Stand Alone NTSC Out Options?

[bradl]

We have installed our stand alone Aura (that has been sitting on the shelf for about a year) on a workstation. It does not have a Toaster card or any card. This machine is not very fast and is older (P3 996). We will just do small stuff on it when the big Xeon system is tied up. I would like some suggestions for an inexpensive solution for viewing NTSC output as we work.

Newtek lists the following for NTSC support:
Newtek VideoToaster NT support, Matrox DiGiSuite support (LE & DTV), DPS Reality support (plus PAR, PVR and HollyWood)

Other than buying any of these cards is there another solution, like maybe firewire... if not which of these cards do any of you recommend for a tight budget...

Thanks,

[Danner]

Firewire is a cheap way to get video out of your computer.. but you have to have a DV deck or camera to catch it. Firewire does not output video directly, just digital data that those decks and cameras can read.

You might be able to get a cheap used PVR (perception) from someone who has upgraded to a toaster or similar system.

[vip3dran]

One method that would is a dual output display card. For Example, I have a Matrox G450 dual on my home computer and there is an option to output ntsc with a supplied adapter cable, either composite or s-video. Dual output GEforce display cards allow the same thing. An inexpensive but workable solution!

[bradl]

Does the Matrox show the entire screen (menus and all) or can you set it to only show the internal video buffer somehow?

Also, does anyone know of an internal or external DV (via firewire) to NTSC converter other than a camera or deck?

Update: Quick search shows many available, just curious if someone has had good luck with a particular one?

[vip3dran]

The Matrox card will work either way.

Straight TV output will display whatever your desktop looks like. There is a setting called DVDmax that will display full screen any video that is playing, with no matter to how you are displaying it (IE Media Player, Quicktime, etc) or how big the window is . . .

[bradl]

We tried the DV monitoring, bad idea...

Video had fielding issues with lines being slightly out of place and the video playback was choppy in general. The DV device we used (PYRO A/V Link) is capable of very smooth output with other software. I think the DV dll's for Aura preview are the problem but I have been wrong before...

Still looking for a smooth video monitoring solution under $500...

I will check into the Matrox card but prefer video out as we work and view the proxy playback...

Brad