Got an ATI HD 3650, Intel C2D 2.53Ghz, 2G RAM, Asus P5N-D (NV 750 SLI), 1T HD.  Set it up, put on Vista 32 Ultimate.  Everything looked good on the monitor.  Then I moved it over to my TV (SD projection), plugged it into the Component plugs, although the TV is only 480i.  And VMC is really really choppy.  Not just playing videos, the interface and everything.  So I ran it in a window to get a CPU utilization and no need, b/c in a window it runs super fast and smooth.  Full screen it and back to choppy.  However, I found that if I plug my monitor back in as long as my monitor is the primary display and the monitors are cloned, then it's smooth, I unplug the monitor and it stays smooth, but if I reboot, back to choppy.  If I'm in dual monitor mode and the TV is the primary display, it's choppy.  It has to be the monitor or it won't work.

I'm running the latest Catalyst drivers (8.8), have all the Vista patches, and latest mobo drivers.  The work around if I can't get this going would be to buy a 15 foot Analog VGA cable and plug it in from across the room, my monitor has two inputs so as long as Vista detects it on my PVR, then VMC will run smooth.  Any help would be great.  I would prefer not to spend more money on this than I need to, and it should work without needing to do this.

I'm running a 3650 and do not have this issue. I'm running the catalyst 8.7 drivers however...

Maybe try another version of the drivers - 8.7 seems to work fine here... good luck

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Hmm, I've noticed that ATI drivers don't like you trying to install older versions of drivers over newer ones.

I tried 8.7 and same problem.  This is the first time I ever bought ATI, and the first card I had was defective, i returned it, the replacement card had flashing green dots in Vista 64, I returned it and installed Vista 32.  And now this card is choppy unless I'm running in dual monitor mode.  I'm returning it on Monday and picking up a Nvidia 9500GT.

I'm an Nvidia guy myself, this is only my 2nd ever ATI graphics card... The first one being a 8500 AIW back in the day.

My card is an MSI 3650 OC'd model, bought as an open box item from newegg - and has been excellent, except that I can't get the audio from the hdmi - which was only a novelty for me anyway - since I use a toslink sound card directly into my receiver anyways.

Sorry you're having trouble --- Good luck solving the problem, and please keep us all posted of your progress.  It will help future buyers make a better buying decision.

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I found no solution, but a buddy at work got me a free little LCD monitor, which is turned off and sitting on top of my HTPC, behind my big screen.  Just in case I need to reboot.  I could have taken it back and replaced it with a 9500GT, but ATI does provide a technically superior HTPC card.  I don't think the 9500GT can playback bluray as well.  And there is a noticeably better graphic quality compared to my old Geforce 6200.  So I'll stick with it, I think.  Hopefully ATI will resolve this issue which I've determined to be a driver problem (other vids do not have this issue in my PC, and exchanging the 3650 with another 3650 did nothing).

So I have a similar setup but different problem.  I have a small monitor I want to clone off of my main VGA.  I didn't want to strain my ATI HD2600XT board so I installed an additional ATI HD2400 board.  But I have not been able to clone the video between boards.  I could accept a composite or S-video as a secondary monitor if needed off of the 2600 board.

My question, how did you clone in the first place. Catylist 8.8 did not allow that feature.  Can you only clone video on the same card?

Cloning shouldn't strain your video card.  It just duplicates the display to multiple outputs.  That's all.  Yeah, I just did it off the one card.  Which is easy to do with the Catalyst Control Panel.  My monitor is off the DVI and my TV is connected through the Composite connection.

How did you get the TV composite connection to work.  I see it in the Catalyst Control but it will not allow me to enable it or force the TV detection.  I have a cheap 2400 card that I can get the composite to work, but only in B/W.  Any clues? 

I didn't use composite.  I used Component (red, green and blue cables), composite is the one yellow cable.  And i just went into the Catalyst control panel and told it I wanted dual monitor.  The PC monitor as primary, Component TV as secondary and to clone them.  That's the only way it works without chopping.  A 25 foot VGA cable is running between my PC monitor and HTPC.  Silly, but it works.

I just can't get my s-video/composite port to work.  This includes a s-video/component adapter which came with the unit.  Diamond said to send the unit back for reair.  I might after having a guys movie night next weekend while the wife is away.  Thanks for the help.

This issue above still exists, but now I have a new one where it appears that some kind of out of sync refresh is causing a tear on my screen, only on the TV.  Not on the cloned monitor, so I know it's not part of the recording.

I managed to fix it before by setting the refresh to 30Hz, but then it came back when I needed to change my display settings.  When I set the refresh back to 30Hz, the tearing remains, and now I can't get rid of it.  This ATI 3650 has not been very stress free.  Seems like for every problem I fix I get another.  Anybody seen this bizarre error before?