shyam :
Does that mean they're better then the high end cards?
For movies, yes, definitely.
So will the X1950 be good for games? That is my final question.
Yes it will be good, the GF8800GTS-320 a little bit better, but not as huge a jump as many expect, then the GF8800GTS-640, then the HD2900XT all of which are only slightly better than the other, and then a bit bigger of a leap in most games to the GTX and then tiny leap to the Ultra.
The main thing is the resolution, games, and preferences that matter. Also the CPU involved (for the movie playback component). Your resolution is 16x10, which is not a movie res, so you're going to be interpolating on the screen, which is bad. So if your move is to a higher resolution then there's different consideration, move toa lower res dedicated monitor/projector,etc. then you have less worries and all things are good.
At 1280x720 all those high end gaming cards will be around the same level with only slight changes in min fps if at all, ro maybe an AA setting extra. Now at 1920x1080/1200 then you start to see the cards separate a bit, and certain flipflops like the GTS-320 is a little weak at higher resolutions and the mid-range will struggle with everything turned on.
Now for video playback, in the future there will be titles that will either require really fast CPUs to assist the cards, or you'll need the dedicated hardwar found only in the mid-range cards. The HD2900XT is said to do enough in shaders to make up for this, but no early testing has proven this theory out yet (although there's new support for AVIVO in the latest drivers). But IMO you're not running native for any content, and if you fill the screen you're also running out of ratio too, so standard display quality won't be as much of an issue as the ability of the card to fill the screen through it's own pixel calculation work to upscale/downscale the image. I still have yet to see anyone do a good review of that with any of the modern era.
So IMO, if your monitor/TV is 1280x720 then the HD2600/GF8600 will be more than enough for most gaming (rememebr you can also reduce some settings a bit and still have a good experience (unlike most movies), but if your resolution is higher and closer to 1080P+ then the gaming on the midrange will be mediocre unless you run with the settings on med-high instead of high-ultra, but it'll play a high bitrate BR/HD-DVD movies with ease, whereas the other cards will require more CPU resources. You own 16x10 resolution is the spot at which I'd saying gaming on the mid-range now will be OK, and it will be playable for the next year (I mean playable, not great), but video playback should be the best on offer.
And should you wish to output your video to an external TV/system, then the HDMI and Audio over HDMI 1.2 on the HD2K series will be a nice benefit, but for your current setup are of little use.
The X1950Xt and GF8800GTS-320 are good choices if your focus is on gaming (more than mine is, which is about 2-6 hrs a week on PC), but if your focus is the video side of the equation, then I strongly suggest you look at the HD2600 and GF8600.