Video card for blu-ray Playback

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chose

chose

Junior Member
Nov 29, 2008
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davidblouin.spaces.live.com
Hi everyone

First my system

Edit2 O.S.: Windows Vista right now but i'm planning to move to Windows 7 just before changing the video card.
CPU: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz
Motherboard: Intel D945GNTLKR
Memory: Corsair 3GB DDR2 5400@5300
Gaphics: Sapphire Radeon X1300 512MB DDR
Tuner: Happaugue Win-TV HVR-1600
Monitor: Acer AL2416WB

I want change my video card to another that acheive those goal; (in order of importance)

1. Play blu-ray easily (50 % cpu utilisation max)
2. Dvi and HDMI ouput with HDCP
3. When i watched tv (ATSC 1080i) in Windows Media Center and i select the menu, it's a little slow with the tv in the background so i'd like to change that if possible (or is it the cpu ?)

Edit:As for budget there aren't really limit but if a 400$ card do perfectly the job don't talk to me about a 800$ one ;)

Since i can walk in to a computer hardware store and expect to find a better processor compatible( Pentium D 840/930/940/945/950/960) with my motherboard i figure a video card is the easiest way.

Thanks in advance for responding

Chose
 
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blanketyblank

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2007
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Yes a good video card can help with blurays, but you will need the right software to make use of it. What are you using now to play blurays? On the cheap end a 4350 (I've seen it for about 20 or under) is enough for 1080p playback though probably not easily.
The more powerful your card the more work it can unload though I think ATI cards have generally been better in HT applications since they do audio over hdmi and their cards have traditionally done more types of decoding.

I think most new cards and CPUs(except atoms) don't have many problems with bluray anymore so this is rarely mentioned however this older chart should give you some ideas as to what you are looking for.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2874&p=19
 
chose

chose

Junior Member
Nov 29, 2008
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davidblouin.spaces.live.com
Thanks for your quick respond and the link.

Some precision:

1.I have never play blu-ray before i don't even have a blu-ray disk or a drive yet.
2.Right know my monitor is plug through DVI it doesn't have HDMI only VGA and DVI. But HDMI would be good for the future, well until BD3D arrives ;).
3. My processor is 4 years old.

I've edit my first post to add this;

As for budget there aren't really limit but if a 400$ card do perfectly the job don't talk to me about a 800$ one ;)
Click to expand...
 
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blanketyblank

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2007
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Well if budget isn't a concern I'd go for a 5750 or 5770. 5750 is about 125 and 5770 is about 150. Sale prices/bing can knock the 5770 down to about 135 or so and the 5750 maybe about 115.
They maybe more than what you need, but in terms of pricing they don't cost much more than other video cards but they use much less power and pack more punch than most (you can do some medium to heavy gaming depending on resolution).
ATI cards numbered at or above 4650 will also work well for your purposes though I'm not quite sure about the pricing I think you'd be starting at around 70.

I'm hesitant to recommend any nvidia cards since I'm not quite sure about their new lineup. The 250 one of their higher midrange cards however is basically a refresh of their old 8800 GT 512 so I don't imagine they've done much to improve video decoding in that price range (up to 150). Next step up the 260 costs more than 5770 so I wouldn't even consider it.
 
Apocalypse23

Apocalypse23

Golden Member
Jul 14, 2003
1,467
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Yeah as someone else mentioned, a 4350 will do you wonders for simply watching Hi-def content including Blu-rays. I bought an Asus 4350 about 3 weeks back and it runs cool and silent as ever, haven't tested any video playback on it as of yet but it was a replacement for my business/server build. I bought i for about $25CAD after rebate plus taxes. Look up some reviews on it, it should be just fine. There are also more expensive cards that offer more (better for gaming on the side) as always so it's your call. What's your price range?
 
chose

chose

Junior Member
Nov 29, 2008
16
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0
davidblouin.spaces.live.com
Apocalypse23 said:
Yeah as someone else mentioned, a 4350 will do you wonders for simply watching Hi-def content including Blu-rays. I bought an Asus 4350 about 3 weeks back and it runs cool and silent as ever, haven't tested any video playback on it as of yet but it was a replacement for my business/server build. I bought i for about $25CAD after rebate plus taxes. Look up some reviews on it, it should be just fine. There are also more expensive cards that offer more (better for gaming on the side) as always so it's your call. What's your price range?
Click to expand...

I'm not really limited in price all i want is play blu-ray without lag on a 4 years old CPU.

I'd say under 200 would be sweet if not i'll pay whatever it cost. As long as i'm 100% positive that i'll be able to play blu-ray easily( whatever the definition of easily is 50 60% cpu utilisation ? ).
 
