3dfx Voodoo3 3500 TV

Video Output

Just like the Voodoo3 3000, the 3500 TV's TV-output is driven by the Brooktree 869 controller placed on the back of the board. However as our own comparison of TV-output image quality illustrated, not all Brooktree implementations are created equal.

Luckily that statement means good things for the 3500, as the picture quality of the TV-output was top notch, definitely superior to that of any other graphics card with TV-output ever reviewed on AnandTech, including the Matrox Marvel G200 and the G400. The strengths of the 3500's TV output doesn't lay in its sharpness, as displaying text on our Sony test TV screen proved the display to be very blurry and not well defined at all. Where the 3500 did excel in was where the type of user that would buy a 3500 would use it, in games.

In idSoftware's Quake 3 Arena Test, the 3500 easily outperformed all competing solutions with TV output in terms of the resulting image quality on the TV, the results were truly amazing. Although it seems out of place commending 3dfx on image quality after the performance vs image quality debates of the past few years, credit has to be given where credit is due, and for the 3500, the TV output is truly top notch for gamers.

For users looking to run presentations or use the TV output for word processing or other applications where sharpness is more important than how vibrant the colors appear on the TV screen, then the 3500 most likely won't be your ideal choice. In those cases, the 3500 is easily outpaced by the Matrox G400 and the Marvel G200.

The Brooktree 869 does allow for simultaneous output to TV and your monitor, however since the 3500 only allows for a single video output both your monitor and TV must use the exact same resolution/refresh rate. For the Brooktree 869 implementation on the 3500 that means that 640 x 480 and 800 x 600 are the only two resolutions that can be used in conjunction with TV output. During our tests on the 3500, enabling TV output while leaving the display enabled on the monitor sometimes resulted in distorted colors on the monitor while the TV's picture remained untouched. The problem seemed to occur randomly and also has been known to occur with some ATI products that feature TV output as well.

The 3500's 3dfx TV control panel does allow for the size, color, and sharpness to be controlled via sliders within the utility. Enabling/disabling TV output as well as enabling disabling monitor output (when TV out is enabled) is also controlled from within the 3dfx TV control panel.

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