Back when I first put together this box (at least 5 years ago) I was just
tinkering, seeing if it could be done. Maybe looking for something to play back
AVIs on CDs over the TV set. Getting the capture card and recording TV was a
bonus, but never an original plan. Back in those days, HD wasn't even on my
mind.
Now... well... what with my successful experiments in capturing full-res
MPEG-TS
from my cable box, I've found that it can play back SD captures easily, but
doesn't have the oomph to play back HD (not by a long shot for 1080i). So I'm
coming to the community for some upgrade advice.
Right now, I've got an AMD XP1900+ and the tried-and-true Matrox G400 MAX. What
I'm hoping is that I can get an XP3200+ CPU (the last and greatest of the
32-bit
AMD CPUs) and keep my existing motherboard.
I'm a little less clear when it comes to video cards. Now that I'm using the
VGA
input on my TV, I can let go of the Matrox (don't need the great NTSC output
anymore). I'd also like something that can do 1280x720 or 1920x1080 (or maybe
960x540 for 1080i) so I could dial up natural HD resolutions. Hardware
acceleration would be a big plus, but MPEG2 hardware playback isn't a
necessity,
since I've heard that's straight-output without the ability to filter or scale
or whatnot.
I would like a card that will take me into Freevo 2.0 territory, when the time
arrives. I remember someone mentioning quite a while ago an nVidia card (8xxx?)
that performed well and even had a passive heatsink, so no extra fan noise.
Anyone have any ideas in that direction?
Also, with the direct-MPEG capture comes AC3 digital audio... any advice on a
low-cost audio card that has a digital output that works with the direct AC3
output in MPlayer?
That's all I got so far, I hope it's not too confusing. Follow-up questions are
always welcome, of course! And thank you in advance for any advice you can send
my way.
James
P.S. The Freevo can play back direct-captured SD video and I swear it looks
better than HD that's been scaled down and letterboxed by the STB, sent to the
Freevo via composite (I know, but it's the only option), captured and then
cropped and scaled for playback. And even more silly, the direct-captured SD
not
only looks better, but the file size is smaller! ^_^
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