[cintichris]

Finishing up my HTPC, looking into HDMI cards.


Anyone have opinions on Chip Makers ( NvIDIA or ATI), all this pc will do is play the standard HD formats (mp4, mkv, etc) and SD AVI files.


The card will be in an Intel MOBO, I really want a Dual HDMI card but haven't seen one yet.

 

[ymarker]

except for your dual hdmi requirement, you don't really need a video card. As a matter of fact you may even be able to do the 1 hdmi and 1 dvi (use dvi->hdmi adapter)

 

[sotti]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ymarker /forum/post/18245916


except for your dual hdmi requirement, you don't really need a video card. As a matter of fact you may even be able to do the 1 hdmi and 1 dvi (use dvi->hdmi adapter)

I've never scene that work with onboard video, the Digital outs generally share a TDMS, so its vga + DVI or HDMI.


While ATI and nvidia both have their issues, ATI supports HD-Audio bitstreaming over their 5000 series cards. So if you have an HDMI reciever, ATI would be a no brainer for me.

 

[cintichris]

I could use a an HDMI multiplier, splitter, whatever you want to call it for multiple displays however I cannot configure them independently doing it this way. I really need the sound to carry through the 1 cable (hdmi).


1 of the LCD's is close enough I could use DVI and run sound separately, just wanted to know about other options.

 

[Servicetech571]

Nvidia has good Linux support if you should ever decide to go that way in the future. Nvidia has 0-255 color space override. ATI has an annoying 15% default underscan. IMHO Nvidia just has better driver support.

 

[sotti]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Servicetech571 /forum/post/18246304


Nvidia has good Linux support if you should ever decide to go that way in the future. Nvidia has 0-255 color space override. ATI has an annoying 15% default underscan. IMHO Nvidia just has better driver support.

ATI's underscan is easily defeated and the 5000 series also has 0-255 override.


Any dicrete card will support dual digital out, DVI can be converted to HDMI, so a card with two DVI outs, or 1 HDMI and 1 DVI will fit the bill for you.

 

[cintichris]

I wanted to try an ATI card, but since they were bought by AMD I figured NV would be better supported for my chipset. Personally i have only had 1 ATI card. I think it was an 2x or 4x AGP with S-Video. I remember showing it off on my 21" CRT's and 25" Trinitron thinking it was something special.


This will be a basic pc, I know HD video is nothing special in terms of PC Computing Power.


My board is also the DREADED uBTX that has been abandoned. Unfortunately I built everything before realizing I would need a new board. I have bought 2 brand new on eBay for 20 each. My old board only supported ADD2 cards, I tried the Prolink and wasn't thrilled. In my understanding in order to send audio through the HDMI I will need to connect the VID CARD to and audio header on my board.


The board I have has no headers, can someone recommend a cheap sound card with an S/PDIF (think that's right) output header.


Thanks!

 

[Heli Pilot]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Servicetech571 /forum/post/18246304


Nvidia has good Linux support if you should ever decide to go that way in the future.

Good drivers but man, the new driver was a pain in the booty to get running.

 

[jdcrox]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cintichris /forum/post/18246486


In my understanding in order to send audio through the HDMI I will need to connect the VID CARD to and audio header on my board.


The board I have has no headers, can someone recommend a cheap sound card with an S/PDIF (think that's right) output header.


Thanks!

If you use an ATI card, you do not a spdif header, since they have their own audio chips built-in. Nvidia card you would need a spdif header.

 

[sotti]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cintichris /forum/post/18246486


I wanted to try an ATI card, but since they were bought by AMD I figured NV would be better supported for my chipset.

Nah PCIe is a standard, what's behind the PCIe bus is generally of no consequence. I can't find the link right now, but I think there is something floating out there that ATI's is faster Intel than AMD platforms and nvidia is faster on AMD platforms than intel.


No ryhme or reason. Just get what works.


And as was mentioned earlier. Nvidia's HDMI audio solution sucks, it's no better than SPDIF (with some exceptions), but ATI's 4000 series had 8 channel LPCM integrated and the 5000 series adds HD-Audio bitstreaming to the 8 channel LPCM.



Also i have an ATI 4850 in my intel X58 based system (the 4850 replaced a long in the tooth geforce 7950 that I was very happy with) and a 5450 on a nForce 8200 mobo (that I had a geforce 8600GT in it that I was happy with, but didn't bitstream). I'm either buying on features or value, and right now ATI's got the market cornered on both. If it changes I'll go right back to nvidia.