[OTHER] Videocard upgrade for HDTV (2 Viewers)

disaster123

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  • May 14, 2008
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    AW: Videocard upgrade for HDTV

    So at the moment it seems there is no good card for HTPC which is lowprofile, passive and is capable for 1080i, VA and denoise, edgeenhancement?
     

    Paranoid Delusion

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  • June 13, 2005
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    Have no ATI to compare too, just know it works for me, thats comparing Blu-rayHD files played thru MP, against SkyHD STB playing live tv, Blu-ray seem more spectacular colour wise, otherwise no complaints about either.

    Think there are more video options under the Catalyst software, but then I think for the average person, these tweaks may never be needed.
     

    porky996t

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  • May 21, 2008
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    I have just upgraded the videocard from the onboard HD3200 to an ATI HD5550 - arrived in the post this morning. Prior to the upgrade I was getting pixelation, break up and stutter and it was particularly bad with fast panning scenes on HD TV - this was more noticeable on BBC HD Channels (although this is a slightly lower resolution than full HD). It wasn't really a satisfactory experience watching HD TV and I tended to go back to watching SD channels instead.

    I really am impressed by the difference this change has made. I am now getting very few dropped frames (previously dropped about 2-3%) and the graph output from pressing Shift+1 gives hardly any variation in frame rate and sync offset - these previously were all over the place.

    A good £40 spent on eBay in my opinion!



    M.
     

    kiwijunglist

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  • June 10, 2008
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    totally, i keep telling people that onboard HD3200 doesn't do HDTV properly, but there are a few users who still tell people it's fine.
     

    porky996t

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  • May 21, 2008
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    It was always my intention to get a seperate video card, but I thought I would persevere with the onboard HD3200. I had it using 512Mb of RAM and overclocked it in the BIOS, but it still wasn't a great experience and reading several threads on the forum re HD problems just got me into action.

    It seems to have made a difference to the usability of MP too - fast forward or rewind is better, and doing this now with any HD recordings doesn't cause any hiccups.

    I think I would recommend anybody still using the onboard HD3200 to upgrade as it just gives better overall user experience.

    :D:D:D:D
     

    edterbak

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    I own a MSI Cyclone HD5670. It has a fan, but it is nearly noiseless. Normal house sounds I can not hear it. Only when it is very quit after midnight and it is cooling after heavy use. And then still it is a soft breeze. This lasts a minute or so.... perfectly accaptable for the noiseless freak :)

    Performance wise, I am VERY happy with it. It takes everything I throw at it. Does VA and I dont see pixelation, but that could be I dont have the bbc hd channel. :)
     

    disaster123

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  • May 14, 2008
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    AW: Videocard upgrade for HDTV

    nobody here who switched to a core i3? I think about it.
     

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