Best display card for WMC

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resarfekim

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Best display card for WMC

#1

Post by resarfekim » Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:24 pm

I have a pretty good PC that is only used for playing live/recorded tv (CableCard) and movies/tv shows in a range of quality and formats.
What is the best under-$100 card for my purpose?
Thanks!

Rickt1962

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#2

Post by Rickt1962 » Sat Jul 13, 2019 9:57 pm

I use GeForce GT 730 2GB which allows encrypted TV shows like HBO play on Windows 7 with cable card
HTPC W7 pro with HDhomerun with 6 tuners using Comcast scanned by MCEbuddy uploaded to network to be watched by KODI

resarfekim

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#3

Post by resarfekim » Wed Jul 24, 2019 10:43 pm

Dumb question - my motherboard has an on-board HDMI port. Would this be sufficient for watching TV/movies?
I've never even tried it (and thought I'd pose the question before pulling the PC out of the entertainment center).

I have an (older) MSI gaming motherboard.
https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/Z87-GD65-GAMING/Overview

Otherwise, I'm thinking this one:
https://www.amazon.com/GeForce-GDDR5-Gr ... ics&sr=1-6

**update**
Ok I switched it the the onboard HDMI, and everything looks ok. It may have looked a bit better going through the display card, but not sure...
Question - is there any detriment to the motherboard if I leave it like this permanently? I seem to burn through display cards every few years, and don't want to wear out my motherboard.

Thanks,
Mike

dmagerl

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#4

Post by dmagerl » Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:01 pm

As to whether your mobo supports TV, it all depends on the processor. It wasnt until the 4000 series GPU that full mpeg hardware acceleration was supported. So if you have a processor that has less than the 4000 series GPU, I'd look at using an external video card.

This page lists the various GPU processor combinations vs processor model:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_I ... sing_units

BTW, the "generation" list refers to the generation of the GPU, not the processor.

As to what external board to use, I like the nvidia 730gt. Video doesnt take much in the way pf processing compared to gaming and the 730 fit the ticket for watching TV. The 730 has about twice the processing capability of the 710.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... 700_series

I too noticed a difference between the intel and nvidia video but neither one was bad or good. They were just subtly different. I use the onboard intel GPU.

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