The Official 100 HDCP ready video card list.

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bass4040 said:
Says ready for HDCP content on ATI site and on Bestbuy even says HDCP hardware decoding supports HDTV, Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD applications for resolutions up to 1080i.
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Do you have a link for me?
 
Valnar said:
I'm building a HTPC where silence, heat and power consumption are more important than a few FPS in games. I looked at all the charts on the Anandtech article that compares HDCP cards and came to a few conclusions. Everybody is welcome to check my work.

The best cards for strict HTPC use are the ones with a minimal factory overclock, if one at all. These are best overall cards taking into account heat, noise, power consumption and HDCP compliance:

Sparkle Calilbre 7950GT
PNY GeForce 7950GT
BFG GeForce 7950 GX2

...

If the manufacturers came out with more 7600GT options with HDCP support, that would be even better. Any 7600 or better from nVidia can handle hi-def video given a Core2Duo to power it. Of course if you plan on buying an aftermarket GPU heatsink, then the above list doesn't matter as much, ...

-Robert
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I asked in NVIDIA's PureVideo HD Interview & ExperienceS if HD video would need a 7950GT to run well and, frustratingly, the Anandtech review gives a lovely "no can answer".

[From page 19]
... since Blu-Ray titles are predominantly MPEG-2, having lots of extra power in a graphics card to accelerate the decode process isn't extremely important, but we still want to take a look at how much load the cards can take away from the CPU. ... Until we can look at H.264 and VC1 decode performance we will have to focus on other important factors to consider such as ...
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They also say:
Video decode acceleration on NVIDIA GPUs is handled by the PureVideo processor, which is tied directly to the core clock speed, so the CPU utilization of each card will reflect this. The end result is that an NVIDIA card with more pipelines that is better at 3D performance will not necessarily be better at video decoding.
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My reading of the results is that a 7600GT (G73 core) factory overclocked to 550-580 Mhz has the same HD video (MPEG2) performance as a reference 7900GS (G71 core clocked at 450MHz) but generally uses less power and has a similar noise level. Yes the 7950GT is better but not by much on these tests. If there was a G72/7300 with HDCP it would be interesing to see how it ran, as they are clocked at 550MHz+, much faster than the 7600GS tested.

I'm surprised you list the 7950GX2. it performs no better than the 7600GT in these tests, chews more power, and run fairly hot (although they are fairly quiet). I'd have said that (other than it's noisy cooler, which could be replaced) the MSI 7900GT was one of the best over all, the MSI 7900GS close behind, with the average 7950 tying with the average 7600GT (depending on what factors you choose to focus on).
 
It says all 8800GTXs are HDCP compliant but im finding it hard to verify if the Palit version is becuase on the their website it lists all their HDCP cards with HDCP in the specification but for the 8800GTX it does not. Ive tried emailing them and got no reply.

Its annoying becuase i have a palit 8800GTX and im havent opened becuase i might have to send it back becuase of lack of HDCP.
 
Are there any All-in-Wonders that are HDCP compliant?

I'm looking to put something in my HTPC, you see!
 
Do we really need HDCP? I found this from Blu-Ray.com:
1.12 Will Blu-ray down-convert analog outputs?


No, Blu-ray players will not down-convert the analog output signal unless the video contains something called an Image Constraint Token (ICT). This feature is not part of the Blu-ray Disc spec, but of the AACS copy-protection system also adopted by HD-DVD. In the end it will be up to each movie studio to decide if they want to use this "feature" on their releases or not. The good news is that Sony, Disney, Fox, Paramount, MGM and Universal have already stated that they have no intention of using this feature. The other studios, which have yet to announce their plans, will most likely follow suit to avoid getting bad publicity. If any of the studios still decide to use ICT they will have to state this on the cover of their movies, so you should have no problem avoiding these titles.
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Maybe they will still use it later...
 
alg7_munif said:
Do we really need HDCP? I found this from Blu-Ray.com:


Maybe they will still use it later...
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How do i put this. If you are using your vga connection, and they have the flag off, you can watch in full rez, if they have the flag on, then you can watch it at half rez. On the other hand if your using dvi/hdmi and you dont have hdcp, then you will not get any picture, reguardless if the flag is on or off. You can not send hd disc data over a non hdcp digital wire, period.
 
Can't find too many low end cards having HDCP :(

I liek EVGA but forcing to buy a higher end one.
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Can't find too many low end cards having HDCP :(

I liek EVGA but forcing to buy a higher end one.
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thats ok since nothing new comes out on hd discs anyway, and have fun getting a drive. Im just gonna get something that does hardware decoding for ts files. Then when its worth it for hd discs they will have the 8 channel over hdmi thing down. Right now if you get a card you may get hd playback, but you wont get the newer audio formats since most cards arnt hdmi, or are just porting a spdif wire from the audio card to the hdmi passthru, so at best you only get standard dts/dolby digital. Even with the new cards you cant get dolby hd.
 
I found a few cheapies under $100 and they had 256 ram. They were mostly ATI based. X550 is one of them. Can't play games but i'm sure they will play movies fine, I think.

Not any NV cheapies.

