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Dual HDMI output from an HD3xxx series card?

Omar

Omar

Omar

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Joined
31 May 2005
Posts
805
Location
London
I'm looking to 'upgrade' from my current Sapphire X800XL (with aftermarket Zalman flower cooler) to a passively cooled HD3xxx series card.

I'd like to use it with an HDTV (1920x1080) and a 22" monitor (1680x1050), both have HDMI inputs.

Now I'm not fussed about gaming on my PC anymore, so a low end HD3xxx card looks like a pretty good prospect since most (all?) seem to do hardware assisted Divx/Xvid/BluRay/HD-DVD decoding and also hardware assisted encoding (I sometimes convert stuff to watch on my PSP) so they seem like a step up from my X800XL in that respect. Please correct me if this assumption is wrong.

Now looking around, I have found the Sapphire HD3470 (http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=228&grp=3) which looks pretty awesome based on my requirements:

Passively cooled, doesn't take two slots, no extra power required, two DVI outputs, relatively cheap (approx £50).

1. Do these cards support dual HDMI output?

2. I know that DVI to HDMI cables are easy to get, but I'm wondering how different the converters that come with the cards are?

3. Am I likely to get two converters in the box?

4. I know that the ATI cards support sound over HDMI, but am I likely to be able to get this over both HDMI outputs, or just one?

Thanks in advance for any help and/or advice you can offer me.
 
Sorry, as a follow-up. Are there any alternative cards you would suggest, and are there any cards just around the corner (i.e within the next month) that are upgraded versions of the low end HD3xxx ?
 
Hi,

I've tried dual HDMI with my 3870X2, it worked fine, but I don't think you'll be able to get audio over both DVIs, from what I can remember, I could only get audio from the port closest to the motherboard side.
 
Cool, thanks for the reply.

I guess sound from one is better than nothing, I can always plug in a set of speakers to the computer.

Do I need to use special software to see the benefits of the assisted video encoding? or is just installing the latest ATi drivers enough?

How does the card know to assist with video decoding? Again, is it just a matter of having the drivers, or do you have to use an ATI supplied/compatible video codec or media player software?
 
The 3 series will be replaced with the 4 series naturally. Only ATI HDMI dongles will give you sound from a ATI card as they are wired differently.

To make use of video acceleration you have to select "DirectX VA" which is short for DirectX Video Acceleration in your application. If your in Vista you can select EVR (Enhanced Video Renderer).

In PowerDVD for instance you can select "Use hardware acceleration" which is it's way of saying use DirectX VA. In MPC HomeCinema I select Vista EVR.
 
Cool, thanks for the info!

Unless low end 4xxx series cards are likely to be out soon, I think I'll go for the Sapphire HD3470 then.
 
A couple of points, for Hardware AVC playback you will need a supported software player

Also I don't think You will be able to run PC audio and the ATI audio at the same time...as You are unlikely to have 2 digital surround sound systems running maybe splitting the PC audio would work best
 
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