[mythtv-users] looking for a new AGP card

[Rod Smith]

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.

-- 
Rod Smith
http://www.rodsbooks.com