Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and PC

Recommend a graphics card for my new TV

muckster — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:59:50 -0800

Do I need a new video card to hook my PC up to my new HDTV? I have a Dell PC with a ATI Radeon HD 2400 graphics card. It has two connections, one DVI and one S-Video.

I used to convert the DVI to RGB and connect that to my Dell monitor at the max resolution of 1680 x 1050. The S-Video was connected to my tube TV, which worked just fine.

The new TV is a Toshiba 40" 1080p, so of course I'd like to feed it something better than S-Video. I tried connecting the RGB, which gives me a max resolution of 1360x768 -- but it leaves me with S-Video for the monitor, which is pretty freakin' ugly.

Here's the question: is there a way I can use a splitter or similar to feed the DVI (or RGB) into both the monitor and the TV at a resolution both will be happy with? Or do I have to get a new HDMI-ready graphics card? If I do, can you recommend one that might last me little while without breaking the bank? Under $100 would be great. I play the occasional game of TF2 but media is going to be the main use. Blu-Ray might be nice one day. I don't need to expand to a second monitor and would be just as happy cloning the same image on both screens. Thanks much.

Which video game classics did I miss the last three years?

wolfr — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:05:31 -0800

I intend to make this weekend a gaming weekend. I haven't played video games in a long time. At least not as seriously as I used to. Do you have any suggestions? I have a brand new iMac and an Xbox 360. I do not have a copy of Windows on my Mac yet but could theoretically use Boot Camp to install Windows XP on a partition of the hard drive. So don't feel limited to Mac only games svp.

In the past my favorite games have been Baldurs Gate II, Arcanum, Battlefield 1942, Deus Ex and Tony Hawk II.

I was addicted to World of a Warcraft for a while. I like stories and character progression. I like games with original themes (e.g. Psychonauts).

It seems like the only games I've played the last year or two years have been: Grand Theft Auto IV, Bioshock, Fallout 3, Skate, Soul Calibur IV. All on the Xbox. All of them very casually, although I did end up finishing all except Bioshock (which was good, but not relaxing, with all the dark rooms and scary things).

I am downloading the free 2 week trial of Eve Online right now, but I'd rather not get crazy about an MMORPG anymore. While my time in the World of Warcraft was wonderful, the whole game remains a slot machine with a nice interface.

No racing and sports please with the exception of snowboard/skateboard.

Who has suggestions for me?

Wirelessly broadcast PC screen to multiple TVs?

neksys — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:25:46 -0800

The easiest way to do this is to tell you what I need: I want someone to be able to work on a laptop and be able to broadcast the video information on the screen wirelessly to more than 1 TV. My question is - how? Basically what I'm hoping to set up is a laptop/tablet PC with images that a person could manipulate. I want those manipulations to show up on a number of televisions. I do not need audio.

Its easy enough to do wired - there is an S-Video or HDMI out on plenty of laptops these days, so its no problem to split and run cables across a room to each television.

I need, though, a wireless solution. I have googled and found a number of these kinds of solutions but the quality appears questionable on some. The big thing is expandability - I want to broadcast the video signal to a handful of displays. Ideally the solution would be one broadcasting unit and the ability to purchase individual receivers.

Anyone have any experience with this that could give me any guidance? I should mention I'm in Canada - some devices that are available in the US or overseas are not approved for use here.

Using PC Monitor for Console Games?

flatluigi — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:45:39 -0800

How can I play console games through my computer monitor? I have a shabby old television that I use to play my Wii on. It occurred to me the other day that I have a much better monitor that I use for PC gaming and it would be pretty nice if I could set it up to play on that.

What do I need to get to do that? I'm aware of some hardware I can buy to play through my PC for recording purposes (such as a GameBridge), but that's unnecessary for what I need and I'd like to know of cheaper alternatives.

Alternatives to FlipShare for Managing Video on a PC

muckster — Tue, 05 May 2009 11:04:00 -0800

Can you recommend software for managing Flip videos on a PC? I recently got a Flip MinoHD, but a) the built-in software refuses to work on my system and b) it's a little too simple, anyway.

I'm looking for something that will let me import, file, play, and tag the clips from the camera. Picasa 3 looked promising, but somehow, playback of the H.264 files stutters (according to the forums, this is a widespread problem.) Tagging is important to me, so FlipShare wouldn't do even if it worked.

Is there anything similar to Picasa or Lightroom for short movies that will work with the H.264 files produced by the MinoHD? Thanks much.

Enough PC Power?

Frasermoo — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:12:20 -0800

Will I be able to run modern games on my PC? I have been given a P4 3.2GHz with Radeon 8000 graphics card, XP, 2Gb RAM. I have no idea what I can get away with playing and obviously I don't want to drop coin on games that won't run. I'm particularly interested in Fallout 3 and Crysis for starters whihc I know are right at the forefront of modern PC games.

