XGI Volari V3XT : HDTV for $50

[rsagetv99]

Anyone heard of this? Or better yet, has anyone tried it? I wonder if it will work with SAGE?

Here's a review: http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=627

EDIT: After reading the review it seems like it would work with SAGE natively since it is a video card with DVI out I don't think anything would need to be done to view the SAGE client over the DVI out.

[zoundz]

It's been looking promising for over a month now, since PCStats.com and a couple of other people reviewed it. I haven't been able to find one to buy.

Has anyone seen one yet? The closest thing I've been able to find is the Chaintech SLV3 using the XGI Volari V3 (not XT) chipset. I haven't been able to ascertain what the differences are. The Chaintech sort of says that it has the hardware decoder, but it's not touted very hard and I'm not sure if it's really there.

For $50 or less this could definitely be the missing link in SageTV land.

[dagar]

Yeah, too bad their review is pathetic (like most of theirs have become -- they had good reviews at one time.)

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by zoundz

It's been looking promising for over a month now, since PCStats.com and a couple of other people reviewed it. I haven't been able to find one to buy.

Has anyone seen one yet? The closest thing I've been able to find is the Chaintech SLV3 using the XGI Volari V3 (not XT) chipset. I haven't been able to ascertain what the differences are. The Chaintech sort of says that it has the hardware decoder, but it's not touted very hard and I'm not sure if it's really there.

For $50 or less this could definitely be the missing link in SageTV land.

Sounds like it might be vaporware???

[stanger89]

More like Asia-ware.

[dagar]

Yep, I think that was the same with their last iteration.

[tdalton]

so did anyone ever try this video card? Tigerdirect.com has it for $34.99 plus a $20 mail in rebate so the final cost is $15! Unless I hear from someone in here that it flat out doesn't work w/ Sage I am going to give it a whirl and let you know what my findings are.

TD

[gplasky]

Sage is not that sensitive to what video card it uses. You do want one that supports DirectX 9. It's recommended but not required. And it works with PCI or AGP or PCI-Express. It also should support overlay. It's the tuner/tv cards you needs to be more careful with.

Gerry

[PGPfan]

tdalton,

I had one (still do have it, just won't use it) and it sucked! Yes, mine is the V3XT, and on film DVD's it looked good, but DVD's that were originally video it looked terrible. VERY stuttery, like 5-8 frames per second.

Keep your money. I ended up putting back in my Radeon 7500.

-PGPfan

[tdalton]

Thanks that is the kind of feedback I'm looking for. Gerr, I realize that Sage will work with many video cards but there are varying degrees of what someone might consider to merely work as opposed to working well. Thanks for the replies.

TD