Best MPEG-2 decoder for Sage and DVDs

[maxpower2078]

Do you think that nVdvd will work with my PVR-250, ATI AIW 128 Pro 32mb combo?

I tried out the sonic one and it was a worse picture than I get from the decoder included with the pvr-250 drivers.

Here is the list of chipsets supported

Graphics Chips Supported
All Microsoft DirectX® 8.x compatible chips, including:
NVIDIA® GeForce 256
NVIDIA GeForce2 family
NVIDIA GeForce3 family
NVIDIA GeForce4 family
NVIDIA GeForce FX family
NVIDIA Quadro® family
NVIDIA Quadro2 family
NVIDIA Quadro DCC family
NVIDIA Quadro4 family
NVIDIA Quadro FX family
NVIDIA nForce family
NVIDIA nForce2 family
ATI® Radeon family
Intel® i845G
Intel i815G/i815EG

but I figured my may not be on here becuase it is so old, but may be similiar enough to the ATI Radeon??? Well that is what I was hoping.

Are there any other options for me?

[mls]

I don't know for sure, but I'd have might doubts about much of anything working very well with an AIW 128 Pro. That's a pretty obsolete card with very little RAM. As far as I know, nvDVD requres an Radeon on the ATI side.

You might want to try PowerDVD though. That might work with that low level of a graphics card and may be slightly better than what came with the PVR-250, but not as good as sonic or nvDVD would be (from what I understand) with a higher level card.

[maxpower2078]

yeah I know it is so old, I just threw this machine together and that is what I had.

Is that going to effect the final product though. The only thing really important is the actual encoded mpeg. So if nVdvd is doing the decoding, what is going to do the best encoding?

Plus I thought this was done by the hardware.

[mls]

The encoding is done in the hardware of the PVR-250, so the recording will be as good as whichever recording quality you select. The video card will only limit how well it can be played back.

[mls]

Originally Posted by maxpower2078

yeah I know it is so old, I just threw this machine together and that is what I had.

Hey, don't feel too bad. I've got even an older original ATI AIW Pro with only 8Meg in one of my old beater machines here. Of course, I don't use that machine for much of anything other than web surfing now anymore.

Also got an ATI (not an AIW) card with only 2Meg, and a really old generic vid card with only 512K. Of course, I don't make much use of those other than for a quick setup to test a motherboard or something like that.

[maxpower2078]

Thanks, I should have realized that. Anyways, I am just goofing around, I need to step up to a digital source though. I am currently using basic cable, but it is cheap, I will give it that.

[mls]

Originally Posted by maxpower2078

Thanks, I should have realized that. Anyways, I am just goofing around, I need to step up to a digital source though. I am currently using basic cable, but it is cheap, I will give it that.

Ya, all I have is "basic" cable here also. It's included in the rent so I don't have to pay extra for it. I could get digital cable, but then I'd have to pay for that. I don't see much I'd really watch on the digital channels anyway without paying even more extra for the good stuff, so I'm sticking with the cheap stuff myself also.