[mythtv-users] Video card importance for HD playback

[Andy Alsup]

On Apr 10, 2005 12:09 AM, Jarod Wilson <jarod at wilsonet.com> wrote:
> On Saturday 09 April 2005 23:34, Andy Alsup wrote:
> > I just put in my order for an Athlon64 3500+  Abit AV8 mobo  w/ 1G pc3200.
> >
> > The box is going to be a HD frontend/backend with 2 Air2pc cards, and
> > maybe firewire from Comcast.
> >
> > In an effort to stay on budget, the rest of the hardware will come
> > from stuff lying around the house. Which leads to my question:
> >
> > I have a Radeon 7000 (AGP 2x / 64 MB) that is not being used.  I also
> > have a Radeon 9550 (AGP 8x / 128 MB) thats in my main workstation.  Is
> > it worth the trouble of reconfiguring my workstation with the 7000 so
> > I can have the 9550 in the myth box?
> >
> > From what I've read, the display card isn't that important unless XvMC
> > is used,
> 
> Not sure what you've been reading, because it most definitely is important.
> 

glad i asked then!  

> > which I understand might be supported by the Radeon hardware,
> > but not supported by the available drivers.  At any rate, I'm planning
> > on doing straight software HD decoding -- and I expect a 64/3500+
> > should do fine with that.
> >
> > Does it make a difference which card I use?  Should I get a different card?
> 
> I'd try it first with the Radeons, but I've used a Radeon 9000 Pro in the past
> for HDTV playback, and well, it sucked. There were assorted (and different)
> bugs with every variant of driver one can use with the card (radeon, fglrx,
> gatos) -- primarily on 1080i content, 720p was mostly okay. Anywho, I swapped
> in an nVidia card, and never looked back. A GeForce 4 MX is generally
> sufficient, though the smoothness of my FX 5200 is a bit better. I have my
> primary frontend hooked to an HDTV via the FX 5200, and a secondary hooked to
> a standard-def TV w/a GF4MX, both work great.
> 
> For reference, I've also got an Athlon 64 3500+ with a GeForce 6600GT (my
> workstation), which can handle HDTV playback, but Myth on A64 isn't as well
> optimized as x86, so the cpu is actually MORE utilized than my main frontend,
> which is an Athlon XP 3200. A Pentium 4 around 3.0GHz is really the best
> choice for a dedicated HD Myth box at the moment (which is exactly what I'm
> setting up for a friend right now).
> 

I thought about going with a p4, but i havent bought intel since my
p90 in '94!  AMD all the way since then.  And, i really wanted to try
Fedora/64.  I hope I dont regret it, but I'll see how it goes.

Is the video card performance related to drivers, or is it the
hardware on the card, or combination of both?

Thanks for the input.