Need good video card for DVDs?

[patyoda]

Hi guys,

I've heard some conflicting information, so I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me here. How much difference does one's video card make simply for watching DVDs? Now I know I certainly don't need a top of the line card, but will ANY card be as good as the next?

Also, another little thing. How much difference does the monitor make?

Thanks!

[agathodaimon]

The monitor makes a HUGE difference!
Try watching movies on a 15" monitor, then switching to a 19"... It's like night and day.... Even better if it's a FLAT screen.

As far as the video card goes... Not really sure. I've watched DVD's using Savage8 onboard graphics, Geforce MX and Geforce Ti video cards before, so I don't think that you need anything too fancy, being that the onboard video played fine.

[Urban_Squrill]

Some video cards say they have "decoding" stuff. Like agathodaimon said monitor makes the difference.

[patyoda]

Decoding stuff? Would this affect quality at all, or is it referring to something else?

Also, how much better would a flat screen monitor be than the same size CRT?

[Urban_Squrill]

I dont know but both my voodoo 3 and my ati 9700 both have decoding assist.

[agathodaimon]

I think it means it just has the ability to play video from a DVD.
When watching DVD's, you're not actually rendering any 3D textures or graphics, it's just simply displaying an image onto the monitor, so it doesn't take a beefy video card to play DVD's. Some video cards may look better than others simply because of the quality, but I really don't think it's going to be that big of a difference... At least in every card I've used I haven't seen any difference.

[Peter M]

ATi and SiS have the most advanced DVD decoder hardware in the graphics units. This reduces CPU and overall system load while viewing DVDs. Apart from that, the graphics card's speed doesn't matter much. After all, cards w/ DVD decoder hardware first appeared in 1997 - SiS 6326 - when 3D acceleration was many orders of magnitude slower than it is today. Fear not.