It's mainly the graphics card that I have no clue about.

Am I whistling Dixie?

Replace my ReplayTV with a PC Card

prodevel — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:17:40 -0800

I would like to buy a card/box to connect post-cable-box (like tivo) to connect to my computer and record whatever is playing on channel 3? I currently have a ReplayTV which is able to record from channel 3. I pay 13/mo for this and need to replace it with my computer's new 1 TB HD, etc. I have the means to download tv schedules myself as well as change the channel on my Comcast set-top box to coincide with my programming I want to record. What I don't have the means to do is to record from the cable box to my computer (w/out DVArchive.)

I have a Radeon 3850 card with a DVI-HDMI adapter so I can watch stuff on my 42" LCDTV.

I'm having trouble picking out which card or external box can read every channel I pay for and have my computer capture it.

I'd rather not use MCE as I'm on XP and would prefer GBPVR or some such.

I've a simple Motorola cable box sans cable-card.

Thanks in advance.

New to video editing, need hardware/software advice

lattiboy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:23:32 -0800

I just purchased a Canon HV20 and am clueless as to the software I should use and the hardware requirements I'm looking at. I've been shooting with dSLRs for about a two years now, but I decided I'd like to experiment with video. I bought a Canon HV20 and am looking to get some suggestions for video-editing software for the PC. I'm not averse to something slightly less "user friendly" if it lets me get better control over the footage. I'm quite interested in color correction and pulldown.

As for hardware:

My current box is custom built with an AMD 5400+ X2 (running at 3 Gigs), 2 Gigs of RAM (will probably go up to 4), a Hitachi 1TB HD with a WD 250GB scratch disk, and a 24" Samsung monitor running XP Pro 32-bit.

This current setup handles my 40MB A900 RAW files pretty well, but I know HDV is a whole other animal.

SLI VS CROSSFIRE VS MY BRAIN

Bageena — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:00:25 -0800

Question: where can I find a valid coupon/discount code for a Dell XPS 730x. I've heard there's some out there for 20-25% off, but I can't seem to find anything online that's working. Failing that, how much of a difference is it really if I just build a really sweet XPS 630? The system I want, the 730X, has an Intel® Core™ i7-920 (2.66GHz, 8MB cache), 3GB3 Tri-Channel DDR3 at 1066MHZ (3x1GB DIMM), and a pair of nVidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB3 setup SLI along. If I can't find a coupon to get the price lower, I'm looking at building (XPS 630) would have a Intel® Core™2 Q9550 (12MB,2.83GHz, 1333FSB), 8GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz (4 DIMM), SLi Dual nVidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB... the difference without a coupon is nearly $1000. It's been a lonnnnnnnnnnng, long time since I've built a PC or even scoped out the specs on the newest processors, video cards, shit, rigs at all. Like, for instance, instead of getting the SLi, Dual nVidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB on the XPS 630, should I spend the extra $100 and get CrossFireX, Dual ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB instead?
For the record, I don't do a whole lot of gaming YET on the PC, but I could. I do use it for a lot of multimedia (like 3 to 4 TB of movies and music and stuff) and graphic design. I spent a lot of time on the computer and it'll be awhile before I get to buy a new PC again. Help?

Video editing for a ten year old?

lee — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:46:50 -0800

What's a simple to use, inexpensive or free video editing software (PC/Win XP) for a ten year old? He makes these movies, that I love, mostly by himself and is very frustrated that he can't edit them. He uses a Canon powershot digital camera that records AVI files 320 X 240. I know, he should really get a mac, til then what could he use? He has tried Windows Movie Maker and his ten year old self was not impressed. Thanks

N64 controllers for emulators

scission — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:23:18 -0800

What's the best way to play N64 on your laptop? (Controllers question) I'm trying to buy my boyfriend two (or more) controllers for playing N64 emulators on his laptop. I believe he's running Mupen 64 Plus on Ubuntu, although he has a Windows partition that he could use if it's the best solution.

What's the best controller to get for N64 gaming, and how can I find out if it will work on his computer? He's definitely savvy enough to download drivers, etc. on his own, but I'd prefer something as simple as possible, since it's a gift!

I don't know anything about emulator peripherals, and I've only used Ubuntu for a couple months, so I feel way over my head in trying to sort through a lot of the forum results when I google this. Thanks in advance for your help! I've searched the archives, and it looked like it's fine if I ask about emulators and interoperability as long as I don't want anyone to help me find ROMs. Hope this question is okay.

How to fix a computer with a blank screen?

banished — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:14:27 -0800

I have an HP Pavilion a1200y desktop. When you turn it on the monitor is blank, how can I fix this? All the fans are blowing and the machine seems to be working, I just get no picture. It's not the hard drive because I took that out and put it in a different machine to test it. It isn't the monitor because I tested that with a different machine too.

