Athlon XP 2500+ decoding Hi Def MPEG2?

Hi,

I am considering using an Athlon XP 2500+ in a computer that will contain a
Digital TV tuner card. The particular card I am looking at can capture High
Definition (both 576p and 1080i) MPEG2 streams to hard disc. Allowing these
streams to be played back at a later time.

However, to achieve this, the card maker suggests at a minimum a 2.3 GHz
Pentium 4 is required, and a 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 recommended. I am wondering
how these recommendations would translate to Athlon XP with respect to this
task - decoding HD MPEG2. Is it true Pentium 4s are considered the better
processor for this media task? I am aware that Pentium 4 seems to be much
faster than Athlon XP for ENCODING files to MPEG2, is this simply because
most good encoders make use of the P4's SSE2 capability, thus getting past
the Athlon XP because it doesn't support SSE2?.

Just because P4 encodes faster does this mean it has an equivalent advantage
for decoding? The software for the card says that their MPEG decoding scheme
has recently been optimised for MMX/SSE/3DNow! Does it sound reasonable that
a 2500+ would be able to achieve this task without dropping frames (assuming
that is all the PC is required to do, or would a 3000+ be more realistic?
Would a card that assists in MPEG2 decoding, like a Radeon, or GeForce FX
help? Or do they only assist decoding DVD profile MPEG2 streams, because
they weren't designed with HD MPEG2 in mind?

Thank you for your time,

Simon Howson

youll be fine with that processor
"Simon Howson" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I am considering using an Athlon XP 2500+ in a computer that will contain
a
Digital TV tuner card. The particular card I am looking at can capture
High
Definition (both 576p and 1080i) MPEG2 streams to hard disc. Allowing
these
streams to be played back at a later time.

However, to achieve this, the card maker suggests at a minimum a 2.3 GHz
Pentium 4 is required, and a 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 recommended. I am wondering
how these recommendations would translate to Athlon XP with respect to
this
task - decoding HD MPEG2. Is it true Pentium 4s are considered the better
processor for this media task? I am aware that Pentium 4 seems to be much
faster than Athlon XP for ENCODING files to MPEG2, is this simply because
most good encoders make use of the P4's SSE2 capability, thus getting past
the Athlon XP because it doesn't support SSE2?.

Just because P4 encodes faster does this mean it has an equivalent
advantage
for decoding? The software for the card says that their MPEG decoding
scheme
has recently been optimised for MMX/SSE/3DNow! Does it sound reasonable
that
a 2500+ would be able to achieve this task without dropping frames
(assuming
that is all the PC is required to do, or would a 3000+ be more realistic?
Would a card that assists in MPEG2 decoding, like a Radeon, or GeForce FX
help? Or do they only assist decoding DVD profile MPEG2 streams, because
they weren't designed with HD MPEG2 in mind?

Thank you for your time,

Simon Howson

The 2500 will be fine, I did it with an XP1800 for the longest time.



"Simon Howson" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I am considering using an Athlon XP 2500+ in a computer that will contain
a
Digital TV tuner card. The particular card I am looking at can capture
High
Definition (both 576p and 1080i) MPEG2 streams to hard disc. Allowing
these
streams to be played back at a later time.

However, to achieve this, the card maker suggests at a minimum a 2.3 GHz
Pentium 4 is required, and a 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 recommended. I am wondering
how these recommendations would translate to Athlon XP with respect to
this
task - decoding HD MPEG2. Is it true Pentium 4s are considered the better
processor for this media task? I am aware that Pentium 4 seems to be much
faster than Athlon XP for ENCODING files to MPEG2, is this simply because
most good encoders make use of the P4's SSE2 capability, thus getting past
the Athlon XP because it doesn't support SSE2?.

Just because P4 encodes faster does this mean it has an equivalent
advantage
for decoding? The software for the card says that their MPEG decoding
scheme
has recently been optimised for MMX/SSE/3DNow! Does it sound reasonable
that
a 2500+ would be able to achieve this task without dropping frames
(assuming
that is all the PC is required to do, or would a 3000+ be more realistic?
Would a card that assists in MPEG2 decoding, like a Radeon, or GeForce FX
help? Or do they only assist decoding DVD profile MPEG2 streams, because
they weren't designed with HD MPEG2 in mind?

Thank you for your time,

Simon Howson