Graphics card/dual monitor help, please

[jv3x3]

Alright i have done a couple hours of research/looking and havent really been able to answer my questions. So here it is, i custom built my computer almost exactley a year ago (first one, good experience). P4 3.0ht, 1 gig 3200 ram, 1 200 gig wd 8mb hard-drive, 1 100 gig same. Well i just got a new dell 17inch tv/lcd (http://www1.us.dell.com/conten...19&l=en&s=dhs). I want to add a video card to enable dual monitor support (im using on board video now, dont know if you guys will be thrilled about that one, lol). I will be either using my 19" trintron monitor, or 17" lcd as the main and the new 17" widescrean lcd tv as the secondary. I dont really play games, but i would like something that is capable of doing some video/auido editing. Anyway, enough background. specific stuff now.

Im looking at the ATI Radeon AIW 9600xt. I was wondering if this will handle dual monitor support fine (one standard, one widescrean)? And if the tivo like capabilities will work good with my cable line and i will be able to play back on the secondary monitor easy? The reason i ask is because in the cnet review i read of this card it said the tivo wouldnt work with your cable box. Only im not running it from a cable box, just from the outside line spliced. And finaly does anyone have any thoughts on this card period?

If i cant get the tivo stuff to work (main reason i would go with this card), does anyone have any recommendations (cost is big for me, unfortunately) for a card that can handle my dual monitor support well?

Thanks a ton for all your guys help. Everyone i talked to says the people on these forums know their ****

 

[madthumbs]

It should handle the dual monitor support fine. I have a 9500 that handles a widescreen tv as secondary monitor through the dvi output, but using PowerStrip for the custom resolution. I "think" the issue with tivo is that if you need a box to tune some channels in, they probably won't be tuneable with your card.

 

[Uncle Bob]

can't comment on the cable tv side of things (but I suspect more cash would be required in any case)

but as far as I know you can run two monitors of most cards these days, Radeon and Geforce, and you can have a one big desktop spread across two screens, you can have the same display on both screens or two independent desktops

you could consider a budget video card (if you're not playing games then paying big money is not needed) and then consider what specialist tuner cards are available that will give you what you need regarding the cable tv stuff

hth

 

[jv3x3]

Madthumbs and bob thanks for the help....

But it still doesnt seem anyone knows for sure on the tivo like function. Anyone??? If not im probably just going to go with a cheap card that can do dual monitors (one dvi). Anyone got any recomnendations?

 

[Uncle Bob]

this works fine as a dual head card for video editing
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=14-121-149&depa=1

as far as a tivo-like function, have a read through this article on anandtech, might give you some ideas
http://www.anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2190