[mythtv-users] Good card for HD playback

[Todd Ignasiak]

On 3/29/06, Warren <warren-lists at icruise.com> wrote:
> Todd Ignasiak wrote:
> > Back to the original topic..    I have been considering an upgrade for
> > a while.  What I'm looking for is a socket 939 motherboard, with
> > integrated Unichrome graphics, and an AGP or PCIe slot.  That way, I
> > can try 'XvMC Pro' MPEG decoder offload with the Unichrome, and if
> > that's not reliable enough, I can pop an NVidia card in it.  If that's
> > not reliable enough, I can do it in software on the dual core Athlon
> > 64 X2 CPU, while still having horsepower available for commercial
> > detection, transcoding, etc.
> >
> Things may have changes as I have been out of the VIA loop for a number
> of months now, but back in November, OpenChrome, which is the most
> advanced of the VIA drivers, did not have the ability to handle a
> resolution greater than 1280x1024.  That is fine for 720p, but you will
> not be able to do 1080i/p natively.  Also note that if there is a DVI or
> HDMI port, the support for the VT1625 HDTV chip is still experimental,
> so YMMV.

I am not currently a unichrome/openchrome user..   But, as I
understand it, the capabilities are determined by the chipset in use. 
 The older chipsets were resolution limited (I thought it was
1024x1024).  The newer "Unichrome Pro" chips are HD capable.   I have
read several reports of people using the CN400 for HD decoding.