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Video card for a media center?

F

FusionKnight

Member
Hi guys,

What would you guys recommend for video cards for a media center PC? I'm not terribly concerned with recording or watching live TV on the media center, but more with playback of DVDs or TV shows and random AVIs. Any recommendations on video cards? Does it really make a difference in viewing quality?

And I know I said I didn't want to record TV, but if I did, would the all-in-wonder cards be a good way to go?

Thanks,
FK
 
sudhian.com did a roundup of video cards for a HTPC, see the articles page, May 06 (link) and a Radeon X1300 did a much better job of playback than a nvidia 7300GS.

But for real expertise you should check AVSForum.com

For recording, AIWs used to not have full hardware encoding like a Hauppage PVR-150 does, but maybe they do now. The Hot Deals forum had an AIW deal recently you might look for it if you read some reviews of the AIW and it looks like what you want.
 
The AIW cards are still software capture. Some software is not compatible with the AIW capture capability, but of course for basic usage the software it comes with works fine. Software capture is perfectly fine if you have a CPU that can do it, especially if it's only occasionally. Even a 500MHz P3 can handle it at low resolutions. That's also for actually capturing the video. I'm not sure whether just watching it without recording it requires much horsepower at all.

My PVR computer is running with a Radeon 9600 Pro and a PVR-150 for capture. Video output to my old Wega TV is okay at 800x600, kind of pincushioned at the edges but I've been able to deal with it. Low refresh rate of course so that's kind of annoying since I can see 60Hz easily (not an issue with regular TV though). Output to a computer CRT looked fine. I'll be installing an X850Pro a little later today, and using component output to the TV, wondering whether it'll look any better.
 
Component output will looks tons better then Svideo, even at SD resolutions, Lord Evermore.

For the OP, you failed to mention anything about the TV you're going to connect it to, or what front-end you're going to use. Let me know, and I can better help you. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Raduque
Component output will looks tons better then Svideo, even at SD resolutions, Lord Evermore.

For the OP, you failed to mention anything about the TV you're going to connect it to, or what front-end you're going to use. Let me know, and I can better help you. 🙂
Click to expand...

Fair enough 😉 My TV is a Panasonic 50" DLP. I've got a media center hooked up to it right now using a an Asus K8V mobo with a 3200+ AMD 64 chip and a 9800 Pro for a video card, but it keeps locking up and I'm afraid I"ll have to replace a number of the parts (the video card is on its last legs anyway). I have no complaints with the 9800 Pro but if I'm gonna pick up a new video card I obviously want the best deal for the best picture.

Thanks for the heads up on the software capture of the AIW - I figured there was gonna be some kind of catch 🙂

Thanks for the link. After reading it, they seemed pretty convinced on the X1300 Pro, so perhaps I'll hit up FS/FT or Hot Deals and see what's up over there 🙂

FK
 
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