Media Centre Help...

demon8991 · 6 Sep 2008 at 00:43

I have just bought myself a nice P4 1.8ghz Dell GX260 for £30 delivered off the bay and installed XP Pro with SP3 on it.

I want to use this computer as a media computer in my lounge with a wireless keyboard with touchpad. What is the best way to get a good picture on the tv with this machine as it only has onbaord graphics.

Would it be to buy a SVGA card and plug it in using the same cord you would for laptops or is there a better way?

mpj88 · 6 Sep 2008 at 00:48

is it an lcd screen with a vga input?

demon8991 · 7 Sep 2008 at 12:18

Currently its an old style sony not a LCD. But i think my parents are planning on getting a 32" Samsung screen.

mpj88 · 7 Sep 2008 at 12:46

well if they get an lcd with a computer/vga input then you can use that from the computer. If not you would most likely have to buy a video card with either an s-video, or component video output

Cupra · 7 Sep 2008 at 13:23

mpj88 said:
well if they get an lcd with a computer/vga input then you can use that from the computer. If not you would most likely have to buy a video card with either an s-video, or component video output

and even then the tv needs to have a good native res or it wont work i think

demon8991 · 8 Sep 2008 at 22:10

Of i were to get a cheap card off ebay does it matter?

I mean do you need to get an expensive one or is the picture always going to be the same?

fobose · 8 Sep 2008 at 22:13

I would get something like a geforce 6 series card, cheapest you can get.

Uhtred · 8 Sep 2008 at 23:12

Easy, get yourself an ATI AGP card with accelerated HD playback and plug in with dvi. THat's if your parents get the tv. THe graphics card with probably have s video out so you can use that until they get it...

demon8991 · 9 Sep 2008 at 09:47

The computer only has an AGP slot so what would be the very cheapest model of card that will suit my needs that performs well?

Sunbed · 9 Sep 2008 at 11:38

The new TV should have VGA input. No point using anything more. Geforce 6 series should do fine. Did the same thing at our house. CPU will be limiting factor for films etc

ElectroBlaster · 9 Sep 2008 at 17:40

Depends on how that dell is laid out but normaly all these small machines have low profile agp slots.

demon8991 · 10 Sep 2008 at 15:15

I ended up getting a ATI rage 128 32mb with monitor, vga, and s video connectors for like £3 delivered off the bay.

Uhtred · 10 Sep 2008 at 19:05

Sundance said:
The new TV should have VGA input. No point using anything more. Geforce 6 series should do fine. Did the same thing at our house. CPU will be limiting factor for films etc

Not true, i noticed a huge difference going from vga to dvi/hdmi and the accelerated playback in some ati cards is amazing for HD content. I can play HD files with 5-10% cpu usage on an old P4 HT which is less usage than my other system - new dual core cpu and 8800.