SageTV Client smooth playback HD300 alike.

[stanger89]

Probably not really, it's just captured interlaced and processed with video deinterlacing algorithms. Sure there are better and worse ones (ones that retain more or less detail), but there's no weird cadence switching or interlaced/progressive transitions that you need relatively advanced algorithms to handle without showing errors.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by gilded07

Is there a perfect (use that word loosely) discreet video card (430?) or CPU/iGPU (i3 / Llano) that is generally recommended for HTPC? There are a thousand opinions out there on this - I'm interested in yours or Panteragstk's.

I did quite a lot of research into the GPU aspect of HTPC's because I wanted a projector. One of the articles I posted finally made my decision for me. I've used nvidia gpu's for gaming since geforce 2 (a long time), but for video quality amd/ati(daamit) has always looked better to me.

I purchased my 6570 because it was known to sync to the display very well without creating custom refresh rates (if you're lucky according to the article) and mine does it wonderfully out of the box. I don't drop or repeat any frames at all. The statistics in mpc-hc using the lav decoders and madvr show I'll drop a frame every 16hrs. Meaning the clocks aren't in PERFECT sync, but it wouldn't be possible to notice due to how long it would take to drop any frames. I'll post a screen shot when I get time, but as far as HTPC setups go that's as good as it gets when it comes to video playback.