On Mon, Aug 20, 2007 at 09:20:00AM -0400, Lennart Sorensen wrote: > On Sun, Aug 19, 2007 at 10:10:34PM -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: > > I have an nVidia EN7300GT based card. I'm quite happy with it when I > > use the nVidia driver to watch DVDs. With the nv driver the fine image > > detail is less clear. I'm assuming that this is because the nv driver > > isn't accessing the hardware decoding engine. > > Which player program, which X resolution, which refresh rate, etc. > > > Are there any good video cards that do hardware decoding/accelleration > > that use a free driver? > > Well personally I just use mythtv or mplayer or xine or whichever I feel > like to play DVDs, and I use the nvidia non-free drivers on a 6600gt, > which has plenty of accaleration so my 700mhz athlon can keep up just > fine. > Well the hauppauge PVR350 has hardware mpeg2 encoder and decoder, but I > guess it isn't really a video card unless you count using your TV as > your display as being a video card (you can run fb console and X on it > after all).
My only TV is a 17" 30 year old with poor vertical hold. > > I somewhat doubt that a hardware decoder would make the quality any > different. Having a driver to accalerate the decoding should just > reduce cpu load, not affect the quality. Various filters and such in > the application doing the playback on the other hand could affect it. Hi Lennart, I did a direct comparision of the nv driver with the debian-packaged nvidia non-free driver. The difference I noticed was with playing back a DVD. Card: Asus EN7300GT silent (nVidia EN7300GT), 256 MB. MB/CPU: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe, Athlon64 3800+, 1x 1GB ram stick. Display: Intergraph 21" CRT at 1600 x 1200 x 32-bit, 85 Hz. Test movie: 40th anniversary edition DVD of __The_Sound_of_Music__. Ideal test scene, near the beginning where the Nuns are in the chapple, shot on location, good contrast, facial details, candle flames, etc. VLC setup: full-screen (so the picture gets enlarged from the default DVD), de-interlace blending. Nvidia driver: CPU 98% idle, little memory used. fine detail clear, lines in old nun's face, great dynamic range (subtle shading light to dark), clear definition around candle flame on dark background, motion smooth. nv driver: CPU 94% idle, little memory used. blurred fine detail, old nun has a younger (smoother) face, less dynamic range (some dark details lost), candle flame blurred, motion slightly rough. Another good test scene: Maria in the Mother Superior's office, the Nvidia driver lets the viewer see the MS's facial expression change as Maria talks, with the nv driver you miss this subtle facial acting. I too was surprised that having the hardware decoding made a qualatative difference rather than just using more system resources. Thanks, Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
