How much video card would I need for hi-def?

[royphil345]

I have a computer hooked up to my home theater system. I'm currently using an analog TV / capture card and an ATI 9600 8X AGP video card to display the video on my monitor or TV.

If I changed the TV card to a digital / hi-def card.... How much video card would I need to smoothly display the hi-def video? Is there an 8X AGP card that would work or would I have to start over with a mainboard that has a PCI Express slot?

Thanks MUCH if anybody knows...

[fritzi93]

I dunno the specs on your present card, but can most definitely say there are AGP cards that are adequate. My HTPC MoBo has a 4x PCIe slot and an 8x AGP slot. NewEgg had a rebate offer on a Radeon 1650pro AGP card, essentially half price, so I went with that when rebuilding a computer into a HTPC. It's just fine for hi-def DTV. If you don't mind getting something that's already obsolescent, now isn't too bad a time to get an AGP card, while they're trying to get rid of them. Later you'd pay a premium, of course.

Good luck.

[redwudz]

You would likely be better off starting over, IMO. A PCI-E motherboard has generally faster memory and more memory bandwidth. Newer type memory controllers and more graphics bandwidth is also standard. It's a lot easier to upgrade if needed. The improvements are all through the MBs. Even the newer Micro-ATX MBs with on-board graphics will perform fairly well with HD. The newest MBs use PCI-E 2.0 and some of the lower end add-on video cards go for ~$50US with better performance than many AGP cards, even some fairly high end ones.

You might pay close to the price of a high end AGP video card for a newer Micro-ATX MB, CPU and RAM. Not really advice, but something to look into.

But others may have some good suggestions for AGP cards. But if your system is what is shown in your computer details, you're probably overdue for a major upgrade anyway.

[edDV]

I read twice but didn't get what the TV display was, how connected and what media was being played.

I'm not a mind reader.

[Soopafresh]

I'm not a mind reader.

Swami ed !

[royphil345]

The media being played would be hi-def TV from a hi-def tuner card.

I would like to display hi-def TV at full resolution on a monitor or maybe someday an HD-TV. I also need the capability to display on an old, non hi-def TV via S-video or whatever for now.

Sorry if I wasn't clear...

What about a Radeon HD 2600?

[fritzi93]

But if your system is what is shown in your computer details, you're probably overdue for a major upgrade anyway.

Didn't notice that. :P A 1.7G Celeron certainly wouldn't cut it in my setup. The only PVR software that works with my Leadtek HDTV card is ArcSoft, and that requires more like a 2.4G processor if time-shifting. (Tried other software, e.g. GBPVR, couldn't get the card recognized manually). But I'm no expert on this, so I'll leave the floor to them.

[royphil345]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The info in my profile is VERY, VERY, old. I forgot I even had a profile on this site. Very sorry... I'll update that right now.

I'm definitely due for an upgrade... but not THAT due for a upgrade... LOL. Boy, have I made a mess of this thread now...

[edDV]

MPeg2TS off a SD/HD broadcast tuner will play on a Radion 1650 or 2600 (maybe lower) but you may need to upgrade your power supply as well. Check the power ratings.

The ATI x16nn card I looked at took 300W just for the card. For that machine I got an AGP NVidia 7600GS instead which needed less power.

A P4 3GHz is on the edge for MPeg4 but should work for HD MPeg2.

If you don't have an HDTV yet I wouldn't bother unless for research on a small computer screen.

[redwudz]

The info in my profile is VERY, VERY, old. I forgot I even had a profile on this site. Very sorry... I'll update that right now.

No problem. From your updated specs, you should have a couple of more years left in your system.
Some of the HD H.264 and MKV videos may strain it a bit, it does my system.