DVD playing @ 1920x1080?

P

Pozer

Regular
Building a htpc (from spare parts so dont laugh) for single purpose of playing dvds and maybe other vid files at this res. Would these specs suffice?

AthlonXP 2400 (2.0ghz/266fsb)
Epox kt266a mb
640mg pc2100
Audigy1
ATI 9500np 128.
MCE 2005 os
PowerDVD6
 
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Yes, so much as long you don't want to run Dscaler. If it's strictly an HTPC (I presume no gaming on it?), then I'd try to toss the 9500 (eBay it or sell/trade it to somebody if possible) for an AGP NV 6200 (preferably passivly cooled (no fan)), and forgo PowerDVD (unless you already have it) for a PureVideo decoder... You'll get better DVD output with lower CPU utilization (less heat, lower box noise), plus you'll have enough poop to play WMV-HD stuff as well with less risk of dropping frames.
 
update: Just got a Compaq with a p4 2.4ghz which im gonna use instead. (for free, woohoo), I have a 6600gt in my main PC which Im gonna put in my new HTPC. Then put the 9500np in my main PC. I rarely play PC games anymore. I just ordered a 1080p TV and really hope to get decently smooth video playback.

I was kinda leaning toward ATI, because I always preferred their 2d quality over some of my past nvidia cards. But this 6600gt I must admit has good 2d image quality. I also can do more gaming on the HTPC if I choose by dropping the res to 1280x720 when not playing videos. Plus evrything Ive been reading shows nvidia's hardware is great for htpc.
 
mito said:
what exactly is "2d image quality"?
Click to expand...

Going from Geforce3/4 cards to ATI 9500 I noticed my desktop on my 19" crt just looked better with the ATI card. More vibrant colors etc. I always thought my old voodoo3 had terrific 2d output. I guess its subjective. I am typing this on a the ati9500 and I have to say I can definitly tell the 6600gt had better image quality in windows. The colors on this card have a more 'muted' quality in windows.

Basically 2d quality is anything that isnt using a 3d acceleration api.
 
Finished my new HTPC last night. New specs are...

P4 2.4ghz (533fsb)
i845g chipset
640mg pc2100
6600gt 128mg AGP
Audigy1 oem
MCE 2005

Installed newest nvidia drivers and purvideo codecs. DVD playback was noticably better using MCE media player. Cant wait to see it on my 37" 1080p monitor when it arrives. Downloaded some 1080p wmvhd vids and they had smooth playback. CPU utilization ranged from 65% upto 95% but playback remained acceptably smooth.

Does anyone know if there are any higher quality xvid/divx codecs than the offical ones. Divx movies looked awful after watching those wmvhd vids. :)

I cant seem to find any MCE media remotes other than the micorsoft one that will interface with MCE media player.
 
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Good move on the 6600gt replacing the 9500 (since you already had both). HQV testing shows pretty conclusively that PV pisses all over pre-Avivo ATI for DVD playback quality.
 
How so? I've seen articles showing PV being better with various deinterlacing issues in testing, but only a few situations that hardly ever come in pratice. Is there more to the difference than that?
 
I found 1080p with H.264 to be slow and a frame skipping orgy-fest on my computer with an Athlon 3000 at 2.4GHz and 6600GT 128MB.

Also whilst 6600GT is miles better than any pre-AVIVO Radeon, I changed my graphics card to an X1800XL because of a strange shimmering when I was at 1080p on my LCD screen. This disappeared with the X1800XL.

geo the X1600 and X1300 especially would be bad choices for 1080p H.264 - I have done some extensive testing for myself with an X1600XT and it doesn't have the horsepower at full 1080p resolution.
 
Well, I didn't get h.264 from his scenarios, tho I'm interested that your testing shows X1600 doesn't cut it at 1080p. I think ATI has said that would be the case (i.e. they don't rec X1600 for 1080p h.264), tho I've heard others suggest that it could get it done.

Personally, I have X1800AIW. :D
 
Pozer definitely did not mention H.264 but wmvhd is useless for testing what the future holds... H.264 at high bitrates (not sure about MPEG2) is computationally expensive - much more so than I would have imagined.

I have some screenshots and was going to write an article but working in computers all day and then writing articles about computers all night wasn't that attractive a proposition ;)

Now that it is less busy maybe I will give it a go.
 
geo said:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_video_quality_analysis/

I suppose how serious you take the instances pointed at is a different question, and whether some folks might be more interested in throwing down new green to trump both "old ATI" and PV with an X1300 or X1600.

But I was reacting to the context laid out in the thread, and for that it seems a pretty direct and clearcut choice.
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Thing is, at least in my experance those instances don't come up in practice. I swap between a Geforce and a Radeon regularly for various gaming benifits for each and wind up watching DVD with both which turns out looking the same either way.
 
Actually my initial desire was to just upscale DVDs and play some Divx/xvid files(also some mame roms and emus). HD video viewing was just something to stress the system. I was surprised a 1080p wmv-hd file played smooth at all. Although this was at 1280x1024 resolution. Im sure once I get my 1920x1080p monitor next week it probably wont be as smooth. But suspect 720p wmv-hd will most likely have acceptable performance.

I was also considering a ATI 550 tuner card for DVR functionality, but I think im just gonna get a comcast HD tuner box with DVR builtin.
 
Well, apparently all 1080p are not made alike, so far as stress on your system. This wasn't intuitive to me either at first (tho I prolly should have got it sooner than I did).

What Tahir is pointing at is if you think because you are playing 1080p now with wmv player, that when HD-DVD and BR-DVD units ship that you could add one of those down the line and get the same 1080p performance. . .well, you won't.

Now, I don't know if you were thinking that or not, I should add.
 
Pozer said:
Although this was at 1280x1024 resolution. Im sure once I get my 1920x1080p monitor next week it probably wont be as smooth.
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Nah, it's the decoding that takes the work and that is the same regardless of output resolution, displaying the 1920x1080 images isn't an issue for any modren card.
 
Pozer said:
Actually my initial desire was to just upscale DVDs and play some Divx/xvid files(also some mame roms and emus). HD video viewing was just something to stress the system. I was surprised a 1080p wmv-hd file played smooth at all. Although this was at 1280x1024 resolution. Im sure once I get my 1920x1080p monitor next week it probably wont be as smooth. But suspect 720p wmv-hd will most likely have acceptable performance.

I was also considering a ATI 550 tuner card for DVR functionality, but I think im just gonna get a comcast HD tuner box with DVR builtin.
Click to expand...

If you are upscaling and playing DivX/Xvid material you should be absolutely fine and even at 1080p resolution you should not have a problem with the hardware you have decided upon. As geo pointed out I was talking about H.264 1080p material.
 
No i definitily am not expecting to throw a BR or HD dvd drive in my machine and output smooth video with the CPU I have now. Im ver ignorant in this area but I suspect more overhead with 1) the digital copyright software overhead 2)higher bitstream possibly. But lke I said I have little knowledge about either tech.

But I imagine it might be similar to the early days of DVD playback on the PC. With dedicated cards adding smooth decoding.
 
Pozer said:
But I imagine it might be similar to the early days of DVD playback on the PC. With dedicated cards adding smooth decoding.
Click to expand...

Interesting point there. I haven't seen any evidence of that yet. . .but I wouldn't be shocked if it happens, particularly to enable retrofitting of older PCs, or as an add-on card to enable OEM IGP PCs to do it smoothly. X1300 and 7300, from what I've seen so far, anyway, ain't gonna get it done in IGP-flava.

Just haven't seen any evidence yet. But you're right, last time around on a shift like this the CW was all the cool kids should have a dedicated card doing it. . .
 
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