[mythtv-users] Upgrade to VDPAU or fix my xorg file

[Brian Wood]

On Wednesday 03 June 2009 15:35:46 Johnny wrote:
> > Ya, my ati cards are pretty ancient, but they're good enough for this
> > computer since no real graphics stuff is done on it.
> > My 7300 is pci express, but i'd have to take it out of my mythbox and
> > replace it.
> > That's why i was thinking of going vdpau. I'd rather not spend anything
> > if i could, and just get the 2 ati cards to work if possible.
>
> I think the point was that your pci express 7300 will not work in
> whatever slot you have in your other computer (AGP or PCI?). So
> pulling the 7300 from your mythbox isn't really an option to fix your
> desktop situation. However, if you just want to get VDPAU then I would
> recommend picking up a card and going for it. The quality is
> impressive.

Yeah, that was my last point, unless the 7300 is PCI, which is unlikely, it 
won't work in the office machine, unless it has an AGP or PCIe slot.

If the goal is to get a dual-monitor setup working in the office machine, I'm 
not sure it's possible with the hardware that's in it now, and if the options 
are limited to PCI cards I'm not sure it can be done, it may be more of a 
driver issue than a hardware issue, the drivers for those old cards may not 
support the equivalent of nVidia's TwinView.

I think you can get Twinview working with a PCI version of a 5200 card, but 
those are getting very hard to find, and I wouldn't buy anything that old 
today. It might wind up costing more than replacing the mobo.

There are USB video devices around, but I suspect the drivers are Windows 
only, and a machine that old probably has only USB 1.1 in it anyway. I guess 
you could put a PCI USB 2.0 card in it, but how much is it reasonable to 
spend on a machine that old?

VDPAU-capable cards are remarkably cheap, even PCI cards are reported to work, 
though they might have problems with non-VDPAU stuff (OSD?).

If you really have to get dual monitors working on the office machine I'd go 
for a single card solution. Nividia twinview is the only way I know will work 
for sure, but there may be ATI answers.

-- 
beww
beww at beww.org