[mythtv-users] The ideal video card for MythTV

[steve at nexusuk.org]

On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Tor Hovland wrote:

> I have searched and searched, but it doesn't seem like anyone has given a
> conclusive answer to this:

I'm not sure there is a conclusive answer :)

You might also want to see the discussion I've been having in the "Myth 
0.14 - Version 1.0??" thread about the shortcomings of the nVidia drivers.

> - s-video out that works well with X
> - supports XVideo (also on s-video)
> - excellent driver stability
> - silent (must not be audible in the living room)
> - sensible price
> - must be available in retail
> - Supports overscan

the nVidia MX440 cards will do all this, but...

> - supports interlacing
> - excellent picture quality on s-video (should be next to impossible to
> notice a difference from the stand-alone tv)

The nVidia drivers don't support interlacing (the hardware does, this is 
supposed to be work in progress on the driver... but it's been work in 
progress for years so don't hold your breath).
Most VGA cards will do some sucky scaling and deinterlacing on the TV 
outputs, which you don't want... Generally it isn't _bad_, but it could 
certainly be a lot better.

> The PVR-350 seems to fail on XVideo and driver stability. General video

The PVR350 will do everything you want except Xvideo and driver stability 
- I understand the quality of the Svid output is absolutely stunning.

> cards other than NVidia often seem to fail on XFree support and XVideo,

As far as I can see, the reason for going with NV cards is they provide 
the /dev/nvidia0 device that Myth will sync with to prevent tearing...

> according to the MythTV docs, or they are old and unavailable. The GeForce4
> MX440 seems like a good bet, however I'm worried about picture quality and
> fan noise.

You can get MX440's without fans (they just have chunkier heatsinks).  In 
any case, if you get one with a fan you can buy a big heatsink for it and 
replace the fan.

-- 

 - Steve                                             http://www.nexusuk.org/

     Servatis a periculum, servatis a maleficum - Whisper, Evanescence