ATI HD3650, a great video card

[Torque]

I finally got around to upgrading my PVR with something capable of playback from my HDHomeRun. I have had enough of nVidia's crappy video drivers and quirky Purevideo so I was waiting till ATI released a solid low power card.

The HD3450 looked good but I had been reading alot about how people still weren't able to get solid HD playback in Windows XP (the drivers seem more mature for Vista this time around), so I went with the HIS HD3650. It's a passively cooled card that has heatpipes that wrap over the top with a heat exchanger on the back side of the card... this was perfect because it meant my PVR would stay very quiet and I could keep the tuner in the slot just below the PCIe slot. My only worry was the heatpipes would hit the top of the case. Non-issue, it fit perfect and the heat exchanger sits right in front of the rear exhaust fan

While using the EVR render and ATI's AVIVO decoders, SD and HD playback is flawless.

[linene]

I finally got around to upgrading my PVR with something capable of playback from my HDHomeRun. I have had enough of nVidia's crappy video drivers and quirky Purevideo so I was waiting till ATI released a solid low power card.

The HD3450 looked good but I had been reading alot about how people still weren't able to get solid HD playback in Windows XP (the drivers seem more mature for Vista this time around), so I went with the HIS HD3650. It's a passively cooled card that has heatpipes that wrap over the top with a heat exchanger on the back side of the card... this was perfect because it meant my PVR would stay very quiet and I could keep the tuner in the slot just below the PCIe slot. My only worry was the heatpipes would hit the top of the case. Non-issue, it fit perfect and the heat exchanger sits right in front of the rear exhaust fan

While using the EVR render and ATI's AVIVO decoders, SD and HD playback is flawless.

I second this glowing review of the 3650. I got the sapphire with a fan...it is very quiet(and much cheaper $80 bucks at newegg). ...can barely hear it with the case open and can't with it closed. I bought the ddr2 version (saved another 20 bucks over the ddr3 version)... can't see needing ddr3 for dedicated htpc box. I also use evr to render. Torque are you hemi345 on avsforums? Sounds like you on there.

[Torque]

That's me. I would have went with the regular Sapphire version, but it seems that, in the past, I'm always taking a knife to a gun fight, so to speak. So this time I wanted to show up with a something on the higher end. I'm glad that worked out for you. I have friends and family in the same boat as me and it's good to know that something a little cheaper will work just as well.

[linene]

I am linen over there (somehow I added and e to linen when I registered here). I agree about the knife to a gun fight, that is why I opted for a 3650 instead of a 3450...time will tell if it was necessary. What decoder are you using?

Oh...by the way, it looks like there are new drivers out today (catalyst 8.2). I might try an upgrade tonight since I have been having trouble with my screen saving in vista not activating the screen (hdmi connnected) when I move the mouse etc. Only way I can get the screen back is to vnc (actuallly logmein) into the machine...when I do that the screen wakes...hmmm???

[Torque]

Oh, I miss read it, I thought you were using the 3450. There's another person that says they're not getting good playback of 1080i content with the 3450 in GBPVR. That's good to hear about the fan being quiet on that 3650.

I'm using the "Complete Avivo Package" download on ATi's site. For grins, I initially tried the Purevideo decoder I had been using with my geforce video cards to see how the quality was with the Ati. The image looked way too sharp to me so I uninstalled it and switched to the Ati MPEG decoder in config.exe. It's perfect.

Do you see overscan/underscan settings in the Catalyst Control Center? I read on AVSforum that it was somewhere in there under "DTV", but i can't find it. Since my TV is 4:3, i'm running 720x480 and overscan is bad like it was with the Geforce 7100GS.

I have disabled the screensaver on my PVR because I'm relying on GBPVR's screensaver so I'm not having that issue. I'm hesitant to upgrade immediately to 8.2 drivers since it seems to be working so good (but just one day of testing haha). So you can see the screensaver running or does the monitor go to sleep and then you can't get back to the desktop without using VNC? Do you have a keyboard on the system?...if so, does hitting a key bring it out of screen saver?

[linene]

Do you see overscan/underscan settings in the Catalyst Control Center? I read on AVSforum that it was somewhere in there under "DTV", but i can't find it. Since my TV is 4:3, i'm running 720x480 and overscan is bad like it was with the Geforce 7100GS.

I do see it (you have to be in advanced ccc mode), under dtv then "scaling options" there is a check box to enable...mine is disabled.

I have disabled the screensaver on my PVR because I'm relying on GBPVR's screensaver so I'm not having that issue. I'm hesitant to upgrade immediately to 8.2 drivers since it seems to be working so good (but just one day of testing haha). So you can see the screensaver running or does the monitor go to sleep and then you can't get back to the desktop without using VNC? Do you have a keyboard on the system?...if so, does hitting a key bring it out of screen saver?

Before I added the 3650, I was using the onboard graphics (gma950) and had no problems with this, I was using the vga input to tv. Now using the hdmi input and it seems like the monitor goes to sleep or vista loses sync with it? Unfortunatly, hitting a key on the keyboard does not work. I have just tried a couple changes to my settings, but won't know until I get home if working, since I am connected over logmein right now.

[Torque]

I don't have a "DTV" option in the advanced tree. I wonder if I have to be using the HDMI connection to see it.

[TornadoTJ]

That seems like a cheap card that works well, how does it compare to the 2400? Is it higher end or lower end? I still can't get flawless HD on my card, and I paid more than $80 for it.

[Torque]

It's higher end. The HD 3650 is basically the 2600 with a die shrink and few optimizations. The 2400 is comparable to the HD 3450.

[linene]

I don't have a "DTV" option in the advanced tree. I wonder if I have to be using the HDMI connection to see it.

I noticed when I had component enabled, there was a tv option selection that was there right above the dtv option. When I disabled it...that option was gone, so I am guessing you have to have something attached. You may be able to to enable it in the display manager option (that is where I turned off the tv display)...maybe not since tv does not handshake, where hdmi (and dvi) does.