[mythtv-users] looking for a new AGP card

[Phil Bridges]

On 4/13/07, Rod Smith <mythtv at rodsbooks.com> wrote:
> On Friday 13 April 2007 09:31, Phil Bridges wrote:
> > It seems that my current 5200-based nVidia AGP card won't scale my HD
> > recordings to 800x600 for the TV-out.  In addition, the TV-out on the
> > card is pretty poor quality.  As a result, I'm searching for a new AGP
> > card that is:
> >
> > - relatively cheap
> > - has a good TV-out
> > - can scale HDTV resolutions to 800x600 (I'm guessing a 6xxx +)
> > - is fanless
> >
> > Anybody have any recommendations?
>
> You don't need a 6xxx+ card to get the ability to scale HD to 800x600. I've
> tried this with three nVidia-based cards: an MX4000 with 64MB of RAM, an
> MX4000 with 128MB of RAM, and an FX5200 with 128MB of RAM. The latter two
> cards handle 800x600 output from HD source fine. The 64MB MX4000 didn't; it
> produced a blue screen (not a Windows-style crash, just a blue screen rather
> than video). I don't know for a fact that it's the RAM size that's the
> culprit; it could be something else about the design that's to blame.
>
> The two cards that worked are:
>
> - MX4000: MSI MX4000-T128
> - 5200FX: MSI (unknown model; bought used on eBay)
>
> All this said, you're probably better off with a 5200FX than with an MX4000,
> if those were your two choices (there are others, of course). The MX4000 is
> only given "legacy" support by nVidia, so you can't use the very latest
> drivers with it. This will eventually happen with the 5200FX, of course, but
> so far it's still current.
>
> I've also played back HD content at 800x600 with a 128MB card based on a SiS
> Xabre chipset, but it doesn't support XvMC and imposed more of a CPU load --
> enough that my 3.06GHz Celeron system couldn't play anything back without
> stuttering. If you had a fast enough CPU and found one cheaply enough,
> though, such a board would work.
>

Did these cards have good-wuality TV-outs?