GeForceFX 5200 Lite Edition

[rennocneb]

Hi im using an evga GeForceFX 5200 Lite Edition with the NVIDIA DVD Decoder. I was wandering if id get better results using a faster video card. Like a 6600gt with the pure video technology? Does anyone know exactly what a lite edition is? are the tv outs on them of the quality of the more exspensive nvidia products?

[hitek146]

My laptop that I use GB-PVR on has a Geforce FX5600, and I can tell you that the video card is way faster than GB-PVR need it to be.... I am also using the NVideo Video Decoder, and my CPU cycles rarely go over 20% when decoding video or watching/recording TV, so an FX5200(lite or not) should also be more than enough.... I just don't feel that a video card upgrade would make much of a noticable difference in GB-PVR beyond what you already have. Is your current configuration not working properly? If so, what are your system specs?

Hitek

[rennocneb]

Well i watch alot of auto racing in particular and the playback always looks a bit blurred or stutterry even when recorded in high mode. THe system is a p4 2.8 512mb ram 250gb 16mb cache hard disk using the GeForceFX 5200 with nvidia decoder

[cwills]

rennocneb,

I've yet to get the Nvidia DVD Decoder with the Pure Video Technology working. I have a BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT and it didn't even come with the DVD Decoder (a $400 vidcard). I downloaded the demo from Nvidia, and it never worked, no matter what options I set. This is trying it with Media Player 9 & 10, Zoom Player, stable Nvidia drivers, newest beta drivers, DirectX 9.0b & c, software/hardware decoding, etc. I've googled the subject and found numerous forums and there are plenty of people who it simply does not work for yet, too new of a technology I guess.

I would like to see it in action, I wonder if it looks similiar to WinDVD 6 Platinum's TrimensionDNM, which I'm not sold on yet anyway, but that's a topic in itself.

As far as if you should upgrade, I guess it depends on what you plan on using the system for. If you are just going to upgrade the vidcard to hopefully get better TV-Output, you might be better served by buying a capture card with hardware decoding, like a Hauppauge 350, which is indistinguishable from "real TV" IMO. If you plan on doing gaming on the system, a great videocard would definatley help all-around. Different manufacturers use different specs with their video output. Some support resolutions over S-Video and composite up to 1024X768, some 800X600, some have better filters and RAMDAC's, etc. Regardless, no matter what videocard you have and what decoder you use and filtering/sharpening you do, I seriously doubt the video output would look as good as a 350, and even with the 350 encoding/decoding, your CPU cycles are under 5% in most cases. Granted, it can't do everything, but for fast moving TV like sports (racing, football, etc.) I have a hard time watching software output after I've seen the 350's hardware decoding.