korpenkraxar
11-04-2008, 05:15 PM
Hi all!
I'm looking into building a small inexpensive Linux HTPC for movies (75% of usage) and some OpenGL games (25%). I am now trying to decide on a graphics card which not only strikes a good balance between HD movie (mostly H.264 and MPEG2) and game performance, but which also provides WORKING ;) 1080i component video out to my fairly old but still brilliantly performing 32" JVC CRT TV. In terms of picture quality, the TV runs circles around low-end LCDs and is really only rivaled by quite expensive LCDs that are far beyond my budget atm, so I'll keep the set for at least a few more years. Since it only has component video input for HD, I need reliable component video support.
While good old Q3A looks nice at 1920x1080, my aged AMD 2700+ / GeForce 7200GS rig isn't really up to the HTPC-task or Quake Wars. However, the Nvidia Xorg driver has worked very nicely with component video for me.
So finally, my questions:
* What are your thoughts/experiences with AMD Radeon HD4670 or Nvidia GeForce 9600GT as Linux HTPC-cards?
* Have you tried running 1080i via component video?
* What is the state of component video in recent driver revisions for these cards (for either Radeon, RadeonHD, fglrx or nvidia)?
* Do you think UVD2 in fglrx will really happen anytime soon for AMD? How is Nvidia doing atm for accelerating video in X?
* Which architecture would you recommend based on current performance? Or projected performance 6 months from now?
I'm looking into building a small inexpensive Linux HTPC for movies (75% of usage) and some OpenGL games (25%). I am now trying to decide on a graphics card which not only strikes a good balance between HD movie (mostly H.264 and MPEG2) and game performance, but which also provides WORKING ;) 1080i component video out to my fairly old but still brilliantly performing 32" JVC CRT TV. In terms of picture quality, the TV runs circles around low-end LCDs and is really only rivaled by quite expensive LCDs that are far beyond my budget atm, so I'll keep the set for at least a few more years. Since it only has component video input for HD, I need reliable component video support.
While good old Q3A looks nice at 1920x1080, my aged AMD 2700+ / GeForce 7200GS rig isn't really up to the HTPC-task or Quake Wars. However, the Nvidia Xorg driver has worked very nicely with component video for me.
So finally, my questions:
* What are your thoughts/experiences with AMD Radeon HD4670 or Nvidia GeForce 9600GT as Linux HTPC-cards?
* Have you tried running 1080i via component video?
* What is the state of component video in recent driver revisions for these cards (for either Radeon, RadeonHD, fglrx or nvidia)?
* Do you think UVD2 in fglrx will really happen anytime soon for AMD? How is Nvidia doing atm for accelerating video in X?
* Which architecture would you recommend based on current performance? Or projected performance 6 months from now?