[mythtv-users] TiVo Convert Experience - HDTV Video Card Recommendation

[Douglas Wagner]

I don't know that anyone ever responded to this for you Jim:

A 3200+ is just fine.  I'm running only HD OTA stuff (no cable, no sat.) but
there's no issue with a 3000+ AMD chip.  I have pretty much the same board
you do (ASUS A8V-N or something like that...it's the PCI-E version) and i'm
running an NVidia 6200 (PCI-E not AGP since I couldn't find a board with AGP
on it for a price I liked).

My prior machine before this upgrade was a Pentium IV 2800 HT processor, I
was getting sound sync problems on ABC (sound up to 4 - 5 seconds off in
recordings and live TV...didn't happen when played through Xine)...however
after the upgrade to the 3000+ everything runs smooth as silk...now If I
could just get my damn keyboard to work correctly before the wife gets home
from Colorado, i'll be a very happy man with a very happy wife...I just
found the auto-commercial skip feature in the setup last night...boy will
she be surprised. :)

--Doug

On 5/2/07, Jim Shank <jim.shank at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks for the great feedback. Is the AMD Athlon 64 3200+ considered
> underpowered for this application?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Michael T. Dean
> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 3:34 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] TiVo Convert Experience - HDTV Video Card
> Recommendation
>
> On 05/02/2007 05:10 PM, Jim Shank wrote:
> > want to take
> > full advantage of 1080p on the new TV which leads me to asking for a
> > recommendation for a video card that will properly drive the new
> display.
> >
> > I can't begin to explain the suffering I went through in order to get
> the
> > ATI card to work at 640x480 via S-Video on my existing TV and still have
> > bowed edges to the picture. I have spent the last 5-hours Googling
> MythTV
> HD
> > and have determined that an nVidia card is the way to go.
>
> Yes.  For MythTV, I see it as: ATI = pain; NVIDIA = bliss.
>
> >  The FX5200 seems
> > to be the de-facto standard but there are some complaints about not
> being
> > able to keep up with 1080i/p.
>
> I've done 1080p output (using everything from PVR-x50-encoded 480i60 to
> OTA HDTV at 720p60 and 1080i60) on a GF4MX440, a GF5200, GF6200, and a
> GF7800GTX.  As far as TV goes, they're all fine.
>
> If you have an underpowered CPU and use XvMC for HDTV, you'll want at
> least a 5200 (and anything more won't really help).
>
> The main difference comes into play on the OpenGL.  The menu-based
> effects are not a problem for any of the cards.  However, for the GL
> transitions in MythGallery, the MX440 didn't even come close.  The 7800
> is more than enough for these, but it's really overkill in the grand
> scheme of things (i.e. the GL transitions aren't worth the $--I just
> happened to get it for another project, so...).
>
> Also, the MX440 required me to scale Goom to a quarter size for
> reasonable performance.  The 7800 works with it (and all of Project M
> visualizations) at full res.
>
> >  The 6200 is rumored to handle the resolution
> > better but appears to have problems with video-overlay namely the lack
> of
> > OSD colors.
>
> However, as someone who just replaced a GF4MX440 with a GF6200, I highly
> recommend getting a 6200.  The main reason is because it will be "one
> step later" before NVIDIA "end-of-life's" the card.  Besides, if you're
> a good shopper, you can find one for the same cost as a 5200.  While I
> can't tell you when the 6200 will become a "legacy" GPU--let alone when
> the 5200 will be--since they're both the same price, it's almost
> definitely going to cost you more to get a 5200 that you'll want to
> upgrade once it's legacy (assumes you upgrade your kernel and/or video
> drivers every once in a while).
>
> The lack of playback picture controls on the 6x00 and above is only an
> issue if you're the type who likes to change
> brightness/contrast/color/hue while watching TV.  You can use
> nvidia-settings to change them however you like and leave them there,
> but the main difference is that approach affects the GUI (i.e. X) as
> well as video playback.  (I, personally, happen to be an all-defaults
> kind of guy, so it's not an issue for me.)
>
> And, the 6200 should be fine for the GL transitions in MythGallery as
> well as the visualizations in MythMusic/xine/xmms/...
>
> >  It also seems that anything above that is a waste since this is
> > a 2D application and the system won't be used for anything beyond that.
> I
> > would appreciate a recommendation please.
> >
>
> Basically, yes--with the exception of OpenGL transitions in the gallery.
>
> Mike
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