Which "Dual Head" video card?

[Melville]

I am about to build a new computer for multimedia presentation purposes at church. In our multimedia desk we have a built-in CRT moniter and for presentation we use a Canon Projector. Most of our presentations will be done using software such as "Presenter" and "Powerpoint". Some of the powerpoint presentations may have a video component as well. My question is .... What is the best dual head video card to suit our situation?

 

[Crashman]

ATI cards as old as the Radeon 7500 do this nicely, you can get a component adapter for the DVI output from ATI (many projectors use component video), or use the VGA adapter included, or go directly from DVI, as needed.

If you need a VGA adapter for the second output, make sure the card you buy includes one, as many cheaper versions (such as LE's) don't support it.

You're looking at cards in the $50 to $100 price range.

Yes, you'll probably get some Matrox recommendations as well. Since this stuff is easy for most cards, I'd make my choice between ATI and Matrox based on price.

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[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah, I'd be the Matrox backer, but like Crash says, for your general use the ATI would likely be good enough for a very reasonable price. Depending on your prices you may find the ATI R9200SE for cheaper than the R7500 because of the peculiarities of market. Be sure it has the connections you need.

Matrox has better solutions, with a better software package, but it is significantly more expensive. ~$60 for ATI 9200SE $150 for Matrox P650. A Matrox G450 or 550 would also work ok, but like the R7500, new they are usually found being overpriced, and those cards are near the end of their 'currency' whereas the R9200SE and P650 are recent enough to be mainstream for a fair bit longer.

I think with either solution you will be ok. Even with an nVidia FX5200 series card you would be ok, but it is usually at a little more money than the ATI's and isn't as good as the Matroxs.

<A HREF="http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9200/radeon9200/index.html" target="_new">Ati's Site description R9200(SE)</A>
<A HREF="http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/mill_pseries/p650.cfm" target="_new">Matrox's site description P650</A>


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[peterfagg]

My brother and his business partner have just built a new computer system for our church. They used a ATI 9200 Pro with an XP 2200+ system. In my opinion scrimp and save on the video card so you can spend more on the rest of the system, as if there's a lag in a powerpoint presentation for example it shouldn't be the video card holding you up. The computer before was using a matrox card (dunno which one).

Most projectors can take composite video or vga. Tip: try to use a screen that runs at the same frequency and size as the projector(s) - we use a flat panel as we're also very limited on space. Also keep the distance between the projector and the computer as short as possible with as few interuptions (switch bowes etc) in the way too. Sometimes the screens (25m of cable away, 1 switch box) couldn't hook onto the refresh signal at first - they needed to be reset a couple of times before they found it. This is hassle if you're in the middle of a service...

Hope this helps.

Peter