Nvidia Video Card guide

[malore]

Originally Posted by AtariJeff

Are you happy with the PQ of the 6200 with the newer drivers? I had stair-stepping so bad I had to, yet again, back out to version 84.21. Now its great.

I switched back and forth between a HDTV show being recorded on SageTV and the direct broadcast and the pictures were nearly identical. I was surprised that I couldn't see any differences in the brightness and color. The only difference I noticed was that the CBS logo wasn't perfectly round on the SageTV output, most likely caused by scaling to underscanned 720p.

Analog recordings are another matter. Using the purevideo decoders with hardware acceleration, I get some noise speckles in the picture. They can be clearly seen on the Sci-Fi logo and on the back of the woman’s shirt. The grass, water and building look sharper and more detailed with intervideo decoder (WinDVD4). The SageTV decoder looks almost as good, but the logo has jagged stair steps. Selecting the nvidia postprocessing decoder, which seems to force software decoding, removes the speckles, but still doesn't have as much detail as the intervideo decoder.

Anyone know what is causing the speckles with hardware acceleration? I briefly tried a trial of WinDVD7 and it suffered the same speckling with hardware acceleration, plus HDTV playback wasn't as efficient. Also, as far as I can tell, HDTV shows and DVDs are rendered fine.

[willemse]

Autoboy and others thank you for the extensive information.

I have the following question though;
I use: Sage V 6.0.15, Sage MC Version 6.13, Graphics card Gigabyte 7600GS and Nvidia DVD decoder and SDTV output.

It is not clear to me whether picture quality improves when I use the Pure Video Decoder?
Any experience and/or input is appreciated including recommended settings for the Decoder.
Tks

[Surtr]

Follow up question on all of this great information:

I'm upgrading my sage client (XP 1700+, radeon 7000) to an athlon 64 3400+ and a geforce 7300 GS. Does the amount of video memory effect HD playback?

Would I notice any difference in HD playback between the 128MB and 256MB versions of a 7300 GS?

-Justin

[justplainnuts]

I have been reading this post and searching throughout the forum in an effort to find the best choice of a video card to output true 1080p x 1920 resolution. Any suggestions?

[Polypro]

HD Played back fine when I had a 128 Meg 6600GT.

7600GT is the recommended minimum to get all supported PureVideo features.

...that being said...

With a 7950GT, 93.71 ForceWare, and PureVideo Decoder .223 - Inverse Telecine (Invoke Jaggies Please) and "Smart" are still broken.

If you watch any SD content at all, ticking the "Inverse Telecine" box will make every line look jagged/combed. (Tested on a hockey game - look at the face off circles and sticks).

"Smart" mode still hiccups in and out (Tested on BSG, watch the Sci-Fi logo and any lines around it when it switches).

HD and DVD looked ok, but if you watch any SD at all, "Automatic" and no IVTC is what you want.

...which could mean a GT is overkill and a 7300/7600GS is fine since the "Advanced PureVideo Features" don't work properly.

P

[Surtr]

Here's an update on my experience:

Upgraded my sage client (formerly athlon XP 1700+, radeon 7000) to an Athlon XP 3400+ and a PCIE geforce 7300GS - passively cooled.

Well, HD played back quite smoothly and looked excellent, but unfortunately the machine would lock up hard fairly frequently -- multiple times per hour. Tried different drivers, checked temps, etc. Only thing I could think was that maybe the gfx card was overheating -- it showed a temp of > 70 degrees C.

Long story short, I tore everything out, put my old CPU, motherboard and radeon 7000 back in and am returning the new stuff. I'm gonna try an actively cooled AGP radeon x1300 or something next.

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by Polypro

HD Played back fine when I had a 128 Meg 6600GT.

7600GT is the recommended minimum to get all supported PureVideo features.

...that being said...

With a 7950GT, 93.71 ForceWare, and PureVideo Decoder .223 - Inverse Telecine (Invoke Jaggies Please) and "Smart" are still broken.

If you watch any SD content at all, ticking the "Inverse Telecine" box will make every line look jagged/combed. (Tested on a hockey game - look at the face off circles and sticks).

"Smart" mode still hiccups in and out (Tested on BSG, watch the Sci-Fi logo and any lines around it when it switches).

HD and DVD looked ok, but if you watch any SD at all, "Automatic" and no IVTC is what you want.

...which could mean a GT is overkill and a 7300/7600GS is fine since the "Advanced PureVideo Features" don't work properly.

P

PureVideo works properly; I can play back the same video files in Windows Media Player with PureVideo and get perfectly smooth playback. It's Sage's implementation of MPEG playback that introduces the stuttering.

[Polypro]

I don't have stutter.

http://www.missingremote.com/index.p...907&Itemid=166

The "Smart" problem (which has been around a loooong time) is noticed in the above review. It's present with SD as well. He doesn't mention the IVTC problem, but if you put up SD in a windowed program and the Driver panel in another...tick and un-tick IVTC while watching something with a lot of lines. I get a hockey stick that goes from normal to candy-cane/barber pole look.

P

[justplainnuts]

Ok, I didn't understand most of that stuff. I consider myself an advanced computer user/builder, but I guess I am not up on all the graphix card lingo.

