Can anyone suggest a good but inexpensive HD video card?

I'm on a college student budget. My video card died in my custom pc. I just want a decent card that can playback in hd. I don't game much. I may eventually get a blu ray player/burner on my pc and a hd camera but Im not concerned about it now. I just need a decent dependable and fairly cheap card... thanks

Just get a nice 8600gt like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139017 It will play some games on max, but not the new ones. But it will be perfect for playing videos

Since you are wanting to eventually go with Blu-Ray, I would suggest getting at least an 8000- or 9000-series nVidia card. Look for DX10 compatibility

The whole ATI HD4xxx series can do H264 and VC1, I do believe. An HD4350 is about $30, but Newegg has a HIS ATI HD4650 for just $40 after mail-in rebate, so even if you don't play games, I really think that's the better value. Both should support HDCP for high-definition output of Blu-Ray video to a compliant DVI monitor.I've read, on another note, that low-end 9-series Nvidia cards CANNOT do H264 offloading. Could be wrong, but ATI cards are faster at 3D for the cash, anyway.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161262

Since you're looking for digital video and not gaming, I'd suggest going with ATI rather than Nvidia. You probably want a Radeon HD series card. Here's an inexpensive one:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102808As you can see here, it features full hardware Blu-Ray and HD-DVD decodinghttp://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd2400/index.html