Cheapest video card to play 1080p for Kodi
#1
Hello all, my onboard video card has decided to give up on me. I mostly play 720p, 1080p video downloaded from the internet. I want a passive cooled low-profile card. So far, Asus EN210 http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/EN210...I1GD3V2LP/ seems to fit the picture. Inexpensive, and passively cooled.

I've read there are issues with GT210 chipset. I don't play 1080i or 720i videos. Will this suffice?

I've used ATI chipset video cards before. I have issues with them though. I'm using LCDTV connected to Harman Kardon Receiver via HDMI. HK Receiver is connected to my ATI video card's HDMI port. With ATI, my TV has to be on first, switched to the correct input, before turning on Receiver, before HDMI audio will be enabled. Otherwise, it will be grayed out. Is there the same problem in Nvidia? Is there a sequence needed before HDMI audio is enabled?

Thanks
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#2
(2014-08-26, 15:19)jang430 Wrote: Hello all, my onboard video card has decided to give up on me. I mostly play 720p, 1080p video downloaded from the internet. I want a passive cooled low-profile card. So far, Asus EN210 http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/EN210...I1GD3V2LP/ seems to fit the picture. Inexpensive, and passively cooled.

I've read there are issues with GT210 chipset. I don't play 1080i or 720i videos. Will this suffice?

I've used ATI chipset video cards before. I have issues with them though. I'm using LCDTV connected to Harman Kardon Receiver via HDMI. HK Receiver is connected to my ATI video card's HDMI port. With ATI, my TV has to be on first, switched to the correct input, before turning on Receiver, before HDMI audio will be enabled. Otherwise, it will be grayed out. Is there the same problem in Nvidia? Is there a sequence needed before HDMI audio is enabled?

Thanks

I would say to go with Radeon 5450 or GT610 to be safe but the GT210 will probably work. When I researched this a few years ago, there were some solid reasons I just don't remember them.
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#3
Ok. Hope price isn't that far away. Any input on how Nvidia handles hdmi audio?
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#4
I have one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/GeForce-Graphics...B008A1C2AM Not using the HDMI audio on it though, so can't comment on that.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
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#5
Btw, no fanless option for Asus though
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#6
gt610 all the way
Check out my Fanart.tv stuff!
...........I also accept disc requests if image not on fanart.tv database !!!!
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#7
Hi guys, I brush up this discussion because I need your advice.

My HTPC is built with an Asrock 939A790GMH, CPU is an X2 4400+, GPU is the integrated HD3300 (using last 13.9 legacy) and OS is Windows 7 x64.
I usually use Kodi to watch movies and listen music, and PowerDVD 14 to watch blurays. Never had a problem before.

Recently a friend of mine gave me The Matrix Trilogy blurays. When I tried to watch the first one, it was quite impossible. The video flicks more or less every 5/10 seconds, resulting very annoying. I have no pixellation and no corruption, simply the video has quickly "flash" (sorry guys I'm not english and I don't know how describe it) like frames distortions, they last some milliseconds, than video returns normal, and after some seconds again the problem.

I was surprised, because I never had that problem. Using BD Info, I saw that it was a VC-1 bluray, while all my other blurays are AVC. To be sure, I played that bluray on another system with an nVidia card and it played perfectly, so not a defective disc. I borrowed another VC-1 movie from my friend, same problem. So it's defenitely a bug with VC-1 codec.

In PowerDVD, changing hardware/software acceleration didn't change anything. I installed the trial of WinDVD Pro 11, and I got the same behaviour. So, not a PowerDVD related problem.

I installed the trial of AnyDVD and tried to play the movie within Kodi, and I discovered that with DXVA2 enabled I have the same bug, while with DXVA2 disabled the problem disappear, but the system has great difficulty to play it without hardware acceleration. Tried also with MPC-HC enabling/disabling DXVA2 acceleration, same behaviour.

So, it's for sure a problem with DXVA2 acceleration and AMD drivers.
So, I tried differents drivers: 9.4, 11.12, those in motherboard CD, 13.1, Dellon modded on Guru3D, 14.12 modded with Flem. No succes at all!
Rather, with oldest drivers I got also green pixellation.


In conclusion: I'm unable to fix it!,
So the question is: I'm going to buy a dedicated GPU, I don't want to use anymore AMD because I hate their drivers, I'm thinking about a GT 720, do you know guys if it's ok with Kodi and with VC-1 blurays?!

Thanks!
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#8
(2014-08-26, 16:36)jang430 Wrote: Ok. Hope price isn't that far away. Any input on how Nvidia handles hdmi audio?

nvidia from the GT200's handles 8 channel lossless PCM just fine.

The GT730 can be got for something like £40 here in the UK (there's a 384 core and 96 core version so be careful - the 96 core version is an old femi core) and is fanless. Handles 1080p just fine
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#9
I have a MSI Z97 motherboard with intel pentium G3258

All my movies are makemkv rips (Bluray/DVD) and I have lagging / jagged edges and sometimes green sparks while watching DVD rips when the scene changes. I've tried different settings in Kodi Isengard and nothing seems to work.

I'm thinking about a graphics card but not sure if this will fix my problems. Any idea of what can be causing this?

thanks in advance
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#10
not without a Debug Log. Start by reading http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=165707
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