[mythtv-users] SD only Frontend video card advice

[Matthew Schroeder]

First off I'd like to mention that this is my very first post to this
list, be gentle!  

I am building a new secondary frontend specifically for SD viewing only. 
My wife and I have a penchant for watching britcoms and old cartoons with
the kids, so there is no need for any type of HD capability on this box. 
This machine will be hooked up to a regular old-school NTSC television via
S-Video.

I was searching eBay to look for appropriate (and cheap) video cards to
utilize.  I need a PCI card due to limitations on the hardware I have
available. 

So far everybody has been recommending the FX series of cards (especially
a fanless 5200 or 5500).  I would like to know if an older Nvidia card
with S-Video out will work adequately for my needs.

I've been looking at a whole variety of cards, ranging from GF4-MX420
models up to and including a GF4-MX5500. 

All I really need at this point is the S-Video out.  I do not need
additional processing power for this machine (like iDCT offload).  XvMC
would be nice, but not an absolute requirement.  The CPU I have will be a
2.0Ghz Northwood Intel proc with 512mb RAM.

Most of the files that I'll be playing are XviD encodes of 4:3 britcoms
and cartoons, avg bitrate is usually 1.0Mbps.  From what I've read on this
matter iDCT and XvMC do not come into play when working with non-MPEG2
files.  The limiting factor is the CPU and memory.  The video card should
serve basically as a dumb tv-out device, and not much more.  I would think
that 2.0Ghz should be adequate for most anything 480p.

The *sweet spot* for these ultra cheap PCI cards looks to be the MX4000. 
Half the price of the FX5200 in the aftermarket.  And it supports XvMC
(tho not iDCT).

I've been told in the past that the newer cards offer greater flexibility
with the new proprietary NVidia drivers.  I was unsure if the FX5200 was
the farthest back I should reach without expecting issues, or if I could
reach further back to an MX4000 or earlier?

-
Matthew Hager Schroeder
blaupolisboxen at yahoo.com

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