[Coz]

Nvidia to present Pure Video tomorrow

I just hope this is the long-awaited fix for the NV40 video processor shortcomings. Here is a list of some of the features of Pure Video.........

- High Definition Video
- HD-MPEG2 decode acceleration
- WMV-HD HW decode acceleration
- Advanced motion adaptive de-interlacing
- 3:2 pulldown correction
- 3:2 edit correction
- Extended color support
- Gamma correction
- Color temperature correction
- LCD overdrive
- Full Resolution Video Enhancement
- New 4-Tap Horizontal, 5-Tap Vertical Scaling

/me crosses fingers

[digitalwanderer]

Nvidia briefed the press in the USA a few days ago about this marchitecture. We know it works on the NV41 generation of chips but we're unsure whether it works on NV40 cards. We suspect it won't.

I don't think it will, I think it's genuinely busted on the nV40 and they fixed it in the hardware on the nV41.

I could be wrong and I hope I am, but I'm not overly optimistic. :?

[Bjorn]

Originally Posted by Coz

- HD-MPEG2 decode acceleration
- WMV-HD HW decode acceleration

These are the most important for me since i'm going to get a HTPC rather soon. I'm thinking that the fanless 6200 should be a great card for that..

[Coz]

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

I could be wrong and I hope I am, but I'm not overly optimistic.

Well, after all the bad press about the broken video processor in NV40 I'd be surprised if NV made a big hoo-hah about launching this new feature if it still didn't fix the NV40 issues. A lot of folks who seem close to those in the know at NV keep talking about a driver fix to the video processor issues in NV40 - this could be it.

But I'm not willing to put any money on it.

[Bjorn]

Originally Posted by Coz

..
A lot of folks who seem close to those in the know at NV keep talking about a driver fix to the video processor issues in NV40 - this could be it.

But I'm not willing to put any money on it.

Supposedly, the WMV part won't work on the NV40 but the rest will. But i guess we will know soon ..

[Apple740]

I think it's genuinely busted on the nV40 and they fixed it in the hardware on the nV41.

Do Nv40 owners have the right to demand a good working video proc? After all people thought buying a proper working unit.
If Nv can't fix it by drivers they should replace those cripple Nv40's, people have a warrantee.

[Acert93]

I have a 6800GT and was dissapointed to find out that some of the video-related advertised features do not work. I have waited for a fix, but they continue to delay. I think this is a serious issue, but so many NV40 customers do not use it that it has been easily ignored. I guess we will see... if Nvidia ends up not fixing features they advertised, then this could be bad for them... oh who am I kidding? When R520/NV50 come out the majority of people will have forgotten anyhow

[russo121]

And what about encoding?
If it's only decoding where's the party? The actual system processors can handle very well the decoding of videos.
Just rubbish tomorrow.

[chadashcroft22]

Please let there be divx, xvid and other compression formats hardware acceleration.

[Bjorn]

Originally Posted by russo121

And what about encoding?
If it's only decoding where's the party? The actual system processors can handle very well the decoding of videos.
Just rubbish tomorrow.

Decoding a 720p/1080p HDTV stream is certainly not a task the todays system processors does very well. At least not if you want the system to do other things at the same time (HTPC -> recording, sending out other streams to clients..).

[Mortimer]

I don't know what's broken in NV40 video processor, but at least I can watch those HD-WMV clips from Microsoft with my lowly dual xeon 2.0GHz + GeForce6800GT with much less cpu usage than on my work computer with dual xeon 2.66GHz that has QuadroFX500.

It seems to also work in divx/xvid, though I'm not that sure about it 'cause there isn't that much demand on the cpu.

I have no idea about the encoding part and I don't really care either 'cause I don't do encoding myself.

[Coz]

NV's Pure Video press release...........

http://nvidia.com/object/IO_17568.html


Key features of PureVideo include:

- High-definition MPEG-2 Hardware Acceleration. A dedicated 16-way vector processor enables smooth playback of HD video with minimal CPU usage.

- WMV High-definition Hardware Acceleration. Programmable support of the newest format enabled by Microsoft Windows Media Player and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 for fluid playback of WMV and WMV HD content.

- High-quality Real-time Video Recording. An advanced motion-estimation engine makes it possible to record in real-time without a loss in quality.

