MVP vs Video Card

[ig888ack]

I have GB-PVR running on my PC and things are working fine. I have a pretty old video card with terrible video out quality when I hook it up to the TV using S-Video. My questions are as follows...

1. Does the MVP use the video card at all or does it process all that info by itself?

2. Could I get an MVP and not worry about upgrading my video card?

3. If not, should I buy a really nice video card and hook it up to the TV and bypass buying an MVP altogether?

Thanks!

[HtV]

I have GB-PVR running on my PC and things are working fine. I have a pretty old video card with terrible video out quality when I hook it up to the TV using S-Video. My questions are as follows...

1. Does the MVP use the video card at all or does it process all that info by itself?

It does not use the video card

2. Could I get an MVP and not worry about upgrading my video card?

yes

3. If not, should I buy a really nice video card and hook it up to the TV and bypass buying an MVP altogether?

Depends a little on your situation. An MVP only plays MPEG2 and MP3 (maybe wma, I'm not sure) anything else would have to be transcoded (on the fly) first. So if you don't have a problem with having a computer "close" to your tv then go for the videocard. OTOH mvp's can be very handy for connecting extra tv's

[scott]

I use the MVP and really like it - main advantage is that you can run the TV anywhere you can get a cheap cat5 cable and the MVP unit is silent and puts out an excellent picture.

However, if you look through this part of the forum, you'll see that connection issues are pretty common. I'll have mine running fine for several months and then have it down for a solid week while I figit with restarting various components in various magical sinareos until bam - it's good again for a while.

So - based on my experience to date, I would recommend the main TV to be a direct connect from your computer's video card - and use an MVP as a play thing hooked up to a second screen somewhere else so it won't frustrate you or the family if/when the MVP acts up.