Posted by Alan Shepherd on 01/08/06 18:56

>>Most dual display cards have the option in advanced features for the
>>display
>>adaptor to display full screen overlay video on the secondary display.
>
>>On Ati cards it's called Theatre Mode, nVidia have a similar option.
>
> But what about the video display that comes with the motherboard?
>
> And what about the Hauppauge TV capture card?
>
> Must you get a special video display card just to get composite out?
> What about composite in?
>
> I am trying to design on paper a DVR using a PC. It would need TV IN,
> Composite Video IN, Composite Video OUT at an absolute minimum.

To start with the motherboard video TV Out options. Very few motherboards
have TV Out options, most only have Single or twin VGA Out. And those that
support twin monitors also support the same functionality as similar
discrete VGA Cards.

A PC on paper to support DVR Look-up the designs of PC's using Windows XP
MCE and use one of those as a template. Few people say that non-Mpeg
hardware encoder cards would suit TV recording facilities. Most VGA Cards
now support good quality TV Out when the feature's available.

A nice read would be here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/10/03/building_the_ultimate_home_theater_pc/

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