If it is a problem with the integrated video, can I just buy a cheap video card? What's the cheapest video card I can buy that is compatible with the HP Pavilion a1200y?

I wish I could run my BIOS in a debugger.

mindsound — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:24:01 -0800

Help me guess which part of my homebrew PC is causing my POST video failure. I built this box six months ago. Its stability has been flawless. Now, suddenly, my POST keeps doing a <long>beep</long> <short>beep beep</short> which for my BIOS is a video failure. It then boots sans video. If I unplug the power and fool around for 15 minutes or so (that's as precise as I can be after a couple evenings of despair) it will boot with video again.

This is my parts list; here it is on Newegg with moar linkies if you have a login there. The proc is a 45W Athlon X2 and I dual-boot XP and Ubuntu. There are a few vaguely related prior questions but I couldn't find any love for my particular crisis. I'm having the same POST error as phrontist here, but he had a notebook.

Is it the:

Video card? It's a fanless NVIDIA 8500, which is allegedly somewhat fail-y due to the passive cooling. However, the system has never had any instability or lockups in six months and when it boots again after fiddling it's rock solid.

Motherboard? The fact that the system is stable once it boots makes me wonder if maybe the BIOS is somehow flaky.

PSU? It only boots now after the system has been unplugged for a while...

I talk big but I am fairly ignorant about hardware and haven't built a system since like 2001. All of the above is (I think) returnable but the software developer in me wants to know what is going on. What do you think is wrong? What would you do in my shoes?

How do I record live video directly from DV to PC?

russ9595 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:14:44 -0800

I'd like to record live video directly from my FireWire DV camera using Windows XP. Is this possible? I can transfer already recorded video stored on the FireWire DV camera's tape, but with the live video I just get a black screen.

I know this is possible with Windows Vista, but can't find a Windows XP solution.

Pinnacle Video Card and Old Pc - Can they work together?

watercarrier — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:34:01 -0800

I'd like to get some Hi-8 videos into to my PC via a Sony Handycam using a video S cable through a Pinnacle DC10 plus card. The software I have for it is V 1.05. This is a really old 98 version. I don't mind using an old version for the driver - the only thing is to get it to work with Windows XP pro. My PC is a HP Pavillion 6740c which also might require a patch (it did for 98SE). Where can I find the right driver either pinnacle or a generic, that will get those hi8's into my machine for small clip renderings?

I'm looking for help compiling a top 20 "must play" list of essential videogames.

monkeyagent — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:10:31 -0800

I'm looking for help compiling a top 20 "must play" list of essential videogames. I have a friend (female, if it matters) who wants to actively get into gaming (has no previous experience with the medium short of the original Sonic/Mario games and Guitar Hero) and has asked me to pick out some games that would "catch them up", so to speak. The idea around the games on the list is that they will be representative of their particular genre and will be indispensable experiences for any self-respecting gaming nerd. I'm asking for help on this because my list, I think, has a bit too much bias (lots of Blizzard, Nintendo, and indie games) for such a concise list.

The games on the list can include anything from early consoles, to PCs, to portable, to even flash and everything in between (Although I would like to avoid pinball/arcade cabinets, unless you feel they are extremely necessary). Please list the platform along with the software. Offer as many suggestions as you like, but please consider them carefully.

TV Tuner Card

Aanidaani — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:27:14 -0800

I'm interested in buying a TV Tuner Card for my PC, but I don't know where to find good reviews. Does anyone have any recommendations for a cheap, decent-quality card that preferably comes with a remote? I'd like to buy a card that I can use to watch and record shows on my PC, with an S-Video input if possible. HD support would be a nice plus, but it's not necessary. A PCIExp-format card would also be desirable. Thanks!

How is desktop formed?

Naberius — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 16:49:59 -0800

How is desktop formed? How do icons get on scraen? But seriously, folks. I've got an older PC that I've been stripping down, trying to reduce its heat and noise levels. I'm removing anything I don't need to perform a couple specialized applications.

So. In a normal PC setup, the desktop data (names and locations of icons, color settings, all that) is generated by the processor itself and output to the video card, which generates a VGA signal and sends it to the monitor and I see the visual representation of the logical desktop. Right so far?

The machine in question isn't hooked up to a monitor right now. It's connected to my network via wi-fi, and when I want to talk to it I do so via VNC from my laptop. I get a window and in that window is what looks just like the desktop I used to get on a monitor via a video card.

So here's my question. Under that scenario, is the video card actually doing anything? What I'm ultimately asking is, if this is the only way I plan to interact with that machine from now on, can I just pull the video card completely and run without one? Or will there be no desktop without it? Will it freak out Windows in some way, or cause other unforeseen problems? (Sorry if this is a really dumb question but I've never come across this idea before.)

