What AGP Video Card Do You Use For HDTV?

[sub]

So, do you think there's any chance of using one of these with my ageing system (AMD XP2800+) to get NZ DVB-T (non-choppy) playback or is it time to upgrade (sigh).

I dont know - maybe. That was certainly my theory when upgrading the video card in my 2.8GHz P4 AGP machine. The drivers on these cards a pretty flakey though, so I dont think I'd give them the big thumbs up recommendation.

If you're lucky, and dont experience serious problems getting the videocard drivers installed and working, then it should make your machine able to playback the new highdef DVB-T signals without struggling.

Unfortunately there is no alternative to these cards when it comes to AGP. There is no nvidia AGP card that will give you H.264 acceleration.

I would assume that my present AGP card with the XP2800+ processor isn't going to cut it.

Correct. No chance. My AMD X2 4400+ processor in another machine wasnt able to smoothly decode these channels - it was using a near constant %95-100 CPU across both cores.

The faster intel core 2 duo processors fare a little better, with my E6550 machine giving about %75 CPU usage when using software decoding of these channels.

[hasso]

No chance. My AMD X2 4400+ processor in another machine wasnt able to smoothly decode these channels - it was using a near constant %95-100 CPU across both cores.

The faster intel core 2 duo processors fare a little better, with my E6550 machine giving about %75 CPU usage when using software decoding of these channels.

Thanks for the feedback. If that is the case, it does seem that maybe the most cost effective best solution, instead of getting a new PC, is to purchase a dedicated networked client, such as the Popcornhour discussed elsewhere. Then just use the PC as the video capture server. Maybe then no more worries about what video card will/won't do whatever.

[wtg]

OK, so based on this thread and some other research, I purchased an AGP HD2600Pro for my Dell 4600 2.8 GHz P4 HT with 756 megs. I was thinking (hoping?) that this rig would do 720p video with no problem, but so far that's not the case.
...<snip>...
What do we think? Seems to me this rig ought to be able to do this, no?

Yes, that machine should have enough horsepower. I have an AMD 2500+ using an AGP ATI x1600 Pro and it does 720p and 1080i HD fine. I've heard about driver problems with the 2600's that kept them from using the hardware for MPEG acceleration but I thought that'd been sorted out - maybe not?

For testing purposes it might be worthwhile to fall back to the old gbpvr interface and run it in Overlay mode just to see if you can get good fullscreen playback there. I think that's what VLC uses and what Windows Media Player defaults to, and it doesn't strain the system as much as pvrx2 and VMR9. It should at least reduce some of the variables involved as you try to sort things out.

By the way, since you mention sound dropping out too you might try using a tool like http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=951 to adjust your system's PCI latency. The default settings of NVidia and ATI driver installations can starve other system components of bus time and result in stuttering audio and lower frame rates. The above tool makes it easy to modify and it definitely made a difference on my system. Search for "PCI latency" to learn more about it.

Good luck!

[probeGT]

Thanks, WTG. . . I think you're pointing me toward something. I tried old GBPVR interface, and same stuttery playback. Also checked WM Player, and stuttery there as well.

So, I tried that latency program. Funny thing is, nothing shows up for my Video card. Intel AGP controller chipset shows up, but nothing for video card itself. This ain't right, is it?

What I had installed was an Omega installer I found on another board that supposedly fixes driver problems . . . I decided to try to install latest ATI driver, but it says "no compatible hardware found." Very weird. So I reinstalled the driver from video card disk. Still doesn't show up in latency program, although it does show up in Windows device drivers.

It seems to me like I have some kind of hardware issue. My power supply is not 400 watts. . . could this be it?

[wtg]

probeGT,

Really odd that your video card wasn't showing up in the device manager... something was definitely amiss. Any possibility that your MB has on-board video and that this is enabled? I could see things getting dicey if both are active. It's very, very strange that the latest ATI driver don't even see the hardware.

It also seems strange that there's no entry for your video card in the latency settings. Every AGP system I've tried it on always has a value, but I can't say I have any experience with the ATI 2600 cards.

I'd also be surprised if it was the PSU, but I suppose it's possible. I'd think the video would crap out entirely but perhaps not. Here's a link to a good PSU calculator. See if it thinks a 400 watt PSU is big enough for your system. It's pretty thorough. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Good luck. Let us know what you find out.

[athomas]

I used an AMD Sempron 3000+ and a FX5200 AGP card for testing and it ran 720P content just fine and even handled 1080p content until the motion got really intense. Then it dropped the odd scene. I think, if I optimized some settings, that I could have made it work with the 1080p video.

