HDMI Add2 boards - do they really exist?

[jon_c0]

I've recently bought and setup an Intel DG965OT Core 2 Duo supporting motherboard - quite nice, incidentally, for anyone thinking of a mATX multimedia board, if a bit picky on the memory supported.

Now...I've only just noticed that it support's Intel's almost mythical ADD2 graphics expansion stuff, allowing you to (possibly) add DVI, HDMI, TV-OUT etc. to the onboard graphics via a card in the PCI-Express slot.

A bit of googling later throws up a few example of DVI-only cards but, of most interest to me, the rather nice looking Prolink PV-CH7315. This appears to add both HDMI and TV-out to motherboards based on Intel's G965 and that support ADD2 boards in the PCI-E slot.

mmm...can I find one of these actually available anywhere? Nope. So - anyone gone down the ADD2 card road with any suggestions/experiences?

Added Later

Just found this, which looks even more promising, if unavailable for order to the UK...

[jon_c0]

On the off-chance that anyone else is interested in this, I got a response back from the Taiwan branch of Prolink concerning their HDMI/S-Video ADD2 card:

We are sorry. This product is for SI/OEM only. Thank you.

...which doesn't seem quite correct as the US branch of their web-site offers the card for general retail sale, although only to US and Canada (I've dropped them a line to see if they'll ship to the UK).

I guess I'm kind of surprised that there aren't more ADD2 cards about; a failed Intel "standard"? This is a bit unfortunate for owners of boards that support ADD2, as the cards look like they can provide cheap and straightforward extensions to the stock onboard graphics supplied by Intel chipsets. Certainly, if you only have on-board VGA on a board that supports ADD2, you can add DVI for about £8 using one of the many cards on EBay. The Prolink card was most interesting to me as it claims to support 1080p over HDMI with S-video too, all for $43, but then perhaps the performance is rubbish? Anyone used an ADD2 card in general that can comment?

[tim_kay]

We sourced the DVI addon from the states, great to extend the GMA950 to dvi screens.

The hdmi is eagerly awaited and the ABit m/board uses the such HDMI GMA950 technology which you are refering to, and does a very good job. However it is not HDCP, and although provides a good hdmi solution for now, when the breakthrough on bluray/hd-dvd ide solutions really arrive the hdmigma950 won't really be of any significance.

Interestingly the 7300GS HDMI, which is also passive can be found very reasonably, even if we did buy up most of the UK stock for our new machines!

[jon_c0]

Originally Posted by tim_kay

The hdmi is eagerly awaited and the ABit m/board uses the such HDMI GMA950 technology which you are refering to, and does a very good job. However it is not HDCP, and although provides a good hdmi solution for now, when the breakthrough on bluray/hd-dvd ide solutions really arrive the hdmigma950 won't really be of any significance.

According to this, it sounds like the Prolink PV-CH7315 is HDCP compliant. Now I really am a bit annoyed I can't seem to source this here, or even for delivery to the UK. With my motherboard (and I guess all others with the Intel G965 chipset?) this would give a $43 (~ £22) solution to give:

HDCP compliant HDMI
TV-out (S-video)
VGA (as I understand it, any existing onboard VGA would continue to work)

...all in a nice, cheap, optionally low-profile, silent card that pops into the PCI-Express slot - absolutely ideal for an HTPC with a slim case. Judging by the review in the link above, it also performs pretty damn well at HD resolutions.

This would be exactly what I'm looking for...but not available in the UK, it seems.

[AMCross]

jon co

same position here using onboard graphics for now but would like to look to the future and hdmi is the way to go

look at this
http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/pro...7300gs-md256eh

but its not that powerful

removed my pci e 6800gt 256mb cause it sounds like a dyson

[AMCross]

Add2 pcb

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PCI-E-Sil1364-...QQcmdZViewItem

[jon_c0]

Originally Posted by AMCross

Add2 pcb

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PCI-E-Sil1364-...QQcmdZViewItem

I linked to these in my top posting. Yep, these could be a viable and cheap option for some but, as far as I'm aware they are not HDCP compliant and, well, they're not HDMI either (although the benefits in this respect are more marginal). For me though, the Prolink card also offers TV-Out, with is something else I'm looking for... The MSI card is also on my "maybe" list but, again, I'd need to get TV-out from a separate card (and the onboard VGA would also become disabled).

[AMCross]

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/produc...il.php?UID=781

this has hdmi and tv output

pity its not fanless

[jon_c0]

Originally Posted by AMCross

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/produc...il.php?UID=781

this has hdmi and tv output

pity its not fanless

Interesting though - not seen that, thanks. I'm looking for something low profile though...the card certainly is, but I can't see whether there's an alternative bracket to the full height one pictured. It also doesn't seem to be overly available in this country...

