Video Cards

[johnmilky]

Can anyone recommend any good video cards pci or agp

[toony]

any preference on what you wish to do with them? Games, TV, etc...

[johnmilky]

HD TV

[toony]

Then I think you need the HD PVR to record HD...

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html

I don't think there is any tv video card that can record HD unless you are talking over the air HD.

[reggie14]

I think the OP is just looking for a normal video card for HDTV playback.

The problem is, I don't think hardware acceleration for H.264 and VC-1 work on AGP cards (an I can't imagine it would work on PCI cards, if you can even find those these days). I think all or most of the mpeg2 acceleration functionality works on AGP cards.

[planetc]

If it helps, I used to use a Radeon 9550 that coped with shifting my SD sources to 720p with VMR9 enabled on a really low spec Optiplex box. Not sure that it would be so good fed an HD source though, maybe ok if the rest of the hardware were up to it.

[toony]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I think the OP is just looking for a normal video card for HDTV playback.

The problem is, I don't think hardware acceleration for H.264 and VC-1 work on AGP cards (an I can't imagine it would work on PCI cards, if you can even find those these days). I think all or most of the mpeg2 acceleration functionality works on AGP cards.

Well if that's the case there are too many to list here, I bought an ATI .... All in Wonder AGP for $90 that had HD out, don't think it was HDCP complaint but that's not something I hear much about anymore. That was a couple years ago so I am sure you can get them pretty cheap.

[SWKerr]

Before you upgrade you might want to keep in mind that you can get a AMD X2 CPU, 2GB Ram and a 780G motherboard that has built in graphics that will easily do HD for about $160.

You subtract the cost of the new video card and for the incremental difference you might be better off upgrading you system than just adding a card. Depends on you needs and situation.

[toony]

He's got a point there.

[johnmilky]

well i got a 8mb video card and the picture looks ok but i though if i can get a better video card it would look way better like hd

[toony]

You aren't using an extender are you? If you are using Sagetv on the pc I would probably upgrade to a high end monitor that can support HD with low refresh rates. Might want to upgrade your system memory a bit as well before I go and do anything with the card. It might suit your purposes just fine.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by johnmilky

well i got a 8mb video card and the picture looks ok but i though if i can get a better video card it would look way better like hd

I just want to make sure you realize you probably won't get better picture quality from a new video card. You might be able to play back files that don't play back very well now though. For instance, I would expect HD playback would be pretty choppy, and SD playback might even be a little choppy too. But, SD videos will still look "soft" and any static currently present will still be there.

[Chriscic]

My ATI 2600Pro AGP accelerates HD and plays back even 1080p smoothly. The problem is I find the drivers to be quirky (prob. not the top priority for ATI to update) and the video must be encoded correctly to play back with acceleration, although I suppose the latter is true of any hardware assisted playback.

A fast CPU (and they are cheap now) is preferable to a new video card for HD playback.

Originally Posted by reggie14

I think the OP is just looking for a normal video card for HDTV playback.

The problem is, I don't think hardware acceleration for H.264 and VC-1 work on AGP cards (an I can't imagine it would work on PCI cards, if you can even find those these days). I think all or most of the mpeg2 acceleration functionality works on AGP cards.

[johnmilky]

No im not using a extender yet maybe later for other tvs but so a video card will not make my picture quality look any better then what would.

[toony]

Is this your card?
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...XL-B41&cat=VCD
Cause if it is I am not sure a $9.50 card is going to handle HD well. I thought your card was a more recent product.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by johnmilky

No im not using a extender yet maybe later for other tvs but so a video card will not make my picture quality look any better then what would.

It depends on what you're doing and what your problems are. Standard definition TV is standard definition TV, and nothing is going to change that. A new video card won't suddenly make SD look like HD, nor will anything else.

What are you watching TV on? A computer monitor or a TV? Some video cards have really poor TV-out. So, a new video card would help that. But, it doesn't look like your card has TV-out at all, so I assume you're watching it on a computer monitor. Your video card's VGA port is probably fine.

Also, I'm not suggesting not getting a video card, I'm merely trying to rein-in expectations. I wouldn't be surprised if your video card can't even handle playing back SD video without some stuttering. A new video card, like something in the ATI 2600 series or the ATI 3400/3600 series should help that, and would probably let you watch HD TV, if you get an HD tuner.

[SWKerr]

What exactly are you going to play back and on what device.

I watch on: Analog TV\ Monitor\ HDTV ???

I capture TV with: TV capture card ???

I also watch: DVD\Hulu\Netflix ???

This info would probably help recommend a correct solution.