MSI K8NGM2-FID + S-video = Poor TV Quality

[elitezoid]

Have built a couple of HTPC's, 1st using a socket A board and 9800 Pro, 2nd using a socket 939 DFI RS482 using the onboard ATI express, both with S-Video out. I know S-video out is not meant to provide the best quality, however on both of the systems mentioned above the quality has been very acceptable, virtually as good my set-top box connected via scart.
However just finished installing a K8NGM2-FID board (after having to rma the DFI), now the S-video quality is really poor. I am planning to buy a new LCD-TV early next year, but the TV quality is so poor now it's almost forcing to me buy earlier so I can connect via DVI etc.

Needless to say I'm very dissappointed, other then selling this board on, is there anything that can be done??

Thanks...

[jib]

FWIW in my experience the TV-out quality from Nvidia cards has always been worse than that of ATI-based ones when using svideo or composite.

I would try with an ATI-based card just to check if that would make any difference - from what you are saying your earlier projects have been with ATI cards.

Off topic, component output is completely different and of high quality from both vendors - and the bracket that came with your K8NGM2-FID also supports component output. This will be great when you get your LCD later on.

[Stacey Melissa]

I vaguely recall some people complaining about this mobo's component out quality, when it first came out. I'm not sure whether it has the same problem with s-video, or whether a solution has been found, but if there is a solution, you'll probably find it somewhere in this thread at Anandtech.

[jwoolen01]

I had this board a while ago and I had some trouble with the tv out quality. The picture seemed too dark and the signal was too weak to be auto-detected by my tv.

After a bios update these problems went away. Maybe updating the bios might help in your case too.

[chinna_n]

Have built a couple of HTPC's, 1st using a socket A board and 9800 Pro, 2nd using a socket 939 DFI RS482 using the onboard ATI express, both with S-Video out. I know S-video out is not meant to provide the best quality, however on both of the systems mentioned above the quality has been very acceptable, virtually as good my set-top box connected via scart.
However just finished installing a K8NGM2-FID board (after having to rma the DFI), now the S-video quality is really poor. I am planning to buy a new LCD-TV early next year, but the TV quality is so poor now it's almost forcing to me buy earlier so I can connect via DVI etc.

Needless to say I'm very dissappointed, other then selling this board on, is there anything that can be done??

Thanks...

You need to update bios. This has been widely discussed on avsforum and MSI fixed that with bios update 3.13 and later( 3.5 is current). For LCD TV it is better off connecting with Either DVI/VGA or Component with 1080i.( I am using with VGA with 32" Olevia LCD TV).

[elitezoid]

Hi,
Have updated the bios to the latest version, which i noticed updates the onboard graphics firmware. This did improve the colours, however the s-video quality is still very poor in comparison to the 2 previous ATI solutions.