidia card with video-capture and tv-out with
bonus that the tv-out would actually work as a third display OR 2) find a
cheap nVidia based pci card, e.g. TNT2 or so would do.

I've got a query in the nVidia newsgroup asking what models have
video-capture and tv-out as that's the way I'm leaning right now. I've
been finding it very diofficult to find an older pci based nVidia card to
replace the Xpert98 ... plus I know the Xpert98 works as second display
another card might not.

Can't see any way around it and not really happy about it as I've almost
exclusively used ATI cards since the EGA Wonder.

Someone mentioned why not consider a separate video capture card but the
problem with that is simply I don't have a free int as it is now

What chipset you running? You should be able to share interrupts on almsot
all devices.

With ACPI it doesn't usually cause a problem. Bad drivers can cause a
problem.

Ben