Previous "2900 XT Lacks UVD" Posts

[santiagodraco]

Dave Baumann: If you take a look at GeCubes press release they had it correct in the first place. That was a mock up packaging shot and isn't used on retail boxes.

Sorry?

First off, screw their press release, that isn't product packaging and doesn't count as consumer advertising

Dave, I'm sitting here with a retail box from Sapphire that lists UVD as a feature.

Also, virtually every site that has reviewed the 2900 has ATI built slides that promote UVD as a component of the R600 chip and the 2900 board.

Lastly ATI's own marketing material clearly make it appear as if the entire series has UVD not just 2 chips... well that is if you read the GREY small print (recent addition I assume?)

Dave I'm not sure if you do or don't work for ATI, no offense I'm new to these forums, but I along with many others are very upset at this apparent last minute removal of a marketed feature for this product. Not to mention that product packaging DOES include it as a feature so clearly your OEMs thought they were getting the feature and clearly ALL marketing material to this point promotes the feature and misleads the consumer into believing they are getting something they aren't.

Based on your comments here stating that no, it is not included, then this is very clearly misleading advertising and is, as the previous poster alluded to, illegal.

 

[ECH]

Can someone explain what Xilleon HDTV decoder is? Unless I missed it there is no info regarding the Theater chip that I see on my HD 2900XT. Are these 2 items the same? Is there a Xilleon chip on the HD 2900XT that I overlooked? Or is Xilleon a software driver or something?
Clarity is appreciated.

 

[memberSince97]

Dave Baumann: If you take a look at GeCubes press release they had it correct in the first place. That was a mock up packaging shot and isn't used on retail boxes.

Sorry?

First off, screw their press release, that isn't product packaging and doesn't count as consumer advertising

Dave, I'm sitting here with a retail box from Sapphire that lists UVD as a feature.

Also, virtually every site that has reviewed the 2900 has ATI built slides that promote UVD as a component of the R600 chip and the 2900 board.

Lastly ATI's own marketing material clearly make it appear as if the entire series has UVD not just 2 chips... well that is if you read the GREY small print (recent addition I assume?)

Dave I'm not sure if you do or don't work for ATI, no offense I'm new to these forums, but I along with many others are very upset at this apparent last minute removal of a marketed feature for this product. Not to mention that product packaging DOES include it as a feature so clearly your OEMs thought they were getting the feature and clearly ALL marketing material to this point promotes the feature and misleads the consumer into believing they are getting something they aren't.

Based on your comments here stating that no, it is not included, then this is very clearly misleading advertising and is, as the previous poster alluded to, illegal.

Good luck on your class action ! This is really no different than NV40's PVP advertising campaign...

 

[santiagodraco]

Good luck on your class action ! This is really no different than NV40 PVP advertising campaign...

I'm glad you find it humorous. So, you think that whenever a company lies to it's customers it should simply do nothing because "it's no different" than what went before? I don't know any details on the NV40 campaign and don't really care. What I do care about are features stated on product packages not being present in the product.

Then again there are always people who like to ridicule. It's the ipeen thing.

In any case this isn't even something the consumers need to "sue" about - btw did I even mention suing? I don't believe so - this is something for the FTC and other consumer protection agencies to get involved in.

This isn't a small feature missing here. This is a key feature that was a primary reason people bought this card, myself included, as a competitve advantage over Nvidia. Without this feature, frankly, the competitive story is significantly weakened.

 

[santiagodraco]

I'd send it back and get something else if the feature was that important to me before going through all of that. Then again, I have zero interest in HD-Video at the moment - DVD's and Xvid work just fine for me . Maybe if it claimed on the box that I would get more *phat lewt* by using that card, and it turned out that I got the same amount of lewt or lower quality lewt, then yeah, I might want to sue in that case

It may not be important to you but it's obviously important to others. And yes, returning the cards is certainly an option. However, how many consumers who thought they were getting one thing really aren't getting it? Doesn't matter you say? That's a matter of opinion. But in general misrepresentation shouldn't be allowed. If nothing else it should be reported so that, hopefully it won't happen again.

 

[memberSince97]

It is basically less a violation than NV40's programmable video processor marketing spiel... I still bought the card and it was a good card but , one of the main selling points was PVP.

Despite all of the complaints from NV40 owners about the broken, but highly touted feature from nV nothing came to fruition... Amidst all their false advertising of a PVP...

 

[nelg]

Obviously you've never sued anyone before, obviously I have. AMD's paying for laywers, in the least, or I automatically win.

Obviously you haven't stopped to think about ..........
a) UVD is a non proprietary initialism
b) AMD is not liable for the acts of other parties
c) the definition of UVD, in context, would have to have been explicitly stated on the packaging.

 

[cadaveca]

Obviously you haven't stopped to think about ..........
a) UVD is a non proprietary initialism
b) AMD is not liable for the acts of other parties
c) the definition of UVD, in context, would have to have been explicitly stated on the packaging.

a) I realize that, and that's why there is an issue. UVD= This device(HD2900XT) does not offer this UVD functionality in any way, shape or form.
b) It is responsible for the acts of it's agents, and board partners would be considered an agent in this regard.
c)You are right, to a degree. However, there is many differnt packagings for this product, and each has mention of UVD, and what it is and does. This functionality has been presented in online marketing information provided by it's agents and representatives, and on packaging and on the ATI product page itself, where it mentions

Integrated AMD Xilleon™ HDTV encoder
Provides high quality analog TV output (component/S-video/composite)
Supports SDTV and HDTV resolutions
Underscan and overscan compensation

And there is not a Xilleon chip, there is a Theatre chip. Theatre 200 chip, actually, which does not support HDTV resolutions.

http://ati.amd.com/products/theater200/theater200.pdf

The UVD on the box would allude to this Xilleon, which is a UVD device, which Brave Dave here says is not part of R600, and AMD's own documents also concur in stating "65nm products" for UVD. So there's alot of conflicting OFFICIAL info as well...never mind quickly changed product pages and box art.

