g400 vanilla upgrade or not?????????

[violentg]

well i need some opinions on a problem i am having i bought the g400 when it first came out.never having purchased any matrox products before i was a little hesitant but after researching i decided on it.due to the driver debates at that time i decided not to invest in the $300 max dual head.after reading a preview at sharky's it was stated that their would be a tv out daughter card avaliable later this however has not been the case and thats where my problem starts i need a tv out for dvd playback ect.i have been waiting for any word on the new matrox card(ive had mine for some time) since i have grown very fond of it.i would buy whatever they release in all probablity.so i need some opinions on the following

1 when will the new matrox cards be released?based on past marketing scemes ect(guess is fine)
2 my card overclocks to max speeds what speeds do most maxx's attain could i gain performance by just getting a g400 maxx dual head?
3 what are some of the other options avaliable for tv out that would meet dvd playback needs(mpeg decoder ect.specific cards please)

i am debateing on getting a new current generation card with tv out(savage 2000 geforce,or ati rage fury maxx)but i feel like the matrox will step to the plate with
their new card(hell im most benchamrks and not using turbo gl the maxx is within a few frames of these cards most of the time)and i would like to hold out for it.

any constructive opinions would be helpful thanks

[violentg]

god please slow down with the responses i am having a hard time wading through them all.they are all over me get them offff....................

[Joel]

You can find on the net the G400 MAX 32MB DH card for as little as $205.00. If you still don't want to pay that much then get a regular G400 32MB DH card and overclock it to MAX speeds. That is what I have on an AMD K6-2/500 and I am very pleased with it's performance. The DVD performance is great also.

As for the next cards from Matrox, if the rumors hold true then in will probably be late spring/early summer before we see any new cards.

And the reason that responses are kind of slow today could be due to the fact that it is New Year's Eve and alot of ppl are out partying it up at this time. I myself am just trying to recover from a bad bout with the flu.

Joel

[violentg]

thanks for the response joel

i am thinking hard on a max i have a regular
g400 sh and i am very happy with its performance.

how does the dvd look when output to tv is used?

it is early here where im at but the celebrations will start shortly.
happy new year everyone

[Underdog]

Well for what its worth I took out my G400 max and put in a Anhilator and ended up taking the Anhilator back to Best Buy and put my G400 Max back in my system. Happy New Year !!!!!!!!

[JWilliams]

violentG... I just got a DVD drive for Christmas .Pioneer 104 :-) and was a little
aprehensive about DVD out to the TV. It is Great! Just using the Matrox DVD player and a patch (somewhere on these forums..dvdpl32.dll cinemaster patch, I think)and couldn't be happier. A bud's kids lent me the Mummy and Star trek, Insurrection, and the both played without a hitch. As for DH, we like to play Q3A on DH clone, with the sound out to the stereo.. That way the crowd gets a good dose, too!

[violentg]

thanks guys

[Thundrchez]

The Matrox softdvd player that comes with the G400s has a copy protection to prevent you from recording a DVD with your VCR. That sucks. However, my dvd drive came with a Zoran softdvd player which works with the DVDMax of the G400, but without the copy protection.

All of the other cards with "TV out" suck big time. They try to map VGA on top of NTSC, and it is hideously butt ugly, and the flicker will give you a headache. Also, because they are not dual heads, you cannot use your monitor simultaneously.

Matrox G400 dual head is great with DVDMax. Every other brand sucks. Stick with Matrox.

[birdy]

I'd stick with the std g400 and buy a dvd hardware card. The realmagic hollywood+ is the best one, doesn't matter what brand as they all use the same drivers (apart from the creative cards). I have a generic card and the dvd playback is as good if not better than my g400dh. The good thing about the hardware cards is they leave the pc alone to do other things. They also allow dolby digital out. People say that the pass thru cable which comes with the cards to allow you to watch dvd on the monitor degrades the monitor picture, they're right, i get round this by not using that at all. If i want to watch dvd on my monitor i use the dvd player that came with the g400, the dvd card is plugged only into my tv. The other good thing about the cards is of course the availability of a remote control so it's like having a proper home dvd player. You can also remove the macromedia prtection so you are able to run the films via the video (you must not copy the dvds you rented from blockbuster oh no thats naughty) I also like not having to remove the speaker cable from the back of my SBLIVE to attach the link to the hifi/tv everytime i play a dvd.

The difference between a max and a std g400 is very small really. Who can really tell quake at 50fps to quake at 55? I have run quake at 1600*1200 and the motion is smooth and easily playable. So stick with waht you got and add a hardware card, better that than to get a max and end up having to bend brackets n things cos it keeps crashing unless it's set at 1*AGP.

For $205 you could probably get a hardware card and another stick of RAM should you require it.

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p3 450@600. bx6 ver 2. 128mb unbranded pc100. iwill 2930u scsi, diamond pro pci modem, advansys 1505 isa scsi, SB Live!, pioneer dvd103s, hollywood plus dvd card, plextor 40x cd rom, ricoh 1420 cdr, ibm 13.5gb @ 7200rpm, G400 @ max settings. All wrapped up in a big case with loads of fans. Belinea 10 30 40 17" monitor

[violentg]

thanks that exactly what i wanted to know so with the magic can i utilize a 5.1 setup for sound (4 satalites and a subwoofer)?

[Psychaos]

Just a quick note on audio. If you want to have your main channel sound go to both speakers and a stereo amp go to the local electronics store and for $3 you can buy a Y splitter. I did that on my SB Live and have stereo sound both on my computer speakers and amp.

[Psychaos]

Just a quick note on audio. If you want to have your main channel sound go to both speakers and a stereo amp go to the local electronics store and for $3 you can buy a Y splitter. I did that on my SB Live and have stereo sound both on my computer speakers and amp.