Needing advice on graphics card

Hi all, I am new to this forum. I have read quite a lot and have been impressed, however I don't believe I have stumbled across the answer to my following situation and I am hoping some experienced people out there may be able to guide me in the right direction.

HDTV is a Panasonic 50 plasma with TY-42TM4Y terminal board. It accepts composite, S-video and RGB. The Panasonic needs the remote or front facia control to alternate inputs "Composite", "S-Video", "PC" 1024x768 in 4x3 mode (rgb)", so I wish to do this scenario through S-Video if possible.

Computer Monitor is a Philips 170B LCD flatscreen. It accepts DVI and RGB.

My statelite system is a Pace provide by SKY (I live in NZ) Digital. It has composite (scart outlets) and an S-Video output.

My AV Reciever is an Onkyo 702. The DVD, SVCR, Cassette tape, SKY Digital, my computer and camera etc all go into this and it is able to route the audio and S-Video to the Panasonic 50 and/or to each of the AV outputs (recording/play from different sources).

Hope the above makes sense. Apart from hard drive audio, my purpose is to record satelite programs to the hard drive of my computer and replay from the hard drive, internal DVD etc to the AV Reciever and thus displayed on the HDTV. I have played with this idea using my laptop, recording is fine, replay is not so good.

The problem is I, am now building a multimedia computer, optical audio out, multiple hard drives etc. I have purchased an Asus A8N-SLi mother board but I am not familiar with the PCIe bus graphic cards that are available.

I need a very good quality card that will output S-Video at 1366x768 or similar to get full screen on the plasma and to provide good video capture (recording from satelite TV). I also wish to drive my 1280x1025 Philips monitor as well and at the same time in either DVI or RGB. With the SLi I can run two cards, or so I am told if that is any help.

Any suggestions?

I'm not clear on what TV & electrical standards you're using... PAL? 220v/50 Hz?

You can NOT output HD over SVideo... SVideo is limited to 480i/30 (NTSC) 525i/25 (PAL)... So is Composite... only RGB can pass HDTV resolutions.

Your plasma also has HDMI/DVI and Component for HD connections... several cards can use these interfaces to your HDTV...

While you want to supply a 1366 x 768 signal for ideal 1:1 pixelmapping, your display will show a standard 1280 x 720 signal full screen. Make sure your refresh is limited to 60 Hz.

Thanks RSawdey,
I get the idea. My mistake also, replace the word composite in my original message with Component in respect to the Panasonic's input. This particular driver card does not have DVI, though I could upgrade if that needs be). The NZ standards are 230v 50Hz PAL-B (the Onkyo does not care what you give it, and the Panasonic seems to be able to resolve almost anything automatically).

If I understand you correctly, am I wasting my time using the computer "graphics card" to drive the Onkyo in S-Video mode? Please excuse me, I have a good grasp of what I am trying to do but I am not all that familiar with some of the terminology/technology.

So if this is correct, I am stuck with recording in S-Video as that is the only option I have from the SKY satellite decoder and the Onkyo. I can handle that as I can currently configure that to achieve what I want for the moment. The quality is supprisingly good.

My preferred option for replay from the graphics card would then be component. In this way I can put the computer into the Onkyo which is along the lines of what I am trying to achieve.

I still need to drive my Philips LCD at 1280x1024 (no other option works) and at the same time either with the same card or with another card (in dual view or extended mode?). The PCIe graphics system is one I do not fully understand yet.

My last resort would be to drive the panasonic direct via RGB. I would prefer not to do this as it counters my overall purpose.

Does any of this information help? I am a sponge for knowledge at the moment so feel free to suggest any alternative. My goal is clear, the components I use are yet to be selected.

Either RGB or Component will work as well, assuming you've got a graphics card with that output... but SVideo just doesn't have the capability... it can't even carry progressive 480p.

SVideo is fine for your recording, since your SKY is only SDTV anyway.

Ok, this I now understand. So what I need is some advice on a PCIe graphics card (or any combinations of adaptors etc) that will output component to the Onkyo and input s-video for video capture

AND...OR

another card that will drive the Philips LCD at 1280x1024

I have spent an absolute fortune on this system so far (and I am pleased I did) so the cost of the card(s) is not a concern compared to the rest of the system. Quality and performance (I do play PC games now and then) are my main objectives.

Any advisors?

Several NVidia 6600 & 6800, even 7000 series cards have HD Component out, plus something else like DVI... companies like BFG or eVGA...

So, it appears I can buy an ATI Radeon X850 PE PCIE card for a reasonable price. The data sheet supplied by the vendor indicates that it will output Y,Pb,Pr to suit the component input of the Onkyo.

Has anybody used this card? Will it do what I want?

It is expensive even though reasonable and if I buy at the vendors price there is no return. I would not wish to buy something I cannot use (even though I could probably onsell it).

Comments please?

went to their website and searched 'component'. Could find no reference there matching against any PCIe cards they produce.

you're looking for the wrong term. It is usually called something like "HDTV output".

The NVIDIA 6200, 6600, and 7800 series all support component output natively. Be warned that not all manufacturers enable component output.