ATI or nVidia? (1 Viewer)

[Elf]

Hi all,
My htpc is currently sporting a very unfashionable GF4 MX and I'm getting less than perfect video results. Time for a DX9 GFX card methinks, but what should I go for?

On a budget, and with size/heat considerations, my options seem to basically be a Geforce 6200 or an ATI 9200/9500. As far as I can gather, the Geforce have purevideo which seems to be fairly well respected - and should talk to the nVidia codec and help along my mpeg quality.

Thing is, I've also been looking at some sites professing DIY VGA-to-SCART cables for better TV-out quality, and seriously thinking about trying one to boost the pants image on my CRT Philips widescreen TV but these cables only work with ATI cards. Do the ATI cards have a hardware mpeg function equivalent in performance/quality to the fabled Purevideo?

Choices... choices... Any thoughts/experience in these two approaches?

<edit> Apologies to Mods for putting this in wrong forum! </edit>

 

[Callifo]

If your going to use an AGP card you wont get any better than a 6200 (budget) / 6600GT (HDTV).

For PCI-E the new X1300 cards were looking very good with their AVIVO (purevideo equivalent). Much more impressive than purevideo is.

 

[mPod]

Much more impressive than purevideo is.

Sure? Reviews say the opposite... http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2551&p=10

:-P

 

[Elf]

Callifo, sorry I didn't specify - yes, it's just AGP and at this time I'm not too worried about HD (no HD TV and can't afford one for the foreseeable future!)

The 6200 has certainly "felt" right all along and there are plenty of passively-cooled ones available in my budget, but my main dilemma was the quality of tv-out through S-VHS. I hear the home-made VGA/RGB-SCART cables give excellent results but are ATI only, which is what stopped me in my tracks when about to buy a 6200!

Also, I hear that the 6200s don't support all purevideo functions - are we talking about missing HD only - would I notice the difference on normal definition output?

 

[Callifo]

Also, I hear that the 6200s don't support all purevideo functions - are we talking about missing HD only - would I notice the difference on normal definition output?

No, HD only and even then I doubt youd be able to tell the difference.

 

[Callifo]

Much more impressive than purevideo is.

Sure? Reviews say the opposite... http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2551&p=10

:-P

Interesting, reviews I saw a few months ago was opposite, they gave them approxately the same scores but AVIVO was at least 50% lower in terms of CPU utilisation.

 

[mPod]

Here you can see what PureVideo features are supported by which GPU. Very nice is Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing, gives very much better quality, I wouldn't wanna miss it... And I'm not using HD. :wink:

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

EDIT: Here you can find what each feature means: http://www.nvidia.com/page/pg_20041215177473.html

 

[Elf]

Very useful links, mPod thanks!

 

[BugsBunny]

unfashionable GF4 MX

Look here:
http://tvtool.info/

Most old nvidia cards until the TI4X00 series more or less, still had external TV encoder chips onboard. If you have a Conexant chip on your card or some newer Philips chip (7104/7108A) you can get a better TV out than with all the newer cards.

http://tvtool.info/english/tvchips_e.htm
After some better support of the Philips chips (7104/7108A), they got better quality than stated in the review - comparable to the Conexant.

With the TV tool you can even get eg. the pal resolution of 768x576. The tool enables some extra features of the TV chips also (enhance text and so on).

If your old GF4MX has one of the good TV chips you probably will not get a better picture with a newer card and have rather an old gem than an "unfashionable GF4MX"

You can also browse the forums there - there are manuals how to build a RGB out. If you soldered your cable, TV Tool can enable this output afterwards.

The ForceWare 61.82 drivers work very well with TVTool 9.7

 

[Spragleknas]

Sorry if im hi-jacking this thread...

I've currently got a 9600pro (ult.ed/no fan). Anybody know if a integrated GeForce 6150 (w/PureVideo) would get better pics.?