Video Card for Transcoding

[FirNaTine]

My father got a new Sony HD Camcorder and frequently records in HD for future use. To output to DVD until he has a Blu Ray burner, he has to transcode to SD. He is looking for a way to make this faster.

His system is a Athlon X2 4200 with 2 gigs of ram, however only an integrated video card (he is not as gamer). I remember reading a while ago about using a video card to transcode video and making it much faster, but have seen nothing lately. He has an open PCI Express x16 slot for a card.

He will still have a need for this after the burner also to give video to family, so he is willing to invest in a decent card if it will make a significant difference in how long it will take to transcode the video.

I have been out of the computer news for a while, so any help is appreciated. I can sitll handle the hardware, and any power needs he has though.

Thanks

 

[FirNaTine]

Anyone?

 

[doggyfromplanetwoof]

faster cpu works.

Transcoding, I would get a top of the line CPU. Yes the x2 4200 is fast, but not the fastest when it comes to transcoding. In fact, AMD lacks in that department. :-(

 

[TanisHalfElven]

NO currently no GPU can do transcoding. despite all of ati/nvidia's claims of GPGU.
your better off getting a faster processor. but then again x2 4200+ is plenty for most tasks. even a c2d would only give you a 10-20% (maybe 30-40) increase in speed. the time saving is n't really worth it unless your gonna be transcoding 24/7.

leave it on over night and your golden.