The one thing I did get is that the 7600GT is the minimum I should consider. Does that mean a 7800GT/GS would be even better? I have found an AGP 7800GS which will work great with my motherboard (I have not entered the world of PCI express just yet). Will the 7800GS display 1080p x1920 without problems?

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by justplainnuts

Ok, I didn't understand most of that stuff. I consider myself an advanced computer user/builder, but I guess I am not up on all the graphix card lingo.

The one thing I did get is that the 7600GT is the minimum I should consider. Does that mean a 7800GT/GS would be even better? I have found an AGP 7800GS which will work great with my motherboard (I have not entered the world of PCI express just yet). Will the 7800GS display 1080p x1920 without problems?

The 7600GT is recommended because it combines full PureVideo acceleration features with a high core clockspeed (560-580mhz). PureVideo performance scales with clockspeed, so the 7600GT @ 560mhz will outperform a "better" 7800GT @ 400mhz.

The AGP 7800GS is a good overclocker. Mine was 375mhz stock, but I overclocked it to 460mhz w/o a hitch. It can play 1080P Windows Media sample videos (scaled to fit my 1600x1200 screen) with low CPU usage and no stuttering.

[mattdcknsn]

Originally Posted by Surtr

Here's an update on my experience:

Upgraded my sage client (formerly athlon XP 1700+, radeon 7000) to an Athlon XP 3400+ and a PCIE geforce 7300GS - passively cooled.

Well, HD played back quite smoothly and looked excellent, but unfortunately the machine would lock up hard fairly frequently -- multiple times per hour. Tried different drivers, checked temps, etc. Only thing I could think was that maybe the gfx card was overheating -- it showed a temp of > 70 degrees C.

Long story short, I tore everything out, put my old CPU, motherboard and radeon 7000 back in and am returning the new stuff. I'm gonna try an actively cooled AGP radeon x1300 or something next.

One thing you might want to look at is the power supply. I was getting lock ups constantly on a smaller PS, once I switched to a 350 watt PS it works great. Its worth a shot.

[camus]

Originally Posted by Polypro

With a 7950GT, 93.71 ForceWare, and PureVideo Decoder .223 - Inverse Telecine (Invoke Jaggies Please) and "Smart" are still broken.

If you watch any SD content at all, ticking the "Inverse Telecine" box will make every line look jagged/combed.

"Smart" mode still hiccups in and out (Tested on BSG, watch the Sci-Fi logo and any lines around it when it switches).

FWIW, I am using the same Forceware and PV versions with a 7600GS.

I get the same problem with "Inverse Telecine" on with SD, it isn't horrible but certainly noticeable. Wasn't sure what was causing it until I read this post and checked.

I do use Smart and it works for most SD, except for some older movies, pre early 90's on certain channels it really gets jumpy, I was attributing it to poor transfer and/or weak signal.

[justplainnuts]

So are there other higher-end cards that perform better than the 7600 as far as 1080P x 1920 video performance? I see a lot of people using the 7600 but not higher-end cards. What about the 7900, 7950, 8800?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by justplainnuts

So are there other higher-end cards that perform better than the 7600 as far as 1080P x 1920 video performance? I see a lot of people using the 7600 but not higher-end cards. What about the 7900, 7950, 8800?

I think why you see most using the 7600GT, is because it is powerful enough to do everything you would want and it isn't quite the space heater (which means loud fans) that the 7900/8800's are. Plus, most users just want to watch videos, so anything above "powerful enough" to do what I want, is lost (i.e. not gamers). Oh and the cost plays in. Why buy a 7900, when I can get a 7600GT and tuner for the same price and we could all use more tuners!

[elaw]

So here's a question for those of still in the stone age with AGP slots...

From nvidia's feature chart, it looks to me like a 7600GT (AGP version) isn't any better for Sage purposes than a 6600GT.

Is that right or am I missing something?

[justplainnuts]

Yes, us cavemen would like to know. Geico commercials are not our only favorite shows you know!

[Surtr]

Originally Posted by mattdcknsn

One thing you might want to look at is the power supply. I was getting lock ups constantly on a smaller PS, once I switched to a 350 watt PS it works great. Its worth a shot.

I've got a Seasonic S12 in there, should be more than adequate. I just can't decide what the heck to get for a graphics card now; looking to spend not more than about $100. Right now the x1300 and x1600 pros are looking like they are leading the pack.

[Surtr]

Quick update in case anyone is listening -

I ended up getting a Radeon 9800 pro (brother-in-law had one sitting around unused). I really wasn't expecting too much from it as I was planning on getting something newer and faster, but I threw it in there and it works great. Using the latest powerDVD decoders and overlay and HD (from HDHomeRun) looks outstanding. Picture is awesome, playback is smooth.

Here's my client stats:

Athlon XP 1700+
384 MB RAM
Radeon 9800 pro
Overlay renderer
Latest PowerDVD 7 decoders

-Justin

[Fluffdaddy]

Tip/advice. Buy a spare fan for your Radeon 9800 pro , I had two Radeon 9800 pro's and both had fans that stop working after about 8 months. You will know when your system start locking up on you, because vid card is overheating

[edgley]

Thanks for the tip about Fraps, got it working a treat with Sage.

Should it also work with WMP or ZP, as I cannt seem to get it to display a fps.

Thanks.