Gaming, movies etc. on the big screen (40" Sony LCD HDTV)

[hiromizu]

Ideally I'd use a standard HDMI cable to connect the PC to my LCD which has speakers built in - more than sufficient for my needs.

I'm wondering if getting a PCI-E card that is HDMI (video and audio) is the way to go. What card(s) are recommended? I currently have a Dell Optiplex 280 with a Radeon X300.

 

[speckedhoncho]

I game on a 26" 720p and connect using DVI, and there are no problems. The cable is DVI-2-HDMI, and there are no problems. HDMI's video logic is DVI's, so there is no difference. HDMI saves you the trouble of sending 5.1 sound to the TV. If you're not worried about sending audio in the same cable, don't fret about HDMI. It just bundles audio & video.

EDIT: The only concern with bundling the audio & video besides lowering the cable count is that the ATI & NVidia cards do DVD & HD Video processing. If you don't have digital output for your audio, I recommend it assuming you can find a card that feeds your FPS appetite; the HDCP cards that I have seen haven't been near the top of line until now. I don't think there's a 8800GT or above that has HDMI out.

 

[hiromizu]

Hm...much rather keep it on one cable - HDMI. Is Nvidia still the way to go? I don't need ridiculous speed since my CPU is only 2.6GHz P4.

What bothers me most about an all in one card is the possibility of audio drivers causing skips in the video or some kind of bs.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

If you want to keep everything in one cable then HDMI seems to be the only way to go.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: hiromizu
Hm...much rather keep it on one cable - HDMI. Is Nvidia still the way to go? I don't need ridiculous speed since my CPU is only 2.6GHz P4.

What bothers me most about an all in one card is the possibility of audio drivers causing skips in the video or some kind of bs.

ATI's 2600 pro/xt are probably the best htpc cards out right now. If you're not looking to game a lot with this rig than those are the cards I'd recommend. Light gaming would be fine, you just won't be able to play the newest games with much eye candy.