[mythtv-users] The ideal video card for MythTV

[Jarod C. Wilson]

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On Monday 09 February 2004 07:40, Harry Orenstein wrote:
> OK, I'll take a shot at this:
>
> There is no ideal solution.

I concur. At least, until nVidia gets support for interlaced modes into their 
binary driver (which *supposedly* may be a work in progress). Then it'll be 
full-out 1920x1080i glory on my HDTV, which I would call very ideal. ;-)

> As far as I have been able to tell, every
> solution has its shortcomings.  Given sufficient time the PVR-350
> may evolve into the best solution

I can see it going two ways. 1) The ivtv driver evolves to the point where the 
350's output is rock-solid (mine crashed the system typically at least once a 
day) and all MythTV functionality work though it. 2) nVidia adds support for 
interlaced modes into a new driver revision (and finally brings back proper 
vsync support, overscanning, etc).

> even tmk has stated that
> he is unsure if yuv output to it will ever be achievable (anyone
> can correct me if my impression of this is wrong).

I haven't been following the ivtv list much of late (no time), so I can't 
comment much, but I thought yuv output was already possible (just not useable 
by anything but cli tools).

> Personally, I like my PNY GFMX440se.  nVidia provides an acceptible
> driver (4363) which handles overscan, seems to be pretty stable,
> supports xv, has excellent svideo quality (video-wise, text-wise it is
> a little shakey), no fan, available retail, it even supports accellerated
> video out using XvMC (which Myth supports).  Possibly best of all
> it only cost me $20 AR.  I don't know if it is available for that price
> any longer, but you should be able to find it for under $50 (I
> caught a really good deal at TigerDirect).

I'm extremely happy with the results from the onboard GF4MX on my nForce2 
board, as well as the fanless GF4MX AGP card in my other system. FWIW, I had 
to stop using the 350's output, because of stability problems that were 
negatively impacting the WAF (and ticking me off too). I find the picture 
quality only marginally lower than that of the 350, and I'll take the 
stability any day. Oh, and I like actually being able to play my ~200 divx 
rips.

> I'm sure others will provide different perspectives, but that's my
> 0.016 Euros (0.02 US).

And my 0.222466 pesos.

> Not mentioned in your request are the possibility of DVI out or
> component out, which might be considerations if you ever wanted
> to go high-end for output.

That too. If you've got a High-Definition TV, I think you're much better off 
with a GF4-series card than a 350. However, I'm contemplating switching over 
to a SiS card, since the winischhofer driver now has initial support for 
1080i modes on the DigiMatrix's YPbPr output, which I figure I should be able 
to spit out the VGA port through my VGA to YPbPr adapter for the same 
effect...

> Jarod, care to jump in at this point?   ;-)

Only because I was invited. ;-)

- -- 
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE

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