I'd still like to give one of these Prolink ADD2 cards a go though. From a price and convenience viewpoint, at least on paper, well... They don't exactly seem to be thick on the ground in the States, and the link above is all I could really find in terms of a review of the HDMI+TV out version.

[jon_c0]

Oh, this is getting frustrating now. The HDMI HDCP compatible version of this board is happily available for $43 on Prolink's US web-site, but contacting the US arm direct for the possibility of shipping to the UK and I eventually get forwarded back to Taiwan for the same stock response as I got before:

We are sorry. This product is for SI/OEM only. Thank you.

Which it isn't! It's sold retail in the States from their own online shop and individuals are using it from their own purchases. Arrgh! I've responded again, but I'm not holding out much hope. I wonder if this is some sort of licensing thing? It's a real shame, because if these boards really do seem to do what they suggest they do, it's such a cheap and striaghtforward way to add HDCP compatible HDMI and TV-out to an Intel G965 based board. Surely if there's a market for this in the States there's a market for this here?

[jon_c0]

Due to the huge popularity of this thread I thought I might provide an update. I now have my hands on a PixelMagic ADD2 card kindly specially shipped by the folk at ProLink USA. Will try it out tonight...all together it came to about £45 delivered, which if it lives up to its bill of a fanless, negligible heat-generating, HDCP compliant HDMI + TV Out, I'd consider to be a good price. Will try it out tonight.

[AMCross]

jon

great news let me know how you get on as i have the same mb and have been waiting for the nvidia 8000 series with hdmi

[ani4ani]

Originally Posted by jon_c0

Due to the huge popularity of this thread I thought I might provide an update. I now have my hands on a PixelMagic ADD2 card kindly specially shipped by the folk at ProLink USA. Will try it out tonight...all together it came to about £45 delivered, which if it lives up to its bill of a fanless, negligible heat-generating, HDCP compliant HDMI + TV Out, I'd consider to be a good price. Will try it out tonight.

How did you get on?

[jon_c0]

Originally Posted by ani4ani

How did you get on?

Apologies, forgot I said I would post back.

Unfortunately, I've not really got much to report, largely because I'm HDMI-TV-less; although I've installed the card, I'm still using the onboard VGA to my small 20" LCD in the lounge, although I expected to have a large-screen plasma/LCD by now...

A couple of things I have found out... The clone modes of this card only support the same resolution (and I'm guessing refresh rate) over both VGA and TV-out (either S-video or HDMI). This could scupper my plans of simultaneous HDMI at 1080p for my TV in the lounge and "something else at least appropriate" over either VGA or S-video to my TV in the kitchen. I also hadn't fully taken on board the (general) issues of getting a widescreen resolution over S-video from a graphics card, so it look like it will almost certainly be VGA that I'll be looking at. In essence, I'm hoping I can still stuff 1080p over HDMI to the TV in the lounge, and the same over VGA to the TV in the kitchen (the kitchen TV then scaling down). However, I'm thinking that resolution and refresh rate restrictions on the TV in the kitchen will shaft this idea...

What I can say is that some initial issues have been sorted out in the latest Intel drivers - in general you'll find lots of useful info in this thread.

Still - looks pretty .

[jon_c0]

Just posting to another thread related to this, and realised I never replied here...

I now have a 50" plasma with HDMI, and the ProLink card is fine outputting over HDMI at 1080p at either 50Hz or 60Hz using the current Intel G965 graphics drivers - it all just worked as it should out of the box, with no fiddling. I haven't dealt with the audio side of things, as I'm outputting via the onboard sound's optical out to my home cinema amp (and my plasma doesn't have speakers anyway ). I suspect that this experience would be the same for anyone with an Intel G965 based motherboard and one of the many £10 DVI ADD2 card available on EBay, so if such owners are looking for a cheap way to connect up their current VGA-only onboard graphics to a display with DVI/HDMI then....

I should say that I've also toyed with the component output of the ProLink card. This isn't so good - pretty blurry even when outputting at 720p, and the Intel drivers aren't so good at fiddling with the display to get it full-screen/centred etc. Still, it works, and the quality is acceptable for second display purposes. Unfortunately, it's not really acceptable for me - as in this thread, I want to output 1080p over HDMI to my plasma, and 720p over component to my LCD - with this card, both displays have to have the same maximum resolution and refresh-rate, as far as I can tell, and so you're then limited by the lower resolution of the two displays. So...that leaves me looking for other solutions to my multiple display problem...