Good Video Card with DVI for Export to HDTV?

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a video card to export captured HDV out on DVI to an HDTV? Does such a thing exist that also has SPDIF or is a separate sound card needed?

[Graham Hickling]

As a general recommendation, one of the NVidia-based cards that support Purevideo hardware mpeg decoding would be worth considering: my 6600GT provides a BIG reduction in the demands on the processor to decode HDV footage.

List of cards here: http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

Not sure which if any have DVI however - many on that list just have a component RCA breakout connector.

You may not need a separate soundcard - many new motherboards now come with SPDIF output on-board.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Graham Hickling

As a general recommendation, one of the NVidia-based cards that support Purevideo hardware mpeg decoding would be worth considering: my 6600GT provides a BIG reduction in the demands on the processor to decode HDV footage.

List of cards here: http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

Not sure which if any have DVI however - many on that list just have a component RCA breakout connector.

You may not need a separate soundcard - many new motherboards now come with SPDIF output on-board.

Thanks for the suggestion. There's a lot of good items there, but mostly very pricey. Some of their cards do have DVI. However, I'm looking for something a lot simpler, just for the purpose of exporting HD video and audio to a TV and audio receiver, that I've already captured through FireWire. The TV doesn't take FireWire and I don't want to have to use a camcorder as an intermediate converter.

I did try to download their NVidia PureVideo Decoder software. However, after doing the whole process, the activation code they provided was invalid and there seems no way to actually contact a Human to deal with it. Not an experience I haven't had before.

[Graham Hickling]

I don't think ANY TVs accept a HDV transport stream over firewire - do they?

If you want to minimise cost, I think you'll find the cheapest HDV-capable cards will have component out rather than DVI out ... you can get a 6600GT for around $100 if you hunt around a bit.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Graham Hickling

I don't think ANY TVs accept a HDV transport stream over firewire - do they?

If you want to minimise cost, I think you'll find the cheapest HDV-capable cards will have component out rather than DVI out ... you can get a 6600GT for around $100 if you hunt around a bit.

I ordered an NVidia GeForce FX 5200. It's a PCI card (not Express) with DVI/VGA/S-Video outputs and has a 128MB RAM buffer. I think it will take care of my single need and it was only $55. I also ordered a Turtle Beach USB sound card (1.1 or 2.0) that has an optical digital output for DD/DTS 5.1 and also headphone and analog outputs. It does a simulated 5.1 to the headphones and cost $30. If this all works, I will have what I wanted at a low price and didn't use up my last open slot for a sound card. I'm also getting a 300GB FireWire/USB2.0 HDD with a 16MB RAM buffer, so I may be able to store and export a good bit of HDV for viewing and still didn't spend much money.

There are some HDTVs that have FireWire. I just saw a discussion about a Mitsubishi with FireWire and component. It couldn't handle 1080i over FireWire and had to be connected to a Z1 with component.