[mythtv-users] Recommended GeForce 5200 Cards

[Raphael Pooser]

Carl Litt wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> So I gather from the archives that the 5200 is the way to go with 
> MythTV.  But there are several vendors shipping cards with this GPU 
> (namely XFX, eVGA, Asus, etc).
>
> My question to the list is: Which vendor makes the best 5200 card?  By 
> best, I'm looking primarily for high quality SD TV-out, and secondly 
> ones with no GPU fan or a very quiet one.
>
> I've seen discussions saying that the TV out quality depends alot on 
> what TV encoder chip is used.  The 5200 supposedly has an integrated TV 
> encoder, but do any of the vendors use an external Conexant or Chrontel? 
>   I think I heard that the NV onboard encoder gave low quality output.
>
> Alternatively, is there a good motherboard with onboard 5200 and TV out?
>
> And at the risk of hijacking my own thread, what about the cards based 
> on the 5500?
>
> Thanks,
> Carl
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>   

With 5200's I found it's hard to go wrong, unless you get a fan of course.
I got a 5200 by Chaintech from Newegg just one week ago.  I'm not 
exactly sure of the TV-out encoder brand, but the quality is very, very 
good.  Much better than my 9600pro was getting.  With this Chaintech 
5200, it's impossible to tell the difference between mythtv and the 
regular TV on the same screen - that is a Sony Wega screen.  Actually, 
on some channels I'd say the picture is better, because the pvr-150 is 
doing a better job than the tv's own tuner on that channel, and the 5200 
preserves the quality on the output quite well.
Raphael