Onboard vs. 6200 card for HDTV

[Erich in Az]

I'm looking at upgrading my HTPC a little and building a Sage server.

Current specs are a 3400+ (S754), 512MB, NV 6200 AGP, PVR-150 and SageTV V6.0.19

I'm running it at 420P via component cables to my Toshiba Cinema Series 55" HD RP TV. The TV does not support DVI, only Component. It also does 480P or 1080i only, no 720's for me.

When I put an HVR-1600 I was having a lot of trouble replaying the OTA HD content. Playing SD and DIVX HD content was fine, so I took the HVR back. I noticed the CPU usage was low with the HD, yet it was studdering. I'm 99.4375% it was the 6200 not keeping up. I also have trouble playing back SD content at 1080i and get the 'not all that smooth' feeling. It's not a hard studder, but you can see things aren't very smooth when panning.

I want to think about trying it again and wondered if the 6150 or 7125/7150 IGp's would keep up with 1081i content. I had considered doing one of the following setups:

JETWAY 6150 and CPU $139.98
Jetway JM2GT3-PTD
Athlon 64 X2 4200+(65W) Windsor

or this ASUS combo for $158.98

ASUS M2NPV-VM
Athlon 64 X2 4200+(65W) Windsor

I probably don't need that much CPU, but hey...

I'm just wondering if I can expect a big difference between these. I'm considering turning the 3400+ in to a Sage server and using the new stuff as the client, but if it still doesn't run 1080i, I'll just rethink stuff.

One thing I did notice is that the Jetway is only 100mb LAN, but I can probably live with that.

Thanks.

 

[CrimandEvil]

6150 is hit or miss, some have been able to get it to playback 1080i smoothly but most haven't. I won't go with it.

7050 is suppose to do it, I know a few people that have them (I do too but I'm not using the IGP) and are able to do 1080i OTA HD just fine and that CPU should really help to keep it all smooth. I'd go with this.

 

[disc]

To add my experience (and take it for that, I'm not stating that people haven't been able to get 1080i working on a 6150) I had to pony up for something stronger get glitch free 1080i playback. I have no regrets though, because smooth HD playback is a beautiful thing