Hello everyone, I want build a small media center *like* pc for m HDTV (1080i; DVI input). I have an older HP computer with a 1.5 Pentium processor with NO AGP ports. All I want to do is watch my downloaded movies and DVD's, surf the web, and stream data from my other PC. Would a cheaper PCI video card with a DVI port work or should I just build a new one with AGP or PCI-E for my 42 inch TV? Also if I set the cards resolution to 1920x1080 and watch a DVD, is that the same as an HD DVD? I won't use it for gaming or anything else and I am tight on cash (just had a baby boy!).
wertwetwweiwerwe
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"Would a cheaper PCI video card with a DVI port work"
1920 by 1080, Sure hope you have a crt monitor. I dont know many, if any lcd monitors that have this resolution. Aldo the bigger res will not just make it hdtv. HD is a form of codec. Changing resolutions will not make any difference if the dvd is not hd, To get movies in hd they need to be filmed in hd, or there is no point in hd because its not hd. its jus a huge off sized resolution that will make your viewing horrible. Also HDTV requires a tremendous amount of cpu and gpu cycles. I reccommend if you want an hdtv media center you look into a new comp. Its not near fast enough to hadle the speed of an hd stream. I use a 6500 Ultra nvidia card for anything to do with HD, Now for regular movies, most cards should be fine, but as for pci video cards, they are a dying breed, you can rarely find them anymore being they are 99 % obsolete (Servers alot of the time will have a pci video card, due to the need just to see an image, and nothing more) Do youself a favor, get a faster setup, and a decent agp or pci-e card to go with it. Hopefully I have helped in some way (being I film in HD and edit HD on a regular basis. ) so look around, Tigerdirect.com is a good place to start on a new system. Oh and the ati radeon 7000 pci card will not work with HD streams. Its too slow of a card. AGP or PCi Express only for HD. Unless well, theres no purpose in hd unless you have the hardware to play it, same with the film. Poeple Claim to have a HD movie, when id say 90% of the time its not. Like i said before, If its not filmed in hd its not tru hd. Sorry i typed so much, its just such a hard topic to answer, cuz yes its possible to play hd on a slow machine, but no it wont be worth anything, To get quality u gotta shell the $$$ out