ATI 4550 a good solution? (1 Viewer)

[JackTramiel]

Some time ago i bought a nVidia 8300 based mainboard thinking this would be a good HTPC solution. It probably would be if id use a phenom cpu.
Insted of buying one of those i am using a 8500GT right now - but this seems not to be the best solution,too.

So from what i have read now a ATI 4550 bases card seems to be the best choise - regarding paper.

All high level deinterlacing methods even with 1080i based material, full hardware acceleration incl. 2 Stream BDs, best HDMI audio solution ( except seperated audio cards ), low energy consumption, no RAM share like my onboard solution, etc etc.

But paper and real life are always different. What fears me most are the drivers. Then it comes to the EVR bug and the flickering gui - as far is i read its only a ATI based bug.

Just wanted to ask "owner" of this card how good the card works for them - or if someone can recommend a similar featured card as alternative.

I am going to install vista x64, just in case this is important.

 

[edterbak]

Im using a HD4350 passive. I use this in combination with a AMD 2350 BE (2.1Ghz) cpu. I dont have any problems with it. No flickering or anything. And I am using VMR9 + exclusive mode inside Windows XP.

Only thing is, what you already suspected, that the software to use hardware decoding isnt working properly yet. If I use the MPCVideoDec I sometimes have hardware decoding. This depends on the subtitles being present or not. If subtitles are there, no acceleration is present. This is ofcourse nearly always the case.
From what I hear, NVIdia suffers from similar issues resulting in a poor hardware acceleration. But, Im not very familiar with nvidia, so I could be wrong.

So, basically. Im happy with it. CPU + Card is more than sufficient.

 

[JackTramiel]

Thank you for the fast reply. As far as i know gpu acc and subtitles will never work with MP. This is no big deal for me.
The flickering EVR bug for sure wont be seen running xp and VRM9. I am using Vista and want to use EVR insted of VMR9.
Full GPU ACC only works with EVR anyway - again if i am not wrong.
Would use GPU ACC for (hd)tv and dvd only anway. Movies run fine using CoreAVC.

Never had problems with nvidia cards, but i dont know any card/nvidia gpu providing the same "features" and "price".
I am no fanboy in any way - my wallet and the real life capabilities judge about what to buy. And since my 3 month old son takes all the money i am used to spent for my "toys" i turn each cent twice. Dont want to throw out money for something that doesnt work as expected - e.g. the 8300 chipset.

 

[JackTramiel]

Ok, what i ve read about that card on AVSForum doesnt sound that good.
Again PQ issues. Deinterlacing and post processing doesnt work for SD & HD. Then all that typical ATI driver issues, like
no sound after turning of tv wo/ turning of the pc etc etc.
Guess i have to stuck with my nvidia and wait for another nvidia card.

Recommendations are welcome, anyway.

 

[JoeSmith]

since you have read on AVSForums that the 4550 is lacking some of the deinterlacing and post processing you might take a look at the 4650.
From what i have read the vector adaptive deinterlacing (and all the other stuff) are enabled and the price is not much higher.
ATI also claims that it got (nearly) perfect scores in the HQV Benchmarks. The card is a little bit more expensive, but it's not that much here (germany) and i would rather pay some more bucks than being angry because i'm having trouble with the other card. There is a passive version available too.

 

[JackTramiel]

Thank you, i will check that one out. Still afraid of those 2 ATI Bugs ( Sound not working + EVR flickering ) but if everything "promised" will work i probably will give it a try. Lets see what the internet will tell me about that card.

EDIT: Seems to be good as far as i read. The unexpected good news: It should have 30bit picture output. So no more dithering. Could live without it, but nice to have. One of the "owner" did not even have those "sound issues". Need some further reading.

 

[Frantid]

If you guys are talking about this thread:


I think they found the error. The main reviewer was using a secondary monitor at the time of the tests. Seems he got the same results as hothardware. HD 4550 in stock!!!! - AVS Forum

 

[JackTramiel]

That is one of the threads i have read. I saw the comment that a second screen produced issues, but i wasnt sure if this ment that using just one screen will bring perfect deinterlacing and post processing with sd and hd sources.
Did you "read" there that with just one screen it will work perfect? Possible that my english skills let me be unsure about a final conclusion. Also there some other threads mention that this card doest work good with sd material.

The questions is will it work good on both formats with a x2 cpu and just one screen? Then i would get the 4550 for sure, otherwise i would try the 4650. The price difference isnt that much, and both cards are not easy to find as passive cooled cards - not to mention incl. native hdmi support.

So if you can "translate" it better for me thank you in advance.

 

[Frantid]

From my reading this thread, renethx is saying the problem is with the dual monitors. The linked post is where he says he gets good HQV scores if he has only one monitor running. He also says the 4670 & 4850 has a problem with dual monitors if both are at 1080p. I read in the thread somewhere(can't find it now), if you are thinking about picture-in-picture HD TV you should not get the 4550. If you can take fan noise, I would get the 4670 based on that thread. Personally, I'm waiting for the gigabyte passive cooled 4550. I do not plan on doing hdtv, not available here other than 1 channel. When it does come, I'm sure there will be better cheaper hardware out there. If I were doing hdtv I would get the 4670 and replace the cooling fan if it was too noisy. I don't game though - so that's a different hardware question.

 

[JackTramiel]

Thank you. I read it again and know what you mean. ( The 2 screen issues ) Seems this wont be a issue using one screen and everything works fine with this card. Since there is no real implementation in any mediacenter software for bluray i will keep using my ps3 for that - so no pip planed jet. I think i will keep my card first and if i get problems with PQ i will get a 4550, or higher. Till then maybe the last 2 issues are gone, too.