I had another machine running an ATI 1650XT. It rocked the 1080p content, no problem, but the CPU was a bit better as well as an AMD AthlonX2 4200+

Power supply ratings are tricky. Don't take the watt ratings as the real value of the supply. The current ratings on the rails are the ratings that really matter. For instance, you may get a 400watt supply with a 17A rating on the 12v rail and a 350watt supply with a 23A rating on the 12v rail. The 12v rail is important when providing power to the CPU and video card. The 350watt supply is probably the better choice here. Cheaper supplies usually add up all the watt ratings for all outputs to give you a rating. Higher end manufacturers use the supplies actual supply rating. If you add up the total power capabilities of each rail, it will add up to more than the rating of the supply. Any one rail could give you a higher percentage of the power depending on where it is needed. This is the better scenario.

[Deusxmachina]

It seems to me like I have some kind of hardware issue. My power supply is not 400 watts. . . could this be it?

Power supplies can cause weird problems, but I doubt that has anything to do with the no driver showing up type problems. My HTPC currently has a C2D, ATI 2400, a "300 watt" cheapie PS with a pitiful 10 amps on the +12v, and I never noticed any power problems despite not even thinking the PC should boot.

2400 is a very low wattage card, though. I'm going to put my 7600GT in there this weekend, and I bet it won't like it. I used to game with the 7600GT and a 22a I think power supply. It often froze after 30 minutes of play. With a 2900xt, recommended +12v amps are around 35(!).

I've been getting stuttering on playing even non-HD files on my other computer which is way beefier. I'll have to look into the PCI latency thing since I'm running out of ideas. For me, seems to be the more the hard drive is being used the worse it is. The CPU will be at, say, 40% or whatever, but the audio/video stutters if I have many files downloading or being unzipped, etc. Defrag didn't help.

If drivers don't show up where they're supposed to, yeah, sounds like a driver problem.

[nbarsley]

OK, so based on this thread and some other research, I purchased an AGP HD2600Pro for my Dell 4600 2.8 GHz P4 HT with 756 megs. I was thinking (hoping?) that this rig would do 720p video with no problem, but so far that's not the case.

Just as an FYI-
I can play 720p with windows media classic on my machine (it doesnt work with gbpvr probably because gbpvr uses more hp/memory). I have a 2.4P4 with 1 gig of memory and a fx5200 128.
I'm going to buy a 2600xt soon so I'll post my results after I buy it. Has anyone tried hacking the drivers show that they work correctly with agp? I've seen a few posts on sapphire's forum and avsforum about that trick. I think they forgot to add agp cards to the list of available cards or something.

[probeGT]

Well, I've been a busy bee since last post, but still haven't achieved anything.

I tried the AVS thing where you supposedly enable the hardware accelleration on AGP, and that didn't help. I bought a new 500W power supply. I re-installed Intel AGP drivers. I tried another AGP video card in my machine (an Invidia MX400 or something) and it doesn't show up in PCI latency program either. However, when I installed the MX400 on another computer (Athlon 1.1 GHz), it DOES show up in PCI latency program. HOWEVER (and I love this part), if I install the 2600Pro in that same machine it DOESN'T show up in PCI latency.

Today, I re-installed Windows XP and installed latest driver and patch (8.1) from ATI. It DOES recognize the card now, and all the Catalyst Control Center stuff seems to work. But still, stuttery playback of 720p in GB-PVR. But beautiful playback with VideoLan player.

Aaarrrgh. . . I just don't know. Stuff looks so nice on VideoLan, but I really want to use GB-PVR.

Oh. . . and I don;t know if this matters, but since all I want to do with this machine and this particular GB-PVR is play streaming HD over my network, I haven't installed or configured any of the capture/EPG options. But that shouldn't matter for what I'm trying to do, should it?

Thanks so much, guys. . . the insight so far has at least helped me to learn about how this stuff works.

[arttext]

I just revamped my HTPC and was browsing when my eye felt on this thread.
What I noticed is that hardware and software vendors promise a lot but rarely deliver.
My new machine (see for specs in my sig). Plays 1080 files (either V1 or h264) just barely, sometimes a stutter. (720 files give no problem at all).The video is taken care of by the ATI card (Nvidia pure video can't handle V1 stream) and doe a good job for a reasonable price. It's just on the market and prices will drop. The realtek HD audio decoder(native) works ok, but also just. Powerdvd is supposed to handle HD dvd's (and when I will have a drive) blu-ray, but it get's stuck.
So basically it comes down to too little processor power. I will have to go out again and buy the Athlon 64X2 6400+ to replace my 4400, and I hope then my problems will be over. The bright side is that these Athlon's are very reasonably priced.

Bottom line: when you really want to do HD proper (apart from the cost of a HD screen) you have to invest, or don't do it.
I tried to do it in little steps but in the end I spent more money then I would have if I had done it properly in the first place.
So my 4400+ is for sale .

arttext