According to some on AVSforum the HD4550 has poor SD deinterlacing performance and likely the HD4350 as well. Hopefully, Anandtech can look into this further.
Strange that this card doesn't have a HDMI port. If you look at the PCB, you can see the layout for the pins to a wiring to a HDMI port. RIght there between the D-Sub and DVI ports.
Great to see all the AMD/Intel IGP HTPC contestants in there. I totally agree with the choice of CPUs too. (Intel E5200 and AMD 4850E)
By the way, seems like NVIDIA GeForce 9300 boards rock??
Why are there so many STUPID people in this world?
This very same, erroneous point has been raised a few other times in this thread and been debunked. The product page itself CLEARLY points out the dvi/hdmi dongle and states, CLEARLY again, that audio AND video is supported.
This is one thing AMD does that Nvidia does not do. Unfortunately the review is of the AMD product, not the Nvidia product. Nvidia's HTPC cards do NOT do audio over the HDMI connector.
I suppose using a DVI-to-HDMI adapter is simply not acceptable to the HTPC market? Given more people currently use DVI and HTPC is a relatively small market, I think it makes sense to support DVI first with an adapter for HDMI rather than to have an HDMI port and require the adapter for DVI.
Just to clarify to save you a trip to the MSI website, I'm saying the DVI port definitely supports LPCM 7.1 as long as you use their special DVI to HDMI dongle.
While there's no doubt that the 4350 can support Blu-Ray playback, does it have enough power to do some of the 2.0 profile work like picture in picture dual stream playback? I'm pretty sure that ATI/AMD stated that the 4350 probably wouldn't support these features and your Blu-Ray tests might need to be updated to include a check of the dual stream playback. Also, how well does the 4350 do in the Silicon Optix HD HQV tests? While the test is somewhat subjective, we've seen before that low-end hardware sometimes stumbles in image quality compared to higher-end hardware.
If these reviews would go just a step or 2 further and answer some of these types of questions, AT could easily become the best review site for the HTPC crowd. We're so severely overlooked by most sites.
But does it deinterlace 1080i properly? Cards at the super low end haven't had the shader power to do proper deinterlacing and/or 3:2 pulldown of 1080i. I know the HTPC community is dying to know if the low power, passive, Radeon HD 4350 has the goods.
With no hybrid crossfire, i don't see why people with 780G and 790GX should upgrade to this. Why not just get one of those cards higher up that don't do hybrid crossfire anyways?
It seems the Nvidia 9300 is the uncontested HTPC winner with smooth playback, LPCM 7.1, and low power requirements. I see a board on newegg.com for $119... now it just needs to appear on newegg.ca. I guess I should hold back until I hear that the memory problems with the 9300 are resolved. Thanks for the article!
PS Still wishing for a Media Center App roundup...
Yep, the biggest reason to spend more on a gfx card for non gaming use now is to get 2 DVI + an HDMI adaptor, or 1 DVI + 1 HDMI. Who wants that vga port? It seems manufactures are reluctant to give us that configuration on cheap card, as they would like to cream the extra cash off the people who want dual digital.
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24 Comments
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Warren G - Monday, November 10, 2008 - link
I have this card....and it blew up!!!http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/4414/image00001...">http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/4414/image00001...
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/3710/image00002...">http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/3710/image00002...
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/1889/image00003...">http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/1889/image00003...
I used it for maybe ~10 hours
Badkarma - Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - link
According to some on AVSforum the HD4550 has poor SD deinterlacing performance and likely the HD4350 as well. Hopefully, Anandtech can look into this further.http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=1499...">http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=1499...
AlNasty - Friday, October 31, 2008 - link
Appears the Asus card has HDMI DVI and D-SubIt sure seems like a lot of card for $40.
Strid - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
Strange that this card doesn't have a HDMI port. If you look at the PCB, you can see the layout for the pins to a wiring to a HDMI port. RIght there between the D-Sub and DVI ports.Great to see all the AMD/Intel IGP HTPC contestants in there. I totally agree with the choice of CPUs too. (Intel E5200 and AMD 4850E)
By the way, seems like NVIDIA GeForce 9300 boards rock??
JarredWalton - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
See above: DVI-to-HDMI adapters address this perfectly well IMO.brentpresley - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
No, they do not.You cannot route digital audio over DVI through these converters.
And the GOOD cards out there that are low-profile already have DVI + HDMI ports on them.
