Need cheapest card that will do 720p HA

[LittleNemoNES]

I bought a Shuttle SG31G2 for $200 on a whim to play bluray but (duh) the graphics chipset doesn't provide hardware acceleration.
What is the cheapest single slot PCI-E card that will do hardware acceleration?
Thanks

(Or, DO you think my x3350 (q9450) will be enough to power bluray 720p (or 1080i) playback?)

 

[ViRGE]

Asus HD3450, $20. I don't think you can do any cheaper than that.

However that processor should have no problem with HD playback, as long as you're using a good software decoder. Since you'll need BluRay playback software anyhow, the WinDVD and PowerDVD packages both should work well enough.

Edit: I'm just reading the specs for the SG45H7, it has a G45 chipset (GMA X4500HD IGP). That is fully capable of decoding HD, you shouldn't need another video card

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Oh! So sorry I pasted in the wrong info. I've update my OP to reflect this ;blush:
I bought a Shuttle SG31G2.

The G45 is nice but mucho dinero
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That looks like a great card! Thanks a lot -- even has HDMI.

 

[jtvang125]

720p isn't that demanding. My lowly 1.8ghz c2d has no problems on 720p so your quad core will be more than enough without HA.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

720P on a quad is nothing. Even the Phenom 9150 is overkill for 1080p.

 

[plonk420]

3-5% CPU (E4400) on a $30 4350? be it 720p24, 1080p24, or even 720p60 (h.264) peaking at 40-80mbit...

edit: firefly (~8.3gb per ep, straight off blu-ray disc), very grainy, unknown AVC bitrate, 5-10% cpu (with dts core decoding)

edit2: oh, i'm using MPC HC

edit3: i thought i read that the 3450 might have issues offloading 1080p entirely to GPU or something... can't even recall the source, though (i think it was anandtech)

maybe i misunderstood

None of these cards require external power, as they all come in at under the 75W available from the motherboard. The low end 3450 can be built with passive cooling, but all the other options require some sort of active cooling. These should also make good HTPC cards, as they support full HD resolution and all UVD features. The 3470 is needed for upscaling to the highest resolutions, but for a 1080p television the 3450 should be alright. It does seem a bit lopsided to pair a 2560x1600 monitor with a sub $100 video card anyway. We will certainly test all this out when we get the chance.

 

[alcoholbob]

You should probably look at getting CoreAVC codec. It's about $15 for CPU acceleration but will decrease your utilization by quite a bit. It's about 90% as efficient as hardware acceleration. It'll also accelerate a lot more formats than typical GPUs.

If you have a dual core of any type its enough to accelerate 1080p if you have the right codecs. Even a dual core atom (1.6ghz) can do 1080p easy.

Edit: lol I skipped most of your post. Your quad will do decoding in its sleep. It can just brute force it even with the least efficient codecs out there.

 

[s44]

1080i is harder than any progressive resolution (de-interlacing!)

oops -- your source is 1080p though, so that's the decoding

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Ok, I don't think I'll get the card in the end because I was able to watch the dark knight yesterday without any problem.
Thanks again!

 

[plonk420]

dark knight HD was 1080p >_>

my excuse, however, is that i own the blu ray and don't want to bother transcoding it to a cropped version (in case the AR shift is distracting)...

 

[LittleNemoNES]

hmm I started watching shawshank redemption yesterday and there was terrible tearing...