Topic: Video Card/Video Converstion Question (Can we bring back Technical Discussion?)

[animecyberrat]

Ok just 1 Question, will this video card affect my video conversion at all? Will it make it better? Faster? Or does the video card not have anything to do with it? The card I got was a Radeon 9200 128 MB AGP video card.

[animecyberrat]

BUMP, because the first post was a mess and nobody was going to read it.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

video conversion what ? of

[animecyberrat]

Basically what I want to know is when I am converting videos will the video card make a difference, like in quality or speed and if so what do I need to adjust. I am new to this I never had a video card before. I have a TV Tuner and I am familiar with that but a video card, a graphics card rather, I have never had other than what is integrated into the hardware.



What I am converting is mostly avi and divx videos into mov or mp4 I-Pod format videos. I would like to also speed up the conversion of my DVD's as well, like when I burn a DVD using Nero or DVD Architect it takes like over an hour to covert the video files but once converted the burner just writes the movies in a couple of minutes. I want mostly to speed up the authoring, is that the better word, process so I can make movies faster. Also I found the S-Video port on the TV, it was hidden and wow, I didn't know I could actually set it up to have two displays, I have a lot to learn so maybe I will just do some more google.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Graphics cards have no influence on video conversion speed nor quality.

CPU, RAM, codec, video source, conversion program, and unessential programs/process have the most immediate effect on conversion speed.

[animecyberrat]

so why even bother making a video card in the first place? What the hell do they do?


Ok in that case, I have 1 GB RAM, a 2.0Ghz Processor, and let's see, Windows XP Service Pack 2. What should I change to improve the video conversion? I thought for sure a good video card would make a difference. That sucks. Especially since I hooked the thing upto the TV and everything looks worse than on my monitor. Bigger screen doesn't matter much if everything is fuzzy. At least this way I can watch movies in my room on my TV without the headache of putting them onto the I-Pod and losing even more quality.

Still what good is a video card if it doesn't affect video? Or is it only supposed to affect Gaming? Cuz the website said it would improve video quality but didn't say anything specific. Now I am hating Ati.

[Shift Key]

so why even bother making a video card in the first place? What the hell do they do?

Drawing polygons on screen really well. You know, for games.

[animecyberrat]

if that is all they do, I want my money back. I don't intend to play many games and the ones I do, aside from Doom 3, I can already play anyways. Ok and maybe Oblivion.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Modern "HD" graphics cards are supposed to take the burden of decoding (play/viewing) HD format (loser formats) videos off your CPU.  As a plus, the big graphics card probably comes with a fan, takes up too much space, and adds noise & heat to your system.

The most effective things to do to improve encoding is have a multi-core CPU and know what programs you don't need to run during encoding (basically, completely leave the computer alone and don't run anything else).

The standard TV only has a vertical resolution of 480px.  Using s-video or composite to view your PC output will only make things blurrier.  And SDTV-out solutions for PCs are for the most part CRAP.  Game consoles have always had more reliable TV output equipment.

Back in the day, having 8MB of video RAM was a big deal since it allowed decent viewing of multiple 32-bit images with minimal frame-tearing when you moved windows around.

[animecyberrat]

So they work for running video but not converting. That sucks. My stuff is fast enough for me for the most part I was just hoping this would speed things up a bit. The card has DVI out but other than DVI to HDMI converters I have seen in stores, I am not sure what DVI is or where it goes.

[ShyGuy]

I believe Pinnacle video editing software can use the horsepower of modern video cards, but it may only use it for effects and transitions.

[animecyberrat]

Ok this is a dumb question but here goes, lets say you have a slow computer, say 560 Hgz  would putting a video card in it speed things up or slow things down?


My first guess would be since the video card is handling all the display properties and such that would take a load off of the slow processor, then I though would it or would the processor have to handle running the video card? I mostly ask because my moms pc, very old I know but it's all she has, is like this and I wanted to add a video card to it, for 1 to try and speed it up even a little bit, and for 2, well we got rid of our cable and she wants to hook her computer into the tv to watch her favorite shows that way over the internet, but her motherboard doesn't have a slot (AGP?) for the video card and I heard PCI cards are not very good, not to mention old and likely hard to find.

Sorry for all the questions, this video card stuff just doesn't make any sense to me.

[Shift Key]

Ok this is a dumb question but here goes, lets say you have a slow computer, say 560 Hgz  would putting a video card in it speed things up or slow things down?

It wouldn't have a real effect, because the major bottleneck you have is the processor itself. The graphics card offloads some of the processing, but this actual difference is dependent on the motherboard you have (earlier motherboard didn't do this).

I heard PCI cards are not very good, not to mention old and likely hard to find.

Correct and correct.

I think its best to just replace the computer. The best value-for-money thing I've come across is to look for nearby schools or government organisations which refresh their computers (which are often just a couple of years old) and end up either auctioning them for cheap or just asking people to take them off your hands. Not sure what's going on in your part of the world, but you don't have to buy brand new (and suffer the wrath of markup). The local paper is probably a good place to start.

[animecyberrat]

If we weren't deep in debt due to dad's medical bills and other *%^# we would have a new computer. I am not worried about it though, I have a good computer and mom mostly uses hers for work and myspace, both of which it does the job. I just was curious like I said because of the tv/internet situation. Thanks for the info though I sure do appreciate the help, google sucks when it comes to looking for straight forward answers.