Cheap Graphics Card for 1080p - HDMI - Audio

davecrazyas

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May 21, 2012
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After years of playing about with little media streamers I've now had enough and I'm going back to putting a full blown PC under the TV for playing TV shows and movies, can someone offer some advice about the graphics card,

it must

Play 1080p content without issue using Windows 7
Have HDMI
Pass audio (stero) direct to my TV via HDMI.

As cheap as possible but support the above (it will never see a single game) but must do the above flawlessly


thanks for any advice in advanced
 
1080p video playback is not intensive. A Radeon 6450 can do the job flawlessly. If you want extra future proofing, then a Radeon 7750 is also considerable because it's much faster and it would be able to deal with greater than 1080p video playback. We'll eventually move beyond 1080p as the top video playback quality, so two reasonable choices for you would be to either buy one of the cheapest cards that will work for now and then upgrade if you want something more a few years later, or get a more powerful card now.
 

davecrazyas

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May 21, 2012
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Can anyone confirm if they are able to get a good picture on a TV using a 10m or above HDMI cable from a computer graphics card, I've heard anything above 5 meter can be an issue.
 

claysm

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Apr 29, 2012
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It's actually not to hard to find a video card that will meet all of those requirements, as even the non-discrete Intel HD Graphics 2000 will do 3D Blu-ray over HDMI. Also, the entire line-up of AMD 6000 AMD 7000 series cards will do the same.
 

Abyssalx

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Feb 4, 2009
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Well, I use a 30ft (9.15 meter) HDMI cable and it works alright.

In every instance I've used it, PC to TV using HDMI looks like hell, regardless of the length of cable, and regardless of settings and overscan/underscan. I should specify that on the desktop it looks like hell, but while watching movies and stuff it's fine. I would still rather use a VGA or DVI to connect to my TV though
 

HVDynamo

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Feb 6, 2008
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I agree with the 6450. It's a great card for that job. I have this one in my HTPC:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150567

The passive cooler is great for keeping the system quiet and it barely even gets hot. I haven't had any trouble with it, and it will even play some games without trouble, such as League of Legends and pretty much any source game. It isn't the best gaming card though, but it works in a pinch with some settings turned down.
 

davecrazyas

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May 21, 2012
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I'm due a new card in my main PC, I like a bit of Warcraft and now Diablo 3 action and was thinking of dropping a 6870 in there but I'm unsure if I could run a 10 meter HDMI cable from it to my TV and get a picture, I hear HDMI is not that good over 5 meters, would be nice as it saves me building a new PC just for media.
 

davecrazyas

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May 21, 2012
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"PC to TV using HDMI looks like hell" how do you mean, I want this to be a perfect picture your comment now makes me think PC-TV is not a good idea.
 

tonync_01

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Feb 18, 2012
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I'm not sure what problems you've had, but the hdmi is the same video signal as DVI plus audio. I use hdmi to link my pc to a Vizio LED LCD 1080p for everyday use and it looks great.