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blanketyblank

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2007
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5750 will definitely play whatever you can throw at it easily. I think any card in the 3000 series up will do HDCP over DVI or HDMI. You'll probably need a new monitor though once that starts becoming an issue since it doesn't sound like your monitor supports it.
Although I think the 4350 is a great deal I'm not as confident it will handle 1080i easily which many blurays are encoded as. I've heard this is more intensive than 1080p.

Here's an article you might find interesting:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...k=view&id=407&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=11
basically the software will make a big difference while the GPU you get can determine the level of video processing you can do on the fly. (i.e. ion chips can't handle GPU shaders)
 
T

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,949
575
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I don't know what OS you have but Blu-Ray decoding will put more load on the CPU if you are running under Windows XP vs. Windows Vista or 7. Also, HDCP ready monitor + graphics card is recommended.
 
chose

chose

Junior Member
Nov 29, 2008
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davidblouin.spaces.live.com
Oups sorry i forgot to say what o.s. i had "O.S.: Windows Vista right now but i'm planning to move to Windows 7 just before changing the video card."

As for my monitor i don't have the box with me anymore but i think i remember reading that it was compatible hdcp on it.
 
slag

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
101
I use a 4350 with c2d E4300 and it performs flawlessly. My tv wont do 1080p, but I watch videos in 1080i and 720p all the time and it never hiccups and looks beautiful.
 
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blanketyblank

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2007
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chose said:
Someone i know and trust told me to get a 5670 and that i shouldn't get more 10% cpu utilisation with it.

What are your tought ?
Click to expand...

It's probably true, just not worth the money. 5750 is like $10 more but a much better card. I'd say 5670 is worth about $70-80 so if you can find it in that range it's a good buy.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/01/14/ati-radeon-hd-5670-review/5

I know the purpose isn't gaming, but these benchmarks also help show how much power the card has and you may want to try a game or two in the future. Also considering the price I think it's a perfectly valid comparison.

Edit:
Is it just me or did the price on newegg for the 5750s just go up a lot? I remember seeing them at like 129.99 now they are all at like 150. Except for this one and it's only 512 not 1 gig.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131331&cm_re=5750-_-14-131-331-_-Product
Man at these prices you're better off getting a 5770 for like $5 more.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873&cm_re=5770-_-14-102-873-_-Product

EDIT 2: 5770 512 for 129.99
Check out this card. It's a very fast card and it's the same price as the 5750s now. You won't need 1GB of memory for bluray playback so this is much better than a 5670 at 110 or so. I think this is the upper limit as it is much faster than your needs, but the price is good.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1856805

I'd also recommend looking at the older 4000 series cards since some of them are going for a very good price. Just post here what you intend to buy and price you see it at, and we can give more advice.
 
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0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
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91
any recent build video card will do it.
bluray decode isn't that hard as long as the software supports the video accel
cuda + coreavc works great for all mkv h264 decodes as well.
you don't need 120+ dollar card for bluray
maybe half that at most. those are for games, decoding video is a relatively easy task now. you have igp that do bluray these days.
 
chose

chose

Junior Member
Nov 29, 2008
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davidblouin.spaces.live.com
The site i'm looking (ncix.com) say the 57** are 50$ more than the 56**. I don't really mind the 50$ more but like i said in my earlier thread if the 56** do the job why go for bigger ? (convince me ;) )
 
0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
chose said:
The cpu in this article (core 2 quad) is a lot more recent than mine and a lot more powerful. If i had a core 2 i wouldn't have started this thread i would have stay with my X1300 ;)
Click to expand...

yea well you have a dual core p4, we're talking assisted bluray, not something insane like bluray cpu decode. the cpu load should be fine. its slow, but not that slow, the p4 did video ok. the igp can take down bluray playback to 10-20% cpu on a core 2, you really have a ton of leeway on a p4:p
 
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0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
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"Yep, the new HIS ATI 4650 (fanless) video card did the trick and I'm up and running. I'm using PowerDVD 7.3 which came with my Blu-Ray/HDdvd (LG) drive and install perfectly. I also purchased WinDVD9+BR (full version) and could not get it to work. I don't see any memory issues with PowerDVD 7.3 (have memory monitor gadget) and don't see any additional memory being used.

Also, I'm using an old P4 Pentium D (3ghz) processors and with the video card's UVDs, my CPU load is only about 25% while playing a Blu-ray or HDdvd. NICE!"
http://social.technet.microsoft.com...a/thread/1ab232f6-a124-4141-a893-d5cb301269f0
self report but still..u see how it works. the gpu takes over the vast majority of decode these days. without it your cpu would choke on even apple trailers i bet:p
 
tweakboy

tweakboy

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2010
9,517
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www.hammiestudios.com
As long as your monitor can do 1920x1080 then yes you can play blu ray. All you need is a video card which has a GPU which you have and a nominal CPU which you do have.

Your fine as long as you meet the monitor requirements ... gl
 
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