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Why an ATI graphic card for HTPC? Isn't VGA only VGA?

355 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  vstesting, 
A
I'm about to set up a HTPC and have got lots of help in choosing components from this forum. Thanks alot! :)


But, I've noticed that most of you prefer ATI graphic card for HTPC purpose. Since the recommended solution is to use a software DVD player (like the PowerDVD), why is the graphic card that important? Every card is capable of delivering decent 2D quality..?


I'm thinking of setting up my old GeForce 256DDR graphic card on the HTPC, and buy myself a new GeForce 4 on my main computer. But what if I chose an internal graphics solution?


Any comments?
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K
ATi cards have much better DVD playback to due its 10 bit color space conversion, 10 bit video overlay and superior gamma implementation. GF cards are only 8 bit, which results in more pronounced color banding and tiling.
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A
You say, "DVD playback", is it hardware of software encoding?


Do the ATI cards deliver better 2D (Windows environment) pictures? Or do they deliver better DVD hardware encoding pictures? I suppose then, that those color banding etc. are not visible on ordinary 19" monitors, because then everyone would get a ATI card for 2D graphics ? :)


anyway ... What are prefered? Hardware or software?
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SW decoding by a Radeon card is superior to HW cards, plus gives the ability to scale to higher resolutions.

Read the FAQ for tons of info.
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V
ATI cards (or at least the ones with DVD playback advertised) use ATI's "Rage Theater" chip to do hardware MPEG-2 decoding. It's light years better than Nvidia's competing "Personal Cinema" chip.


As far as software vs. hardware decoding, I'll leave that can of worms unopened...
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