What do you think the best VGA display card to play back wm9 file? Any recommendations?

Any recent AGP card would do just fine. Playing back video is such a trivial task for today's hardware, you should't have anything to worry about.

I have had good luck with about anything from an ATI Radeon 7200 up from ATI. GForce 4 MX400 up work very well even with only 64 mb. Currently I am using a Matrox Parhelia in my NLE PC and my HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) is running a 128 mb Radeon 9600 non pro. The built in Intel Extreme Graphic built onto a lot of motherboard does not work well at all, in fact it didn't work at all with the drivers shipped with a lot of PC's. A driver update was required to get them to even play HD clips. BTW the demands for 1280X720p are much less than the demands for 1920X1080p like the Terminator 2 Extreme DVD.

Mike

We use a 9700 and 9800 ATI cards and they work well playing back 720p on WMP9. T2 1080p has a little slowdown on the 9700 pro card, but works fine on the 9800.

"Any recent AGP card would do just fine. Playing back video is such a trivial task for today's hardware, you should't have anything to worry about."

I guess it depends on the kind of video you are displaying. Many people had problems with stutterring video playing back the T2 release in WM9 on fairly powerful computers. I think MS was recommending a P4 3.0 or better for smooth playback.

Hmm...P4 3.06 1GB ram and an ATI 9700 pro and still we had stuttering playback of that T2 in WMP9.

Peter, if you want to plan for the future and if you want to watch other WMP9 titles down the line in 1080p, I would definitely stick with a 9700 pro or above.

You need good 2D speed. Not a common benchmark these days.
Matrox holds the top here followed by Nvidia. Ati's top cards were shown to trail Nvidia by about 25%. A reverse of how the 3D pecking order goes. This is all based on consumer level cards. Pro cards from each manufacturer may be different.
Ken

<<<-- Originally posted by Mike Eby : BTW the demands for 1280X720p are much less than the demands for 1920X1080p like the Terminator 2 Extreme DVD.-->>>

Mike, are you sure that T2 is 1920x1080?

I read somewhere that it was actually 1440x(?)

Can't verify it as I'm at work now, no T2's here :)

Could you double-check, please?

If it's actually 1440, and still stuttering, then requirements to play high-quality WM9 in full HD as 1920x1080 will be even higher.

They "claim" it is 1080p, but yes I also heard it was 1440 upscaled to 1080p. But, the bottom line is that it is actually 1080p when it hits your computer screen despite the fact that the video itself may be of lower quality. To play WMP9 1080p is definitely higher than what they claim as the mininum recommendation....well if you want a stutter free viewing experience.