Given this, it might be worth waiting to see how the XP drivers allowing h264 acceleration actually work. I have a slight suspicion they might only allow it for discs, not files (cos using custom hooks rather than Directshow).
Otherwise, the 8500GT is terrific for video. In Vista at least, it does everything needed: 1% CPU for all h264, including perfect spatial-temporal deinterlacing on broadcast video h264, VC1 acceleration perfect, MPEG2 1080i works with all advanced features perfectly, better scaling than the 7-series, better compatibility for video playback in dual-monitor modes, etc etc.
The only slight downside is you need to use EVR-compatible apps to get acceleration, but pretty much everybody is updating their software to that anyway (Theatertek/PDVD/WMP/VistaMCE already there, Zoomplayer/DVBViewer/MPC in stable betas).
Given this, it might be worth waiting to see how the XP drivers allowing h264 acceleration actually work. I have a slight suspicion they might only allow it for discs, not files (cos using custom hooks rather than Directshow).
Otherwise, the 8500GT is terrific for video. In Vista at least, it does everything needed: 1% CPU for all h264, including perfect spatial-temporal deinterlacing on broadcast video h264, VC1 acceleration perfect, MPEG2 1080i works with all advanced features perfectly, better scaling than the 7-series, better compatibility for video playback in dual-monitor modes, etc etc.
The only slight downside is you need to use EVR-compatible apps to get acceleration, but pretty much everybody is updating their software to that anyway (Theatertek/PDVD/WMP/VistaMCE already there, Zoomplayer/DVBViewer/MPC in stable betas).
