Choosing TV for G4 MDD media center

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honesttussey
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Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:41 pm

Choosing TV for G4 MDD media center

Post by honesttussey »

I'm trying to pick out a TV (pref HD) to use with my media center, a 1ghz dual g4. I'm trying to learn as much as a I can but there is still a lot I don't understand. I'll be using my media center mainly for playing DVDs but I would like to be able to play HD content at a later date.

My questions are

1) Should I be looking at getting a 1080p or 720p HDTV? That's 1920x1080 or 1280x720

2) How will my mac upscale DVDs to this new resolution. using a) VLC b) DVD player.app

3) The video card is a GeForce 4600 Ti. I don't have the card in front of me. I think the max res is 1920x1200. That should be enough to power a 1080p TV right?

4) Will the computer be able to play h.264 content? h.264 dvds perhaps.

Thanks.
jbrjake
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Post by jbrjake »

Haha, playing HD content on a g4? Using x264? Not going to happen. Even my dual g5 struggles with high profile x264 720p, and can't keep a steady framerate on apple's neutered main profile at 1080p.

So um, no...I would not be looking to get a high def tv. You're going to be playing standard def stuff with a media center like that.

Upscaling DVD will go fine.
honesttussey
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Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:41 pm

Post by honesttussey »

So which does DVD upscale better on? 720 or 1080p?
jbrjake
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Post by jbrjake »

honesttussey wrote:So which does DVD upscale better on? 720 or 1080p?
It'll look better on 720p, but imo buying a 720p set at the end of 2007 is buying obsolete technology.
honesttussey
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Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:41 pm

Post by honesttussey »

Would this help with h.264 playback?


http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmen ... t1.en.html
rhester
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Post by rhester »

honesttussey wrote:Would this help with h.264 playback?


http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmen ... t1.en.html
No, since that is an encoding accelerator, not a playback accelerator.

Rodney
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