[mythtv-users] Does video card brand matter? VDPAU

[Tortise]

> > I went out today a bought what I thought was a Gigabyte 9500GT 1Gb card
> > but it turned out to be a 9400GT instead (the box said 9500GT!). The
> > supplier does not have any more Gigabyte cards but has ECS and Inno3d
> > versions of the same card so I was wondering if the brand makes any
> > difference. My only real “requirement” is an HDMI output and I would be
> > satisfied with either 512mb or 1GB. I have read that some brands, like
> > Gainward have issues with VDPAU so want to make sure that what I get is
> > compatible with everything else.
>
> In general the answer is no, the specific card manufacturer should not
> matter. VDPAU is provided by the nvidia GPU and the driver. Having
> said that there are certainly ways for a manufacturers to screw things
> up (not follow spec) or just make a crappy card that will fail. So
> brand matters in terms up support and quality, but generally is not an
> issue in terms of VDPAU support.

Another thing I'd look at is the capacitor types used, the new solid (non electrolytic) are said to have longer lives.