Question about GeForce Video Cards

[lordofduct]

What version Geforce did they start putting hardware MPEG2 decoding into Geforce cards? I hear it was the GF4 MX series that started it, but then I hear that it is a misconception and is in some other card... (I know the GF4 Ti's don't have it)

I know the 6X00's have it and the FX4X00's have it.. but i'm looking for an older card (low LOW price range, and I'm having a hard time finding FX's with DVI) with it on it. I don't really care about the 3D capabilities as I don't use the machine for gaming. But I want good mpeg playback so as to use the processor for other stuff (like encoding as to not have to spend 150 dollars per capture card for an encoder).

Yeah this is for my HTPC... at the moment I only have one frame capture card (no hardware mpeg encoding or decoding) and well, playback while encoding really is cutting it close... if I want another tuner for multi channel view... I'm gonna need to free up some processor.

oh and don't tell me about ATI's... don't use em', won't use em'!

Oh and hey if anyone has an older AGP GeForce with hardware MPEG decoder and DVI out (preferably MSI brand) sitting around the house and wants to sell it, well I'm looking!

 

[IceDigger]

ATI > NVIDIA

I think they had mpeg 2 acceleration with the start of the geforce 2 cards. Maybe even the geforce 1 cards.

 

[it290]

I have to agree with Ice as far as the ATI thing for a HTPC; the tv-out chips built into Nvidia cards often suck, and it's hard to tell which one is on which card. But I guess you're using DVI out, so that's irrelevant. It seems the GF4MX has an MPEG2 decoder for sure, so why not just get one of those?

 

[slinga]

Would an ATI x300 be good for a HTPC? What determines if a video card can do HDTV out? The card has a DVI connector and 256 ram. I'm leaning towards that card because 1) I already own it, 2) It has no fan.

 

[lordofduct]

I don't like ATI for their drivers.

The drivers for them are specific per card and well if you get an older card they don't update the drivers as much and your stuck with some bunk ass controls that just drive me mad.

Like this one machine at my work with ATI video card. It's a dual screen and the freaking way it does dual screen is REALLY annoying! As apposed to other ATI's in the same range of quality, but those are the most up to date drivers.

I like Nvidia as there drivers are made to encompass most of their cards.

 

[it290]

Well, the catalysts are pretty unified these days, but I do agree that nvidia's twinview is better than anything ATi has as far as dualhead setups.

 

[lordofduct]

never mind quad head...

we have 2 computers with quad screens. They use GeForces as well. They work like a charm.

I like how Geforce actually does an independent screen for each monitor...

as apposed to ATI; ATI creates a resolution with double the width or double the height (depending how you want the dual screen to be, vertical/horizontal... or double both directions for quad). This gets really annoying because the resolution tops out after awhile and your very limited on actual resolution because the card only handle a certain extent of resolution... What is the point of a quad screen if it still can only be 1600X1200 (that means each freaking monitor on a quad is a mere 800X600... UGLY)

You get just as much view space on one monitor.

the Geforces allow independent resolutions per screen. So you aren't as limited with the resolution and get more actual work space.

Now you can set 4 monitors to say 1280X1024 each and get a total of 2560X2048.

AND each screen is independent so you can give tool bars to each and they are like individual workspaces with all your desktop icons and everything. This way you can keep one with out any windows and still have access to all your stuff quickly without having to minimize tons of windows.

When your working and have 30 IE windows open, 3 internal programs, media players, email client and other crap depending on the job we are doing at the moment... the ATI just doesn't cut it.

Only down side is you have to have a very powerful card... we actually use dual video cards to pull this off.

Did you know IE can only handle so many windows being open? yeah, its about 65; sometimes I can get up to 68, after that no more windows will open and will most likely crash your system.

This is aggravating especially because a lot of programs are dependant on IE. They are included in the maximum windows open.

What I mean is:

If you have Notebook open, command window, Outlook Express (which we don't use), Windows Explorer, Windows Media Player... all of those count as single instances of IE being open. More with say outlook depending on how many emails you are viewing. So now your limited to 60 IE windows.

Now when your job entails using internal code dependant on asp.net you run into lots of walls. You can now only load up so much stuff.

 

[it290]

Well, any video card is going to be limited by its RAMDAC(s) when outputting to multiple monitors. But you can in fact set separate resolutions per screen on ATI cards -- perhaps it just wasn't possible on the card you were using, but my main RIP-station at work is set up that way, using a fairly low end card (the budget version of the 9600 iirc). And I'm also doing it on my home machine, driving my monitor and TV at separate resolutions.

 

[lordofduct]

clone mode or extended...

really im not sure about the 9x00 generations of ATI cards

we use older cards and the drivers for every card (all different) do the same stupid thing. They must of changed it in newer cards.

Where as like I said before, when GeForce uses all encompassing drivers my old video card gets to use the features of new cards (software ran features, not dependant on anything hardware being necessary). As long as it's got the juice it does it.

 

[it290]

Either, my TV is in clone mode while my work system is in extended desktop mode. With the hydravision software you also have some other options, IIRC these include displaying the taskbar and icons on all displays. Multiple heads on a single card may be driven by software, but like I said the resolutions you can output are limited by the RAMDAC, and this applies to any video card.

 

[lordofduct]

I said the resolutions you can output are limited by the RAMDAC, and this applies to any video card.

I know... i brought that up earlier in talking about the ATI card. I just didn't call it the RAMDAC