- Spatial / Temporal Adaptive De-Interlacing. Experience interlaced content from satellite, cable, and DVD feeds in full detail and without jagged edges or artifacts.

- 3:2 Pull-down Correction and “Bad Edit� Correction*. Restore video to its original 24fps film format to experience a crystal clear picture, frame after frame.

- Flicker-free Multi-Stream Scaling. High-quality 4-tap by 5-tap scaling maintains image detail, even when scaling a small video to a large area of the screen.

- Display Gamma Correction. Automatic format detection adjusts the color quality of video playback so that it is not too dark, overly bright or washed out, regardless of the display.

* Feature not available on GeForce 6200 GPUs and requires NVIDIA DVD Decoder software

[AndrewM]

Hot Potato.

[digitalwanderer]

So when are drivers coming out supporting it?

[AndrewM]

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

So when are drivers coming out supporting it?

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_do..._2k_67.03.html

[digitalwanderer]

ftp://download.nvidia.com/Windows/

I just cheat.

[Cat]

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html
Well, my two 6800GTs don't work as advertised. : (

[digitalwanderer]

Originally Posted by Cat

Well, my two 6800GTs don't work as advertised. : (

That chart confuzled me a bit, what exactly aren't your 6800GTs not doing that they were advertised as doing?

(BTW-I'm really not trying to flame/provoke here, I just ain't understanding it. :? )

[Cat]

They don't have hardware-accelerated decoding of WMV9.
EDIT: I just brought out the PNY 6800GT box, and they only claim MPEG support. I have no idea where I got the idea that WMV would be accelerated.

[Bjorn]

So basically, the only GPU's that have "full" HDTV (MPEG2 + WMV9) support are the PCI Express 6600, and 6800 NU & LE

The rest of the GPU's have a reduced featureset in one way or the other. Most annoying thing imo is that the 6200 w Turbocache have a reduced featureset with HD decoding only up to 720 p. I wanted a fanless cheap 6200 in my HTPC but i want full 1080p support. Though i guess that you could make a 6600 fanless if you downclock it a bit and add a heatpipe solution.

And finally, no encoding support ?

[Cat]

Here's where I got the correct idea that WMV acceleration was advertised, but not delivered: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showd...i=2238&p=2

[Mariner]

Originally Posted by Bjorn

So basically, the only GPU's that have "full" HDTV (MPEG2 + WMV9) support are the PCI Express 6600, and 6800 NU & LE

The rest of the GPU's have a reduced featureset in one way or the other. Most annoying thing imo is that the 6200 w Turbocache have a reduced featureset with HD decoding only up to 720 p. I wanted a fanless cheap 6200 in my HTPC but i want full 1080p support. Though i guess that you could make a 6600 fanless if you downclock it a bit and add a heatpipe solution.

And finally, no encoding support ?

I believe Gigabyte offer a selection of fanless heatpipe cooled 6600 cards (and 6600GTs + X700 Pros, too):

http://tw.giga-byte.com/VGA/FileList...silentpipe.htm

[Bjorn]

Originally Posted by Mariner

I believe Gigabyte offer a selection of fanless heatpipe cooled 6600 cards (and 6600GTs + X700 Pros, too):

http://tw.giga-byte.com/VGA/FileList...silentpipe.htm

Just what the doctor ordered. Though the 6600 versions doesn't seem to be available at this moment.

[saf1]

Well, this is rather interesting...and maybe perfect timing...

Yesterday, just for giggles, I connected up my 6800 GT based comp to my Sony KF60WE610 60" Grand Wega HDTV. After putzing around with it for about 30 minutes, I finally got the resolution somewhat right and text clear enough to read.

It was not as cut and dry as I would have thought, but then again my first attempt at using Nvidia's HDTV options. After all said and done, the picture looks reather impressive. Dvd's played rather well, in fact, better than my toshiba I'm replacing. Gaming, well, Doom 3 looked stunning and World of Warcraft, well - I don't think I can go back to my 17" lcd...

I have not tried any of the new Microsoft HD media samples but since everything is connected, I can putz around with that tonight.

The comp in question uses a PNY 6800 GT at stock clocks, Intel 865 motherboard, 3.0C P4, 1 GB ram, and 80 GB sata HD. Nothing to write home about but serves as a pretty good gaming and digital photo rig.

[Bjorn]

I'm just waiting for someone with a 6600 that can test the CPU usage with some 720p & 1080p movies.