Once I've Already Shot the Video, Can I Crop the Bottom Half of it and/or Zoom in On My Subject?

thewhynotgirl — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:26:57 -0800

How can I a) crop off the whole bottom half of a video, b) zoom in on my subject after I've already made the video, or c) hide the face of someone in the video? While I'm asking, how about taking a video made on a Canon (designed for stills, so their video actual size is small, which means it pixilates horribly when you put it on youtube) and making it stay actual size when placed on the web? I'm on a windows notebook and hoping any of this is even possible. Thanks! What's happened is that I've found myself in a position where I will be videoing and publishing daily, and I am no expert on video. That's fine, because I can learn.

But in the meantime, I will be starting with videos that are already made, and I need to get them good enough to publish. In some of the cases, I need to hide the identity of people or locations in the already-made videos (nothing nefarious, just don't have permission for the already made ones for the people/places), and in the canon stuff, just need to make them look decent. I'm sure my ignorance shows here, but I pick up quickly once I know what to do!

I cannot switch to mac or final cut pro at this time cuz those funds aren't in the budget for this not-for-profit thing, but any pointers on windows software/techiniques/common sense would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Real-time video manipulaton [mac]

srboisvert — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:48:30 -0800

Anybody have experience doing manipulation of video in near real-time? Advice and general guidance needed. Roughly, recording video and displaying it at the same time and messing with it so things can be seamlessly slowed down and then sped up. The timings would need to be controlled programatically.

New PC games run slowly on large LCD monitors?

stuehler — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:29:41 -0800

I just bought a pretty high-end Dell PC with a large LCD monitor. It's got dual Core2 CPUs @ 2.66GHz, 4 GB of RAM, and a decent graphics card. The monitor is a widescreen 27" Dell Ultrasharp. So far, I like the PC. But I was disappointed to find that the first PC game I tried (BioShock) runs TERRIBLY. The game does run pretty well on my slightly older PC, which only has a 19" monitor. So, I think the large, widescreen monitor is the problem. Is that correct? Are there tricks to running the latest games on a large LCD monitor? Many thanks in advance for any advice and insight.

Pixel Shader-lovin' video card?

OlderThanTOS — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:43:14 -0800

What is the cheapest PC video card available that supports Pixel Shader. I (well, my son) has a single PC video game, Star Wars Lego, which requires a "Pixel Shader support" capable graphics card. None of his others games require this, not even Star Wars Lego II. The cheapest one I've found is $149.00 (a Radeon 9500). This is way too much for a card to play a game we got for $2 at a rummage sale. Any suggestions for reasonable (less than $50) alternatives. It's going in a three year old PC, running Windows XP-SP2, so it doesn't need to be state of the art. Just affordable.

Homemade DVD server- Whats the best/easiest/cheapest way?

weiler63 — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:21:47 -0800

Homemade DVD server- Whats the best/easiest/cheapest way? I wanted to take my 200+ DVD collection and store it on something that could serve it up to my Infocus IN72 projector.

I was thinking DVD Shrink( ~3GB .vob each movie)--->External Hard Drive--->Mac Mini with DVI out. I'm a Windows guy, but I want to be able to integrate the IR codes to my universal.

I want something with ease of use (no Linux), Future expandability and as cheap as possible. Being able to network it is a plus, but not required.

Any Tips?

Thanks,

Weiler63

Windows Media Center Green Screen

Blue Buddha — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:20:02 -0800

TV tuner card and Windows Media Center problem with audio only and green screen instead of video. Why? So I installed my HDTV ATSC/NTSC PCI Tuner Card (from Geniatech), and plugged the coax to the card. I receive all the channels, but can only listen to them. The Windows Media Center screen is green.

I'm using Windows Vista and my graphics card is XFX NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 512 MB PCI-E. I doubt it's a performance issue as my PC is running with 2.8 Ghz dual core and 3 GB ram.

Coax cable plugged into the TV works fine, I get my regular cable channels. But no video plugged into the tuner card. Has anyone run into this issue?

Help me hook up my basement

TuxHeDoh — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 11:16:19 -0800

I'm in the market for a low-end (under $2k) HD flat panel tv, I'm thinking plasma, but could be persuaded otherwise. DirecTV, MediaPC and I've got some questions though, I've got DirecTV, do I need a separate HD Receiver for DirecTV to work with the new tv? What is needed to hook up a pc to these tv's? Will I be able to record HD content and playback from a PC? Are there other reasons to hook up a pc to the tv? I've seen HDMI bandied around, but I'm not sure if that's what I need, do I need a special video card, or just one that does DVI? 1080i or 1080p? Does anyone have any good links to beginners setups/configs?

I've got some time and would like to make an educated decision.