[vdr] Re: Which card support XxMC and only take one slot ? (for HDTV)

[Micael Beronius <micael.beronius@telia.com>]

>Could you confirm me you are able to play HDTV on your computer without
>xvmc and without xv (the G550 has an hardware limitation of 1024x1024

OK, did not get that part with the G550. It was a long time since I used a 
Matrox card now. What I can confirm is that I have no problems what so ever 
to play 1920x1080 material without xvmc on a P4/2.6GHz, using xv that is.
Granted, with xvmc CPU usage goes down. But your CPU is much more powerful 
than my P4.
I have no experience of framebuffers etc.

>> If you, on the other hand want good vga, I can recommend the 5700Ultra
>> (which has a slightly better PCB and power supply than the non-ultras (=
>> lesser noise in picture, but this is should not really be an issue on a

>Well, I have a really good monitor (CRT) which don't make noise :-)

Thing is that the noise is normally too small to be seen on a regular monitor, 
so you can more or less (I would) disregard the noise part altoghether on 
something like a 21" monitor. 

>There something I really don't understand with those cards, are a 6800 a
>6800 independantly of the manufacturers (MSI, ASUS, ...) ?

Well, with the fast pace that ATI and Nvidia are putting out new chip models, 
there's really no time for the different manufacturers to design their own 
boards, and it would make their profit less, so normally they all use 
ATI/Nvidias reference design, which they get for free. 
The difference are their component choise, such as capacitors, where there are 
some difference. 
If you look closely on their product pictures, you will see that the main 
difference between the same kind of cards (5700Ultras for instance) is the 
heat sink/fan which are designed in various ways. 
In my HTPC, I have a Leadtek WinFast A360 Ultra TDH, which I like, but there 
are similar boards from other manufacturers. 

>In my country we have a site to compare price of all the dealers, and
>for gfx cards they give a lots : http://www.toppreise.ch/grp2_7.html
>Are some manufacturers better than the other ?

Not necessary, but by choosing a better known brand such as Asus, Leadtek etc 
you may perhaps have a lesser risk of getting the really cheap components. 

  -  Micael