14 Dec
2006
14 Dec
'06
3:32 a.m.
Tore Sinding Bekkedal wrote:
I seem to recall hooking a Matrox board up to a TV in the past (as part of a
homebrew music library system), so it'll definitely do TV rates OK. As others
have said, the usable resolution isn't anything wonderful, though.
Timing isn't the issue - most modern cards have a
programmable dot-clock
- the problem is generating the sync signals. Some cards have the
ability to generate SOG or composite, it just seems that mine probably
don't (or the driver doesn't implement it)
I believe that the older Matrox PCI boards (e.g. the Millennium) will do SOG -
they were the preferred choice when it came to driving big SOG-only
workstation monitors from a PC.
Of course, you
won't get a valid display until the OS comes up and sets
the video mode. I believe there's a tool to flash the video BIOS so it'll
power up in the desired mode, but then you won't be able to use a
VGA monitor with that card any more, unless you flash it back.
This isn't a problem - what I'd be using it for would be either a
secondary head for video playback, in which case the card wouldn't "wake
up" until I started X, or as a monitor on my MythTV box - which is alway
s running X anyway.