So simply put: this was MSI being CHEAP. No other reason.
Sazar - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
Actually yes, they do.Nvidia cards do not. AMD cards, yep, and thats the biggest selling point for AMD's HTPC products.
Sazar - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
Why are there so many STUPID people in this world?This very same, erroneous point has been raised a few other times in this thread and been debunked. The product page itself CLEARLY points out the dvi/hdmi dongle and states, CLEARLY again, that audio AND video is supported.
This is one thing AMD does that Nvidia does not do. Unfortunately the review is of the AMD product, not the Nvidia product. Nvidia's HTPC cards do NOT do audio over the HDMI connector.
Please get your facts right.
rennya - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
With ATI 4xxx series, you can transport audio via the DVI-->HDMI dongle. The dongles that comes with ATI cards is special.brentpresley - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
This day an age, how can any company classify a Video Card as designed for the HTPC market when the card does not have HDMI output?While the chip may turn out to be great for HTPC, this card is a dud.
JarredWalton - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
I suppose using a DVI-to-HDMI adapter is simply not acceptable to the HTPC market? Given more people currently use DVI and HTPC is a relatively small market, I think it makes sense to support DVI first with an adapter for HDMI rather than to have an HDMI port and require the adapter for DVI.brentpresley - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
Considering Audio over HDMI is a KEY SELLING point in the HTPC market, and you can't pipe Audio over DVI through a converter . . .Yes, it is an issue.
In the future, you might want to know more about what you are talking about before you make snide remarks. ;)
derek85 - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
No it works. The DVI-HDMI adaptors utilizes few pins that DVI does not use to pass audio signals.3DoubleD - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
Dude, you have no idea what you are talking about. DIRECTLY from the MSI website:http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&a...">http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func...o=130&am...
They included a special box 2/3s down the screen to explain to special people like you why they don't include native HDMI ports.
3DoubleD - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
Just to clarify to save you a trip to the MSI website, I'm saying the DVI port definitely supports LPCM 7.1 as long as you use their special DVI to HDMI dongle.strikeback03 - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
The AMD DVI to HDMI adapter can pass audio over HDMI...DeesTroy - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
While there's no doubt that the 4350 can support Blu-Ray playback, does it have enough power to do some of the 2.0 profile work like picture in picture dual stream playback? I'm pretty sure that ATI/AMD stated that the 4350 probably wouldn't support these features and your Blu-Ray tests might need to be updated to include a check of the dual stream playback. Also, how well does the 4350 do in the Silicon Optix HD HQV tests? While the test is somewhat subjective, we've seen before that low-end hardware sometimes stumbles in image quality compared to higher-end hardware.If these reviews would go just a step or 2 further and answer some of these types of questions, AT could easily become the best review site for the HTPC crowd. We're so severely overlooked by most sites.
rennya - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
UVD2 in 4350 (or any 4xxx cards) support picture-in-picture. It is post-processing that will be suspect.SpHeRe31459 - Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - link
But does it deinterlace 1080i properly? Cards at the super low end haven't had the shader power to do proper deinterlacing and/or 3:2 pulldown of 1080i. I know the HTPC community is dying to know if the low power, passive, Radeon HD 4350 has the goods.Baov - Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - link
With no hybrid crossfire, i don't see why people with 780G and 790GX should upgrade to this. Why not just get one of those cards higher up that don't do hybrid crossfire anyways?3DoubleD - Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - link
It seems the Nvidia 9300 is the uncontested HTPC winner with smooth playback, LPCM 7.1, and low power requirements. I see a board on newegg.com for $119... now it just needs to appear on newegg.ca. I guess I should hold back until I hear that the memory problems with the 9300 are resolved. Thanks for the article!PS Still wishing for a Media Center App roundup...
shangshang - Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - link
disappointedbludragon - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
Yep, the biggest reason to spend more on a gfx card for non gaming use now is to get 2 DVI + an HDMI adaptor, or 1 DVI + 1 HDMI. Who wants that vga port? It seems manufactures are reluctant to give us that configuration on cheap card, as they would like to cream the extra cash off the people who want dual digital.bludragon - Thursday, October 30, 2008 - link
I spoke too soon. Go get the ASUS EAH4350. Has HDMI, DVI and VGA for the same price, but without the rebate.OK, the paranoia in me would like to check the HDMI and DVI can be used in a dual setup 1st...