[mythtv-users] 350 Tv Out vs. Nvidia 5200

[Brian Stults]

Mark Gardner wrote:
> Can anyone comment on the quality comparison between the two
> abovementioned chipsets?
> 
> Advantages / Disadvantages, I have a 350 and have struggled on and off
> now for about 5 months to get it to work (Got it to work once but then
> the HD died).
> Mostly interested in quality of TV playback.
> 

Initially I was using the 350 TV-out.  However, it wasn't playing DVDs
very well, so I switched to an MX440 about a year ago.  I used that for
about 8 months and was reasonably happy, but the TV quality was nowhere
near that of the 350.

Having read that people were quite pleased with the FX5200, I bought one
about 4 months ago.  It was a step up from the MX440 in TV quality, and
DVDs still played very well.

About a month after that, John Harvey released his XV driver for the
350's decoder, so I decided to give it a try.  Well, now I'm right back
where I started - using the 350's TV-out.  TV playback is still far
superior to the MX440 and FX5200.  It's flawless.  Perhaps even better
quality than going straight from my cable box.  Now, DVD playing is much
better than it used to be, and I would say it is equal to the quality I
was getting with my FX5200.  I can't remember for sure what my CPU usage
is when watching DVDs, but I think it was lower than with the FX5200.
Of course, just watching TV on it takes virtually no CPU.  Using the
latest 0.3.x drivers, I haven't had any stability problems.

The PVR350 TV-out has come a long way in the past few months, so I
encourage anyone who gave up on it to give it another try.