What's the minimum video card for playing DVDs?

[ofiraltarasy]

if your mobo came with integraded graphics that will work fine if you dont have one anything will work i suggest a 64MB one

 

[Sforsyth]

my moms 650 Mhz comcrap plays them fine with a 16 MB Video card and 128MB of Ram

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: batmanuel
Not only has the 2D quality on the current nVidia and ATi value products caught up with the once-venerated G550, but the newer cards have the larger 128MB memory and DX9 shader support that you could need down the road if you plan to upgrade to Windows Vista. The G550 was a great card in its day, but that day has long since passed (you'll notice that most of the reviews that rave about its 2D image quality are from 2001 and are using the GeForce 2 MX, the low point of the GeForce series 2D image quality, as a point of reference). I really can't recommend anyone buying a new graphics card below the X300 (non-SE)/GeForce 6200 level with less than a year to go until Vista's launch. You'll be saving money in the short term, only to wind up spending more down the road if you want all the Aero Glass eye candy a year from now.

That makes no sense.

Why would he spend $100 or so on a X700 or similar because of Windows Vista, which is going to launch months from now? When Vista actually does come out, $100 will buy you a much better card.

I was just throwing out those cards as an alternative to the $100 G550. Something like the GeForce 6200 ribbon13 suggested would be more than enough. I was just pointing out that the G550, though once an excellent graphics card for 2D four years ago, is now seriously outclassed by the products in its price range.

Also, since the OP is buying a card now and not a in a year's time, and might not feel like shelling out extra cash for a Aero-Glass capable card in a year's time along with money to buy a copy of Vista (if the OP decides to upgrade right away, that is), it might be worth it to look into Vista support for a new purchase. Not everyone replaces their video card every 6 months, and the price difference between an obsolete DX7 or 8 based card and a basic fully DX9 compatible card is only about $20 or so - which is worth paying if it saves you $50-$60 down the road.

Aero Glass won't be much more than window dressing at first, but over time developers might start coding image and video editing apps that can interact with WDM in a way similar to how Mac developers are using Core Image to speed up certain apps on the Mac. I figure any new system expected to be operating in three years' time without an upgrade ought to at least have Aero Glass capability.

 

[bob4432]

back in the day a friend had a 450MHz K-62 that had some type of rage 8mb video that played dvds fine.