Recommended card for Highend HTPC...

[badnewcastle]

So my dad designs highend home theater systems. He is trying to implement a PC into a system at home. We have everything working fine for sound and all that, but we can't get the video to work right.

We are tyring to use an 8800GT which he already had in the computer. Using DVI to HDMI cable.

We are running it through a video processor which upscales all video to 1080p. When the video processor grabs the video feed from the 8800GT, it will only hold the picture if the opened window is set to "full screen", otherwise if flickers and then acts as if there is no incoming signal. The only way to get it back is to go to the lower left and click start which you can do with out seeing the screen and then it comes back.

The whole reason for what he is doing, is because I guess he has real DVD which will take DVD's and copy them to the computer. So he wants to put all his "standard dvd's on HD's, so that all he has to do is go to the computer to open them...

He wants to feed the video processor via the computer with a 480p signal (highest available quality for a SDDVD).

My thought is to put a ATI 4550 in and hopefully that would solve the problem and allow him to go HDMI with audio... which right now is not a priority since he is using a digital out to the sound processor in the theater.

 

[Denithor]

Why would you put the signal through a "video processor" to upscale to 1080p? Just output the video from the 8800GT in 1080p (1920x1080) and you're done.

 

[badnewcastle]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Why would you put the signal through a "video processor" to upscale to 1080p? Just output the video from the 8800GT in 1080p (1920x1080) and you're done.

Because the video processor in the theater does a much much better job then any video card could do at upscaling it. Also, every other component blue ray, hd dvd, laser disc, dish network and directv all go through the video processor then to a DLP projecter that is mounted in the ceiling. So having one line between the projector and the processor is very nice.

 

[3DoubleD]

So right now you output video from your 8800GT at 480p so the video processor can upscale to 1080p? Is there a mode on the video processor that doesn't mess with the signal? I'd try outputting 1080p from the 8800GT "straight through" the video processing unit to the DLP projector. Considering how crappy your source is, I don't think you would see much difference between GPU scaling and video processor scaling, neither will look good. If you care about quality that much and are willing to trade-off convenience, buy it in HDDVD/BR. You could still rip the movies to the HDD, but you will need much more HDD space. An alternative method would be to download 1080p encodes (x.264) of all his favorite movies so there is no video processing needed, which again removes the problematic equipment - your video processor. I wouldn't imagine an ATI card would behave any differently in this respect.

 

[badnewcastle]

I'm sorry, we have tried 480p up to 1080p being output from the the 8800gt. Yest we can put it on pass through which allows it to run as is through the processor. You are right, the SDDVD's are crappy quality though you can tell a subtle differences between the card and processor, for example the saturation on almost any dvd is better when processed with the processor and the colors depending on the filming of the movie seem better for the most part out of the processor.

The main problem we are having is that the processor and the 8800gt can't seem to hold a signal with each other.

 

[3DoubleD]

I'd bring up that problem with nvidia, of course, you would have to wait until the next driver release for the fix... if they even bother to fix it. Perhaps you should find other users of your video processor and see if they have similar issues with nvidia or ATI cards. I'd still be very surprised if a different graphics card fixed the problem, but perhaps it's worth a try with a cheap 4550. You might even be able to return it if it doesn't work for a small restocking fee. To be honest I'd keep the 4550 just because of the HD audio over HDMI since it is vastly better than S/PDIF.

Also, you say the only time the picture is ok is when the video is set to full screen, but isn't that how you would view the movie anyway? Maybe I'm not understanding your definition of "full screen". Other possible source of problems may be:

1) your video player/codec
2) the computer itself (eg. some random problem)

Try installing a different video player/codec (what are you using now?). If that fails, try switching computers and/or swapping the 8800GT into another computer. I only mention 2) because I had this crazy XP freezing problem that I fought with fruitlessly for 7 months that only went away after I spent the time to reformat my computer. I had 100 theories for why it was happening but nothing ever fixed it until the reformat.

By the way, how much of an improvement does your video processor give HD signals? How much was your processor and do you feel it was worth the investment?

 

[SolMiester]

I would try a different type of cable from the card to the DVD\HDD, maybe s-video to RCA etc