[mythtv-users] Nvidia DVI vs ATI

[Simon Williams]

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 13:36:42 -0800, nate s <nate.strickland at gmail.com> wrote:
> Agreed.  In posting that, I didn't mean to be doing any
> scaremongering.  I mostly found it to be usefull information on the
> DVI spec.
> 
> I don't at all think that people should shun nvidia and buy only ati
> cards for dvi now, indeed, I think nvidia cards have better drivers,
> and thus may be a better option.  If you're planning a setup with long
> cable runs and/or high resolution, you might look for an nvidia card
> with an external dvi chip, as they seem to be better than the one in
> the gpu.
> 
> Another thing that may affect things is how good the chip in the
> display is at decoding a bad signal.
> 
> -Nate
> 

I agree that Nvidia have much better drivers than their ATI
counterparts and for linux pretty muchh the best choice you can make
is an nvidia card.

However further to my 1080i LCD arriving, I got the chance to try
DVI-D on the Nvidia 5200 w/256mb ram. ( Gainward ). For reference
purposes this card does NOT do 1080 via dvi-d. It will do it from the
VGA port but if you want a digital solution this is not the card to
get. Thats not too say that other manufacturers of this card haven't
done a better implementation which can.

The image the DVI-D connection produces ( valid modeline ) appears as
if the interlaced fields are shifted vertically out of alignment. With
one field displaying 10-15 lines higher than the other.

On my search for a card that will do 1080i via DVI-D I can across the
SIS chipset which has some excellent drivers provided by Thomas
Winishhofer ( http://www.winischhofer.at/linuxsisvga.shtml ) his
driver has in-built modelines for this purpose. Tracking down an SiS
card with DVI is however proving to be a challenge.

Simon.