[DerGrinch]

Hey there,
I want to buy a new TV (didn't choose one yet, probably a 32"-Philips). Then I want to connect the TV with HDMI to my debian-desktop and watch videos with xbmc . Unfortunately, my current NVidia-GPU has no HDMI output, so I need to buy a second GPU.
I found the cheap, passive-cooled HD4350. It supports HDMI and resolutions up to 1600x1200@120Hz, but I'm not sure whether I can play 1080p-movies with high bitrates. Has anyone experiences with this card? (I can play most of my 1080p with my current NVidia-GPU connected to a 19"-1280x1024@60Hz-Monitor (yeah, downscaling..), so the CPU should be good enough)

Greets,
DerGrinch

[cowfodder]

XBMC for Linux supports VDPAU hardware acceleration with NVIDIA GPUs. Hardware acceleration with ATI is still experimental in trunk only. You'd probably be better off with a cheap NVIDIA card.

[teaguecl]

I would second cowfodder. It is possible that an ATI card will work using the experimental DXVA code. However... ATI has a long history of being uncooperative with the Linux community. Actually, they have along history of being uncooperative with their customers in general. NVIDIA, while not perfect, has been much more accommodating to Linux. Reward good companies with your dollars, save yourself a ton of headache - get a cheap NVIDIA.

[DerGrinch]

After a quick google search I'm afraid that there are no PCI-GPUs with HDMI from Nvidia (My motherboard has one PCIe x16-Slot (which is taken by my other GPU which I want to keep for the desktop) and a PCIe x2-Slot is covered by its cooler), so I have no other chance than taking the one from ATI. I also think that the performance-increase wouldn't be big when doing hardware-acceleration with low-end-GPUs, or am I wrong?

[bobo1on1]

You don't have two dvi outputs on that other videocard?

[DerGrinch]

no, a VGA-output (currently used) and a DVI-output (But I suggesst they both send the same output, but I want the TV as a second screen in X)

[bobo1on1]

If that videocard is not ATI too they might not work together in xorg.

[ph77]

If your current gpu is capable of 1080p and you don't need audio through hdmi, then use that card for the tv connection with a dvi-hdmi adapter and buy a cheap nvidia pci card for the desktop.