The Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator is a mini PCI-E card that you can throw in some netbooks and notebooks to enable HD video playback even on low power devices with Intel Atom or similar processors. A handful of netbooks including the HP Mini 210, Dell Inspiron Mini 10, and HP Mini 5102 are available with the Broadcom card preloaded. But a number of folks have been picking up cheap cards on eBay for the past few months. But a few weeks ago we noted that the eBay prices had quadrupled from around $25 to nearly $100.

But it turns out that eBay isn’t your only option for picking up a Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator. Retailer Logic Supply is selling the Broadcom BCM970012 for $49. As Logic Buiy point sout, the card is targeted at system builders and ships without drivers or any support documentation. But you can find most of those things at the Broadcom web site.

The Broadcom video accelerator can decode H.264 and VC-1 files with resolutions up to 1080p. In my experience, it works best with local content. HD Flash video is a bit more hit or miss at the moment, although future driver updates might address that issue.

thanks Aaron!

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10 replies on “Broadcom Crystal HD video decoder available for $49”

  2. I’d love to find the expresscard version for my hp 2140. I saw it listed for $100 on ebay (back when the mini pci-e was $30) but that’s just too pricey for upgrading a netbook, and they’re long gone anyway.

  3. In other news, available on ebay for the past year for under 30 dollars!

        1. The cards on eBay are an older revision that fell off the back of a truck. I don’t think you’ll see these being sold for <$30 again.

          Until last week, Logic Supply was actually selling these for $39. They're out of stock right now, with more expected later this week. Hopefully the price will go back down to $39…

          BCM70015 will probably start showing up in OEM products by the end of April, with add-in cards (half-height mini PCIe) available in late May/early June. Power consumption will drop from ~2.5W to <1W, and support for DIVX will be added.

  4. I bought 3 of these on ebay several months ago for $60+shipping. Total. Now I wish I hadn’t given them away …

    1. It won’t work in the Flash_Con, you’ll have to replace your WiFi card with it.

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