It seems that computer graphics card companies are coming out with new graphics cards every 3 months. Each one shows an incremental step forward in performance and capabilities. Why do we not see this in the video processor realm? It seems the chips that are being used today are the same ones that were available one or two years ago. Am I correct in that? Are they just slow in optimizing the drivers to work with the hodge-podge of equipment out there?

The chips used in these procesors also improve every 3 months but, because boards are created around the chipset that is available at the time, they are generally not capable of being swapped out.

This is also why newer generations of scalers/processors get better and better because the algorithms and speed of the chips improves every 3-4 months.

There are also companies who do the bulk of the clever stuff in FPGA's using their own algorithms that are constantly being updated.

Gordon

Lumagen uses this approach. We have software updates which allow our customers to update the programming and the FPGA inside their unit.

Best regards,
Randy Freeman