Q: Graph card affect vids?

jesusXchrist

Hello, I have a question: I was wondering if a Graphics card improves the qualities of videos.

I recently linked an ok (integrated graph card) pc to a 42'' HDTV playing a 175MB (20min video)

Now, if I put a decent graph card in that pc, will the quality of the video Improve? (Just curious, not that I'm saying the video is in bad quality, its pretty good)

Help & Thx!

ugzkmk

a newer video card might beable to "fit" the screen better. i had a similar setup and the older video card wouldnt take up the whole screen. also there will be a difference if you get a video carrd capable of hdmi not just vga

obobskivich

what are you talking about "fit"??

you mean support the actual resolution of the screen?
as all of intel's current igp's can do 1080p, and the offerings from nvidia and ati are even better


as far as improving video quality and whatnot, probably not, unless you're decoding blu-ray or hd-dvd on the system, in which case the gpu is usually tasked with this, although, intel's integrated solution, as well as nvidia and ati's igp logic, all have some degree of coprocessing for hd signals, so i wouldn't be overly worried about that

if you want to game on this screen or something, i'd consider something discrete, although generally speaking, you should be fine

as far as the hdmi vs vga debate, there is no increase in visual quality, however, hdmi will bring hdcp to the table, which goes back to the hd-dvd/bluray thing, although some newer igp boards have an hdmi output, which solves that problem as well, assuming the tv supports hdcp (it should if it has hdmi, but theres no gurantee it has hdmi)

ugzkmk

i was refering to scaling, and depending on how old teh card is it might not scale properly. as far as no increase in visual quality, that all depends on the tv and the user. sometimes there is a noticable difference and sometimes there isnt. the best thing to do would be, if you wanted to, get a newer video card and compare the two, hdmi and vga in home on your system. if it turns out there is no noticable difference, then you end up with a new video card, if the quality is clearer, then you get a better picture

obobskivich

if its an ancient card, then yes, theres problems

but modern Intel GMA/nVidia IGP/ATI IGP solutions are identical in 2D quality to discrete cards, and will handle HD output just as well, they just don't bring the noise for gaming