Xbox360 HD-DVD to use ATI h.264 Decoder

[Geo]

http://ir.ati.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=881137&highlight=

Say what? ATI's own X1K w/Avivo line uses Cyberlink's decoder, and yet they're doing an in-house one for XB360 based on Avivo?

Umm. Err.

Nope, still can't figure that out. Tho last I heard the interface in the driver of X1K to Cyberlink was "broken".

Might there be some connection to these two facts? I wonder if ATI has changed their mind on the relationship with Cyberlink, orphaning those of us who already paid for it. But I suppose that's a gripe for a different forum. . .

 

[Bobbler]

Well, it seems like sort of an obvious choice, seeing as they have their GPU in the console...

Now that you bring up the ATI/Cyberlink thing that seems a bit strange... although it may be that ATI just isn't disclosing the fact that its H.264 decoder that'll be used on the 360 is still from Cyberlink?

It also may be an issue with what kind of rights ATI has in regards to Cyberlink's H.264 decoder -- does ATI have the right/lincensing to port it to another platform? If not then they may have to create a new one just for the 360; the 360 has a lot of power, so I don't imagine they'll have to worry about having the best performance (which is a lot of the issue on PC based decoders) as long as the PQ was good.

 

[EndR]

Wavey davey should come in and solve this..

 

[n00body]

Seems like a reasonable approach, barring any licensing ambiguities. I hope that Sony will do the same with Nvidia's PureVideo technology.

 

[RobertR1]

Unless it can do VC-1 also not sure how big of a deal this is since the titles from major studios will be using VC-1.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Would this be extra hardware in the HDDVD drive? Seems impractical to me, as you'd be streaming decompressed video footage over a USB connection. If it's happening in the XB360, I can uderstand ATi doing the solution because there's no hardware (presumably) in XB360 for decoding. Is this something the GPU can do?

 

[Brad Grenz]

Unless it can do VC-1 also not sure how big of a deal this is since the titles from major studios will be using VC-1.

For it to be a functioning HD-DVD player they'll need to include proper codec support for MPEG2, VC-1 and h.264. All will be done in software, likely with GPU assistance. The Xbox 360 already supports MPEG2 for DVDs and MS can provide their own decoder for VC-1 (I believe the format they use for HD video on games is just a permutation of VC-1).

Frankly it's not that interesting as a news piece. Duh, your HD-DVD player will support HD-DVD standards. ATI is the logical provider.

 

[Mmmkay]

Would this be extra hardware in the HDDVD drive? Seems impractical to me, as you'd be streaming decompressed video footage over a USB connection. If it's happening in the XB360, I can uderstand ATi doing the solution because there's no hardware (presumably) in XB360 for decoding. Is this something the GPU can do?

From the press release:

To enable the smoothest H.264 video playback possible, the ATI decoder technology makes use of the Xbox 360's graphics processing unit (GPU) to accelerate video processing. The unified shader design of the GPU enables high-end processing techniques such as comb filtering and automatic gain control to ensure that video artifacts such as blockiness or color bands don't disrupt playback.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

There we go then. Though I'd rather the absence of colour bands and blockiness was due to high source quality rather than post-decompression trickery!

 

[Powderkeg]

Unless it can do VC-1 also not sure how big of a deal this is since the titles from major studios will be using VC-1.

Considering VC-1 is Microsoft's very own codec what are the odds they wouldn't support it?

 

[RobertR1]

Considering VC-1 is Microsoft's very own codec what are the odds they wouldn't support it?

It'll ofcourse be supported just not sure how. If this decoder is only for h.264, it's really not a big deal at all, mainly just a checkbox filled, since VC-1 will be used by all the major studios for encoding on HD DVD.

 

[RobertR1]

For it to be a functioning HD-DVD player they'll need to include proper codec support for MPEG2, VC-1 and h.264. All will be done in software, likely with GPU assistance. The Xbox 360 already supports MPEG2 for DVDs and MS can provide their own decoder for VC-1 (I believe the format they use for HD video on games is just a permutation of VC-1).

Frankly it's not that interesting as a news piece. Duh, your HD-DVD player will support HD-DVD standards. ATI is the logical provider.

Exactly. It's not very interesting and just a check box filled since VC1 will be the primary codec on HD DVD and MS will likely patch up the 360 with the proper software during the release of the HD DVD add on.

 

[Ventresca]

It'll ofcourse be supported just not sure how. If this decoder is only for h.264, it's really not a big deal at all, mainly just a checkbox filled, since VC-1 will be used by all the major studios for encoding on HD DVD.

The xbox360 already support VC-1 right now.

Bye,
Ventresca.

 

[Subtlesnake]

"The unified shader design of the GPU enables high-end processing techniques such as comb filtering and automatic gain control to ensure that video artifacts such as blockiness or color bands don't disrupt playback."

Does this mean better DVD playback?