Also theres the junkbox 360 HD DVD player that works on PC! I just bougth one and will try when I get back to the states.
 
nightanole said:
thats ok since nothing new comes out on hd discs anyway, and have fun getting a drive. Im just gonna get something that does hardware decoding for ts files. Then when its worth it for hd discs they will have the 8 channel over hdmi thing down. Right now if you get a card you may get hd playback, but you wont get the newer audio formats since most cards arnt hdmi, or are just porting a spdif wire from the audio card to the hdmi passthru, so at best you only get standard dts/dolby digital. Even with the new cards you cant get dolby hd.
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That's pretty much where I'm at. I'm going to get a "cheap" 7600GT so I can have all the fancy processing for playing back 1080i TS files, and not worry about HDCP for now. By the time the Blu-Ray & HD-DVD drives are affordable they'll be more Purevideo features to support, and they'll be an HDCP compliant 8600GT for ~$120.
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Also theres the junkbox 360 HD DVD player that works on PC! I just bougth one and will try when I get back to the states.
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Good luck with that. You can play HD-DVD movies with it, but you're limited to 960x540 because WinDVD doesn't trust that your HDCP system is really secure.
 
nope it's being done with Pdvd 8 from Japan and some OEm software Pdvd 6.5. Once the full software is released to the masses it will work no problems - mid december.

I wouldn't buy it unless it was possible.

An hd dvd for 200! yay!
 
Tutelary said:
While I respect what you're attempting to do with the list, hdcp is dead for a good 5 years at least. Sony releasing a PS3 with no hdmi effectively sealed that fate.
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360 HD dvd is out. Got it for 177 icluding tax. I'm in.

Need Power DVD 6.5 or waiting for the supposed December release of retail.

Getting a blockbuster within the next week or so.

Getting my system ready for it.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1127834

HDCP is here. I hate the fact that it's forced but we have no choice if we want to see it.

Great thread and SHOULD BE STICKY!!! This is a lot of work. Very helpful.
 
Tutelary said:
While I respect what you're attempting to do with the list, hdcp is dead for a good 5 years at least. Sony releasing a PS3 with no hdmi effectively sealed that fate.
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Man how many times does this need explained. Hdcp is not for component or vga connections like the ps3 or 360. at worst if you have a ps3 or 360 or vga you will only get half rez. However if you have dvi or hdmi then hdcp is a must. You will not be able to watch hd discs over dvi without hdcp cards. No half rez no nothing, just a black outline where your vida should be.

If anything we should also have a hdcp monitor list, as even if we get these hdcp cards, we cant watch them on our non hdcp lcd monitors.
 
mentok1982 said:
Added a 7300 GS from MSI. It has HDMI right on the card and comes with a HDMI cable!
MSI NX7300GS-MD256EH HDMI
The card's manufacturer home page.
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Are you sure that's HDCP? HDMI doesn't automatically mean it's HDCP.
The other MSI cards with HDCP have a HDCP logo on their respective page.
HDCP_f.gif


They also have a -HD in the part number.

This one has neither.
 
nightanole said:
Man how many times does this need explained. Hdcp is not for component or vga connections like the ps3 or 360. at worst if you have a ps3 or 360 or vga you will only get half rez. However if you have dvi or hdmi then hdcp is a must. You will not be able to watch hd discs over dvi without hdcp cards. No half rez no nothing, just a black outline where your vida should be.

If anything we should also have a hdcp monitor list, as even if we get these hdcp cards, we cant watch them on our non hdcp lcd monitors.
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Did I say it was? As its turning out, the home video market is taking a dramatic turn away from what the pc market is doing, which is what my original comment referred to. You might want to check the original date of my comment, 7-8-06 before you get mouthy.

You're also quite wrong in that the PS3 has an hdmi port, BOTH models do now, which again: happened after my original comment.

You can play bluray/hd-dvd across even component up to 1080i on consoles and home theater stand alone decks, it was unforeseeable that the pc market would become so strict while the home theater market/videogame market left so much leeway.
 
Stereodude said:
Are you sure that's HDCP? HDMI doesn't automatically mean it's HDCP.
The other MSI cards with HDCP have a HDCP logo on their respective page.
HDCP_f.gif


They also have a -HD in the part number.

This one has neither.
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The following is one that card's page.

• HDMI - High Definition Multimedia Interface Support
HDMI is a new interface standard for PCs, displays and consumer electronics devices that supports standard, enhanced and high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It enables your PC to transmit all HDTV standards that combine HDCP-protected video at resolutions up to 1080p and 8-channel digital audio with 5 Gbps of bandwidth provided.
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So if that card is not HDCP ready, then MSI is not very nice. I am pretty sure it is HDCP
ready. It is a new card, it is from MSI (MSI has a lot more HDCP cards than most) and it
has HDMI on the card. Of course if you find proof that it is not HDCP ready, let me know
and I will remove it.
 
I added some missing cards from the following famalies:

8800 GTX
8800 GTS
7950 GT
7900 GS

X1950 XTX
X1950 Pro PCI-E
 
Are you sure the

Sapphire Ultimate Radeon X1950 Pro Zalman Cooler

is HDCP? I'm looking in their website and it mentions nothing.

