ATI All in Wonder VE... can I output to component video to TV?

[nickynooch]

Argh!  After little knowledge of video cards I went out and bought a ATI all in wonder VE card.  Unfortunately I didn't know until after the install what the difference between composite and component video was!

After hooking it up to composite, the screen looks, ok, but I would like a better picture and I haven't attempted S-Video yet.  It is really hard to read anything on the TV so far, but the picture is viewable, just text is next to impossible to see in windows xp.

My question is, is it possible to output somehow to component by buying an adapter?  If not do I need to buy a new video card and any recommendations on good ones for cheap?

Also, is the picture on component significantly better?

Thanks for the help... hoping I don't have to buy a new video card, but I will if it helps.  I'm not cheaping out to get crappy video after spending all this time and money on a cabinet!

[Ummon]

Look in TheManuel's recent post here. Also, do a search on component input. Might even be something in the wiki.

[TheManuel]

I'm afraid you might be out of luck.
Check this post.
It does not mention yours specifically but it seems to me like the VE is old, maybe contemporaneous with the 7xxx series.
If you want to chance it, you can buy the dongle for ~$8 from www.monoprice.com.
Just do a search for "ATI DVI component".
If you don't have DVI on your card, chances are you can't output YPbPr from it and the dongle will do no good in that case.

Worst case, I bought a 9550 from eBay refurbished for $10 including shipping and the guy posts them regularly.
It arrived fast and worked like a champ.
I was afraid it would not work on my old computer but it runs find on AGP 2.0 at 4X.
Most computers from 2000 will have at least that level of AGP.
You would still need the dongle, though.

About the component cables themselves, you don't need to buy fancy ones.
I am using a trio of cheap RCA audio/video cables and could not see a difference compared to my DVD player's dedicated component cables.  You most likely have a set of RCA cables lying around (yellow, red and white plugs).

Good luck my friend.

[nickynooch]

Cool  Thanks for the help.  That's kinda what I thought.  The good news is I went home hooked up S-Video and it looked awesome.  Probably not like component, but MUCH better than composite!

I think I'll be all set on S-Video.

[TheManuel]

S-video is way better than composite and better than a PC monitor even though the colors look washed out in comparison to the latter.  Component is a step above that and as close as you can get to 15kHz RGB but I would say you already are 70% of the way there.
And remember, 90% of all statistics people quote are made up right on the spot. 

I had already bought an ATI 7500 for ~$15 and took a chance a went with the 9550 (for less money, ironically) and it paid off.  I should have bought that one to begin with.

[nickynooch]

S-video is way better than composite and better than a PC monitor even though the colors look washed out in comparison to the latter.  Component is a step above that and as close as you can get to 15kHz RGB but I would say you already are 70% of the way there.
And remember, 90% of all statistics people quote are made up right on the spot. 

I had already bought an ATI 7500 for ~$15 and took a chance a went with the 9550 (for less money, ironically) and it paid off.  I should have bought that one to begin with.

Yeah I was thinking about doing the same, but so far I am happy... I wouldn't be stunned to see me picking up a 9550 once the cabinet is complete, now that I hear it from someone who did the same as I did.

[Ummon]

The VE is a 7000. Anyways, I can't figure why there'd be a difference between cards. Since the output used is VGA, what is different if both are set at 15khz/60hz?