Now that LT is supporting the Kodi OpenElec VM I'm thinking about setting one up. Tried just pricing video cards online, but everything seems to be marketed with gamers in mind. I don't want to spend a thousand dollars on a video card. Just looking for one that can handle 1080P and 3D SBS with an HDMI port. Under $100 US would be nice, if possible. Any recommendations.

 

Edit: SuperMicro MBD-X10SLL-F motherboard, Intel Xeon E3-1230v3 Haswell CPU

Now that LT is supporting the Kodi OpenElec VM I'm thinking about setting one up. Tried just pricing video cards online, but everything seems to be marketed with gamers in mind. I don't want to spend a thousand dollars on a video card. Just looking for one that can handle 1080P and 3D SBS with an HDMI port. Under $100 US would be nice, if possible. Any recommendations.

 

I have an old 6450 that handles Plex 1080p quite nice. Passively cooled too, powered off of pci bus. However, that is old old old, anything newer 75$ to 100$ should do!

 

One thing my old 6450 struggles with is DTS-HD MA/1080P files for some reason. It will play them, but every now and then the audio chirps. Doesn't happen on my newer cards. Not sure if Openelec will bitstream though, so it may not affect you.

I use a AMD Radeon HD 5450 with a bare metal machine and an unRAID OpenELEC VM, it works great. They and other similar cards go on sale for $9-20 with coupons/rebates. Playing a 3D HSBS file is easy as it is really just a regular 1080P file. Playing a 3D Full SBS file is trickier as it's not really supported in some Kodi environments... I haven't done much research on it as I either get HSBS files or have the physical media. There was a thread about using Nvidia cards and Windows using the Nvidia suite to do real 3D signal... obviously won't apply to the OE VM.

 

As for DTS playback issues with a 6450 that's probably more in the CPU as that card supports DTS bitstreaming (as does my 5450, which was one of the first "budget cards" to support it). For my OE VM I have a AMD FX 6300 and give it three cores because some of my files are H.265 1080P insanity with FLAC and there isn't really hardware acceleration for that kind of stuff yet in the budget range.

The 5450 looks like a really good option. Will it handle 24fps video without judder/sync issues. Always had sync issues when trying this on my MacMini with Kodi.

I second the 5450. Got two that I've used with bare metal OpenELEC before and they work great.

The 5450 looks like a really good option. Will it handle 24fps video without judder/sync issues. Always had sync issues when trying this on my MacMini with Kodi.

 

It certainly seems to, I think it was Intel that had the issues with 24fps. I can't remember it was years ago that I was keeping up with everything.

does the 5450 support bitstreaming HD audio over HDMI?

I know a long while ago there were driver issues with ATI cards on openelec that stopped this working, so NVidia was always recommended.

 

 

does the 5450 support bitstreaming HD audio over HDMI?

I know a long while ago there were driver issues with ATI cards on openelec that stopped this working, so NVidia was always recommended.

 

YES.

 

I have bistreamed Dolby-HD and DTS-HD using this card and openelec.

does the 5450 support bitstreaming HD audio over HDMI?

I know a long while ago there were driver issues with ATI cards on openelec that stopped this working, so NVidia was always recommended.

 

YES.

 

I have bistreamed Dolby-HD and DTS-HD using this card and openelec.

 

Thanks. Now to scour eBay! 

Don't even bother with ebay, these cards are inexpensive new.

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007708&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&SrchInDesc=5450&Page=1&PageSize=30

does the 5450 support bitstreaming HD audio over HDMI?

I know a long while ago there were driver issues with ATI cards on openelec that stopped this working, so NVidia was always recommended.

 

YES.

 

I have bistreamed Dolby-HD and DTS-HD using this card and openelec.

 

Thanks. Now to scour eBay! 

 

I second this:

 

Don't even bother with ebay, these cards are inexpensive new.

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007708&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&SrchInDesc=5450&Page=1&PageSize=30

 

Also, if you wait, you can get them as low as $10 after MIR.

If you have a micro center near you there 20 right now after MIR

http://www.microcenter.com/product/363989/Radeon_HD_5450_Low_Profile_1024MB_DDR3_PCIe_20_Video_Card

Best and most cheap nvidia gt720/730

 

Passive cooled, low tdp, full support hd audio, all hardwared

Acceleration for codec works over vdpau. And is cheap

 

 

Im in the UK and they are up at around £23 here.

managed to pick one up 'as new' on eBay for £9 with a 60 warrenty as a test.

My build is currenty going under the knife, so i'll have to wait a few days to see if everything works as expected.

Hopefully be able to retire my dedicated OpenElec NUC in the near future