I'm looking at some of the 1950 cards websites and some don't mention HDCP.
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Are you sure the

Sapphire Ultimate Radeon X1950 Pro Zalman Cooler

is HDCP? I'm looking in their website and it mentions nothing.

I'm looking at some of the 1950 cards websites and some don't mention HDCP.
Click to expand...

Check out the picture of the box on the card's page. A lot of manufacturers NEVER list a card
as HDCP ready, even if it is. I think it is either that they don't care, or that they think we don't
care.

As always, if you find any proof that a card is not HDCP ready let me know, but I'd rather not
have to justify each card on the list for you guys.
 
Stereodude said:
There's a pretty good list of HDCP cards on nVidia's site here.
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That is very cool. I will have to go through that and make sure I got everything on their list in mine.
 
You guys all seem to only want to buy Nvidia cards with HDCP. If you go this route, it is expensive. What about going the ATI route? Its a lot cheaper. I live in the UK and have just checked Nvidia HDCP cards and there are very few around. ATI however are a different story - their x1950pro series of card have hdcp and are priced reasonably. For example,
http://www.europc.co.uk/pages/ProductDetail.aspx?PID=77666&refId=froogle £124.15 (US$242.42), which in the uk is quite cheap.

The cheapest nvidia hdcp card I could find on google:
http://www.viewcon.biz/geforce-7900gt-256mb-pcie-ddr3-tvdual-dvihdtvvivo-p-192.html
£195.95 Inc. VAT (US$382.60).

Big price difference.

From what I know the x1950pro is a good card when it comes to hardware decoding.

Is there any reason why people are sticking with NVidia based GPUs, even though they cost so much? Am I missing something?
 
In the US they're far cheaper than the UK. The nVidia cards also have better video processing IMHO. ATI won't even tell you what cards can do what.
 
sunama said:
You guys all seem to only want to buy Nvidia cards with HDCP. If you go this route, it is expensive. What about going the ATI route? Its a lot cheaper.
Click to expand...

If you've worked with HTPC's before, you'd know that nVidia has the edge on quality. It used to be the other way around, but not any more.

Visit some Home Theater forums, like the great avsforum.com, and you'll dive head first into the hobby.

Robert
 
Valnar said:
If you've worked with HTPC's before, you'd know that nVidia has the edge on quality. It used to be the other way around, but not any more.

Visit some Home Theater forums, like the great avsforum.com, and you'll dive head first into the hobby.

Robert
Click to expand...

I currently have my pc hooked upto my HD projector, which projects on a 81" screen. My video card is an NVidia 6800GT AGP and Im thinking of moving over to the ATI X1950PRO when I upgrade. Unfortunately, Ive not owned an ATI card since 1998, so I'm not aware of the practical differences between NVidia and ATI when it comes to video processing.

Another question: in order to benefit from MPEG2 hardware acceleration, is it necessary to use the Purevideo codec? Or will my video card accelerate MPEG2 regardless of the codec? I am currently using ffdshow filter along with media player classic.
 
I see that the MSI GF8800 GTX and GTS are listed as NON-HDCP. Yet on the American website, it says HDCP compliant. http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=NX8800GTS-T2D640E&class=vga ... scroll down and it says
HDCP - High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection
HDCP is a content protection specification to protect digital entertainment content across the DVI/HDMI interface. The HDCP provides a robust, cost-effective and transparent method for transmitting and receiving digital entertainment similar to DVI/HDMI-compliant digital displays. HDCP encrypts the data transmitted between the DVI/HDMI connector on the graphics adapter and the display. To provide this support, both the graphics adapter and the display need to have an HDCP transmitter and receiver respectively.
Click to expand...

Similarly for the 8800GTX. But on the UK website - for example the GF8800GTX http://msicomputer.co.uk/products.aspx?product_id=703763&cat_id=78 - there is no mention of HDCP. Wonder if someone can clarify things. Are the cards HDCP enabled or not ? There seems to be no difference between UK and non UK versions of the 8800 series from MSI.
 
i apologize if this isn't the right thread for this question.. but has anyone successfully used one of these cards to get copy protected HD content from their PC to their HDTV's?

I don't remember where I read/heard of this but someone said that they could not play HD copy protected video on their HDTV using HDMI. I believe it was the MSI 7600GT with HDMI.. using an HD DVD drive installed on the PC.
 
VisionTek also has a X1600 Pro 256MB model: http://www.visiontek.com/products/cards/hidef/1600pro.html

I can't say that I'm terribly happy with it. It was a big sluggish playing HD-DVD even with AVIVO enabled in PowerDVD.

On a side note, I've noticed that most current cards that have HDCP support also require massive (350 Watt+) power supplies. It would sure be interesting to me, someone who has a media center PC with a puney 300W power supply to know the available cards that don't have such strict requirements as the GeForce 7950s or the current GeForce 8000 series cards. Knowing nVidia, they're probably going to release some budget 8300/8600 cards that will have HDCP and PureVideo HD but they're probably a few months away at best.
 
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