Vid card for TV

[69Voltage]

My brother lives in Manila and we are setting him up to be able to watch DirecTV over there. I have a DirecTV DVR and Slingbox Pro at my house. He has a Pioneer Elite 50" plasma. He's going to purchase a desktop to receive the Slingbox signal and push it to the TV. This desktop is going to be mainly for the TV. No gaming, etc. He's going to use HDMI cable between the PC and TV.

What is the best video card is recommended for this situation? Are there any with HDMI outputs? Or will he have to buy a DVI to HDMI adapter?

I've been out of computer building for the last few months, so I've lost track of what's out there.

 

[airhendrix13]

I think an 8800GT would suffice. You will need a DVI to HDMI adapter though.

 

[Peter]

You should have something with HDCP on, just to be sure.

Video scalers don't require that much GPU performance actually ... any ATI HD3000 series should serve you well. Aim low, go fanless.

With recent drivers, even AMD's integrated 780 series chipset should be able to get the job done - and mainboards with HDMI output are becoming available as we speak.

 

[airhendrix13]

Do the HD3000 have HD encoding built in?

 

[GullyFoyle]

Here you go: Linky

Has HDMI output, HDCP ready, fanless, $37 delivered in the US, $10 rebate.
You forward it to Manila.

This will accelerate HD-DVD and Blue-Ray content, when used with the right software.