 

[nelg]

a) I realize that, and that's why there is an issue. UVD= This device(HD2900XT) does not offer this UVD functionality in any way, shape or form.

Are you leagally certain that UVD does not stand for Ultra Violet Design, Unteroffizier Vom Dienst or even a anti static bag made from Fuji TAC UVD 80?

b) It is responsible for the acts of it's agents, and board partners would be considered an agent in this regard.

Only if instructed by AMD (final instructions).

c)You are right, to a degree. However, there is many different packagings for this product, and each has mention of UVD, and what it is and does. This functionality has been presented in online marketing information provided by it's agents and representatives, and on packaging and on the ATI product page itself, where it mentions

Again, see the first point. UVD can mean lots of things. Unless a definition is given, or ATI's explicit definition is referred to, there is no means to make a decision.


I really don't disagree with the points that you are making. It is just the 'law' see 's ambiguities like that as monumental.

 

[cadaveca]

I really don't disagree with the points that you are making. It is just the 'law' see 's ambiguities like that as monumental.

true. Also, consumer protection laws vary not only from country to country, but also state to state/province to province. And in the end, when it comes to being in front of a judge...ANYTHING can happen. But someone's still got to pay the lawyers

 

[neliz]

Are you leagally certain that UVD does not stand for Ultra Violet Design, Unteroffizier Vom Dienst or even a anti static bag made from Fuji TAC UVD 80?

That would be fun, but unfortunately for ATI (or Sapphire in this case) the back of my box says:

Delivering a fully loaded HD Feature-set including support for ATI Avivo HD, HDMI connect ability, HD Audio and Blu-ray / HD DVD decoding via Universal Video Decoding technology...

btw, there's no big UVD logo on my box.

 

[Sampsa]

If you take a look at GeCubes press release they had it correct in the first place. That was a mock up packaging shot and isn't used on retail boxes.

A retailer in Finland confirmed that they have GeCube Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics cards in stock and the box says UVD.

+ Maybe it would be wise to send an e-mail to Anand, Tom's, Tech Report and bunch of other sites to correct their articles

 

[ECH]

That would be fun, but unfortunately for ATI (or Sapphire in this case) the back of my box says:



btw, there's no big UVD logo on my box.

Could you take a photo and post it? Places like photobucket will allow you to link your photo.

 

[CarstenS]

That would be fun, but unfortunately for ATI (or Sapphire in this case) the back of my box says:
"Delivering a fully loaded HD Feature-set including support for ATI Avivo HD, HDMI connect ability, HD Audio and Blu-ray / HD DVD decoding via Universal Video Decoding technology..."

And gone are all problems. Note the ever so slight difference between "Universal Video Decoder" and "Universal Video Decoding Technology".

 

[neliz]

And gone are all problems. Note the ever so slight difference between "Universal Video Decoder" and "Universal Video Decoding Technology".

technology is with a small T instead of a capital T, so the TLA is still UVD.

 

[CarstenS]

technology is with a small T instead of a capital T, so the TLA is still UVD.

But it's "Decoding" not "Decoder".

 

[neliz]

Could you take a photo and post it? Places like photobucket will allow you to link your photo.

Sure...

Flickr okay though?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neliz/512024054/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neliz/512024058/

 

[nicolasb]

What on Earth is the matter with the DAAMIT Public Relations machine at the moment?! Do they think that their credibility hasn't yet hit rock-bottom as a result of the "family launch" fiasco and therefore feel the need to blow even more holes in it?

 

[neliz]

But it's "Decoding" not "Decoder".

this is from the 2600 specsheet:

ATI Avivo™ HD Video and Display Platform

* Dedicated unified video decoder (UVD) for H.264/AVC and VC-1 video formats

that would mean that UVD as "Universal Video Decoding" is just a part of ATI's AVIVO function and UVD as "Unified Video Decoder" is what is part of the 2400/2600 as a hardware function.

from: http://ati.amd.com/technology/avivo/features.html

New technologies introduced by ATI Avivo HD, only available in ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 series graphics, make it the ideal solution for home theater and entertainment. Enjoy smooth multi-format HD video playback with UVD technology and an easy one-cable connection to high-definition big-screen TVs.

 

[CarstenS]

this is from the 2600 specsheet:



that would mean that UVD as "Universal Video Decoding" is just a part of ATI's AVIVO function and UVD as "Unified Video Decoder" is what is part of the 2400/2600 as a hardware function.

from: http://ati.amd.com/technology/avivo/features.html

Sorry, mixed up Universal and Unified. Nevertheless - the acronym itself stands for the dedicated silicon while the acronym plus "technology" presumably stands for "... decoding technology".

Anyway, I'd think AMD legal knows how to do their job and carefully revisited everything marketing is going ti deploy.