Do radeons still have problems decoding interlaced video?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Do radeons still have problems decoding interlaced video?

tumnasgt

83 posts

Master Geek

#85939 28-Jun-2011 14:09

When I built my Windows 7 HTPC in late 2009, Radeons were having performance issues decoding the 1080i video that TV3 (and now TV2) broadcast. Now the fan on my GeForce 210 is dying, so I'm back looking at low end video cards.

I don't really want to spend much, and I am after a card without a fan, as the computer is so much quieter without an extra fan. The options I can see on Ascent are an Asus GeForce 210, or an Asus Radeon 5450. The 5450 uses a third less power at load, and as such it has a single slot cooler, instead of the dual slot on found on the 210. The reduced heat will also help with the HTPC being in a small case.

Really my question is, will there be any performance problems with the 5450 decoding 1080i?

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224 posts

Master Geek

#486954 28-Jun-2011 15:36

Can't you just replace the fan on your old 210 instead of buying a whole new card?

tumnasgt

83 posts

Master Geek

#487017 28-Jun-2011 16:53

The fan is built into the heatsink cover, and because the card is low profile, replacement heatsink options are limited, and will probably cost almost as much as a new card. The heatsink on the card isn't large enough to handle the heat without a fan, I know because the card was replaced under warranty for fan failure (which resulted the in the card dying completely).

While I could probably argue that it falls under the consumer guarantees act, for ~$70 I would much rather get the choice on what I replace the current card with.

CapBBeard

211 posts

Master Geek

#487021 28-Jun-2011 17:03

Bit of a silly question but do you need a low profile card? (I'm thinking you do but thought I'd ask on the off chance).

If not, I actually have a pretty nice 4550 lying around from my HTPC if you are interested. Only reason I'm not using it is because it does not support 3d, so I've swapped it out for a GT 430. I bought it from the states as it looked perfect at the time; fanless etc: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125250

Unfortunately I'm unsure on the status of it's 1080i support though :(

tumnasgt

83 posts

Master Geek

#487026 28-Jun-2011 17:19

Yes, I do need a low profile card, I use an Antec NSK1480 low profile desktop case.

I just realized that my mum's laptop has a built in TV tuner and a Radeon GPU, so I'll give that a go.

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#487029 28-Jun-2011 17:24

CapBBeard: Bit of a silly question but do you need a low profile card? (I'm thinking you do but thought I'd ask on the off chance).

If not, I actually have a pretty nice 4550 lying around from my HTPC if you are interested. Only reason I'm not using it is because it does not support 3d, so I've swapped it out for a GT 430. I bought it from the states as it looked perfect at the time; fanless etc: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125250

Unfortunately I'm unsure on the status of it's 1080i support though :(

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I'd actually be interested in that 4550.

I currently have my HTPC connected via VGA, would love to upgrade to HDMI.

CapBBeard

211 posts

Master Geek

#487040 28-Jun-2011 17:52

Sure thing, I'll flick you a PM to keep us from hijacking further

sbiddle

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#487082 28-Jun-2011 19:34

I've got a few onboard 3200 motherboards here and performance wise they're inferior to a cheap NVidia 8400. I still wouldn't go out of my way to trust an ATI solution, their drivers seem to continually be buggy, with the latest two releases now losing their overscan settings after every reboot or resume from sleep!

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mm1352000

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#487111 28-Jun-2011 20:26

Yes, whatever you do I would advise you to stay away from the latest driver releases. Find one that works for you then *stick with it*. I'm running an HD4670 with Catalyst 10.4 and couldn't be happier... (apart from the fact that it isn't passive

)

eXDee

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#487208 28-Jun-2011 23:54

HD4200 onboard, HD4850, HD4890, HD5850 all have zero issues here.

dale77

294 posts

Ultimate Geek

#488023 30-Jun-2011 19:10

ditto running a 4670 with no problems. I did try for passive but was scuppered by card height, ended up with a sapphire with a large fan. Zero issues with noise in the htpc under the tv. Probably won't pay a premium for passive again.

HTPC: Antec Fusion 430, Intel i3, Gigabyte 1050, Corsair 4x1Gb, Hauppauge WinTv, Logitech z-5500, Logitech Harmony 525, Yamaha Rx-v6a, Samsung KS8000 4k, Windows 10, Mediaportal 1.30, BLU-RAY: Panasonic UB820

neoprint

136 posts

Master Geek

#490051 6-Jul-2011 13:55

Define issues? I'm decoding freeview on my 6870 with no apparent issues, looks fine to me :P

freitasm

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#490056 6-Jul-2011 14:02

I have Lenovo desktop with an on board HD3000, my DV6 laptop with HD4650 and a dell Zino HD with a HD6500 and have no problems with playing Freeview|HD content using Windows 7 Media Center...

tumnasgt

83 posts

Master Geek

#490100 6-Jul-2011 15:17

Cool, I thought it would probably have been fixed by now, but I didn't want to buy a video card that would end up being useless for its primary function.

Now I just have to find some money for a video card after splurging on a new Sandy Bridge motherboard+CPU for my desktop...

richms

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#494133 16-Jul-2011 21:10

I find that with an ATI card in the machine, if the reception gets iffy because of the indoor antenna etc, it will bluescreen. nvidia just worst case crashes media center when it fails to decode crap.

ATI makes me keep having to change their retarded default of adding an inch of black on each side of the picture when connected to a 1080p LCD and running in 1080p modes - why the hell would you default to that?!

I have decided that until nvidia cause me problems, I am not touching ATI again. Burned on the 780g being crap for ages, burned on this PCIe card, burned on lousy drivers that cant even make a 1:1 output by default.

Richard rich.ms

dale77

294 posts

Ultimate Geek

#494196 17-Jul-2011 00:44

richms: I find that with an ATI card in the machine, if the reception gets iffy because of the indoor antenna etc, it will bluescreen. nvidia just worst case crashes media center when it fails to decode crap.

ATI makes me keep having to change their retarded default of adding an inch of black on each side of the picture when connected to a 1080p LCD and running in 1080p modes - why the hell would you default to that?!

I have decided that until nvidia cause me problems, I am not touching ATI again. Burned on the 780g being crap for ages, burned on this PCIe card, burned on lousy drivers that cant even make a 1:1 output by default.

Well... I currently have two ATI 4670's. One in the HTPC connected to a 1080p LCD. No issues with losing overscan on my combo. This one I bought solely because MEDIAPORTAL decided not to work properly with 780g onboard with 1080i. Just mediaportal mind you, other soft worked fine... But mediaportal was too good to let go, so I had to get it more hardware. The AGP 4670 one in the desktop I bought to be a mediaportal client - to replace a passive NVIDIA 7600GS that up and died. Works well.

Can't remember the last blue screen I had on either machine. Freeview-HD occasionally goes glitchy but Mediaportal/ATI just keeps on trucking.

So, YMMV I guess. Not that I'm surprized, this HTPC hobby is chocka with glitches. Downloaded TMT5 trial today, blurays that play fine in PDVD8 jerk all over the place. Guess I'm not upgrading then...

Dale

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