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NVIDIA's ForceWare Multimedia - An In-House Production

 by Andrew Ku on July 11, 2004 12:05 AM EST
5 Comments | Add A Comment
5 Comments

ForceWare Multimedia - Hardware Requirements

NVIDIA lists the system requirements for the TV/PVR portion of ForceWare Multimedia (aka FWM) on the software's product page:
  • CPU: P4 1.5GHz or higher, or Athlon XP or higher are recommended for best performance
  • Hard Disk Space: 10GB or higher
  • System Memory: 128MB or higher
  • Graphics Chips: Personal Cinemas, GeForce 256, GeForce 2s GeForce 3s, GeForce 4s, GeForce FXs, Quadros, Quadro2s, Quadro DCCs, Quatro4s, Quadro FXs, nForces, and nForce2
With the assumption that this isn't just going to be a HTPC computer sitting without a keyboard and mouse next to your TV, we would probably ante the CPU recommendation to something like a Pentium 4 2.4GHz and Athlon XP 2400+, which most people are probably close to using anyways. The more disk space that you have, the better, since you will need space for recordings (editing, etc.), and system memory should be bumped up to 256MB, maybe even 512MB, especially if you plan to use FWM's network share ability. Keep in mind that like ATI's EazyShare, NVIDIA is limiting their network share support for network streaming TV to clients who use NVIDIA graphic cards.

In all likelihood, NVIDIA will be updating their system requirements once they make their software available for download, which should be sometime later this summer, but there is no set date yet.

The system that we used to test FWM was a Shuttle ST61G4 with a Pentium 4 2.4GHz (533FSB), Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 7200.7 120GB hard drive (we recommend at least 20GB of free space), Kingston HyperX 1GB PC4000 (2 x 512MB), eVGA's GeForce FX 5700 Personal Cinema for ForceWare Multimedia, and ATI's All-in-Wonder 9600 for Multimedia Center.

Index ForceWare Multimedia - Install and Setup
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  • dan2304k - Monday, July 12, 2004 - link

    The aspect ratio problem is probably a problem with the player (WMP), not a problem with nvidia's software or recording. It appears to be recording in half-pel mode (352x480) resolution, which IS part of the DVD standard. If you were to create a DVD and put it in a properly made standalone DVD player, it would play back in the correct aspect ratio. A properly written software mpeg2 player should handle it properly too.

  • glennpratt - Monday, July 12, 2004 - link

    Have you compared them to a decent standalone card? It's silly to buy a subpar vid card with a subpar tuner attached to it that isn't compatible with much software. It may cost a little upfront, but when you go to upgrade, having them seperate will save money.

  • JTDC - Sunday, July 11, 2004 - link

    I am sorry that some users have had problems with the All in Wonder product line. My experience with the extended use of three of the ATI cards over the years has been largely positive. I look forward to continuing to use All in Wonder in the future. At the same time, I am open to seeing what Nvidia can offer.

  • mcveigh - Sunday, July 11, 2004 - link

    screw the bells and whistles...all I want is the NVDVD3 decoder to use with zoom player and FFDSHOW!

  • glennpratt - Sunday, July 11, 2004 - link

    All in wonder has a long history of happy customers? What world is this? AIW are an waste of money, there included software is crap and the drivers are unstable at best. Compare Media Center or Beyond TV + good standalone TV tuner with hardware MPEG encoding with AIW and you see what crap AIW's are.

    Not saying the nv cards are any better though.
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