[snakeman]

i have the 64 meg ddr radeon from last year.

ati 4.1 dvd player in a htpc


what is the hot new upgrade path?

 

[xcel]

Hi Snakeman:


___The 8500 Radeon w/ the breakout cable of DVI to RGB output (included working? Hydravision) may be the next video card to own. Gaming performance very close to the GeForce3’s and display quality we have all come to know from the Radeon’s. As for SW DVD players, there is another one on the way. That is all I can tell you … Just wait a few weeks until everything is sorted out because like ATI releases from the past, it appears that there are driver problems out of the box. Hopefully this will be addressed rather quickly however … SW OTA NTSC/HDTV decoding/recording/time shifting still appears to be vaporware (for over a year now ) although the HW/SW has already been designed and appears to be working properly by all accounts.


___Good Luck


___Wayne R. Gerdes

___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.

___ [email protected]

 

[Phil Olson]

Won't an SDI enabled DVD player run into a SDI input card through DScaler to the DVI ATI card be the absolute best?


I read that no software players do full bandwidth decoding and that DScaler was equivalent to the software player in pulldown, etc.


Thanks,

Phil

 

[dschmelzer]

"I read that no software players do full bandwidth decoding"


Do you have a source for that? I'm trying to find explanations for what I'm seeing.

 

[mrbadog]

"I'm trying to find explanations for what I'm seeing"


What are you seeing? I've been following the SDI developments with interest, but unless I've been asleep at the wheel, I've mainly read arguments regarding the theoretical advantages and potential of the DVD>SDI>HTPC>DSCALER setup vs. software DVD. Can you comment on head to head comparison of PQ?

 

[dschmelzer]

I think I'm seeing better colors, which would follow the bandwidth argument nicely. That's why I would be interested in seeing who is making that statement. We'll have to see others' opinions, though.

 

[Phil Olson]

I read it on another thread. Could you have suggested it? If so, then maybe it's just a circular reference.


At any rate, will the new stuff out do the software players or not? Someone with a lot of spare time and money should to a head to head. Any volunteers?


Phil

 

[dschmelzer]

Very well could be circular. Here are a couple of tiffs of Avia test patterns (color bars and resolution). I think both of them are done with optimal settings. I inadvertently checked "Full Luma Range" and auto calibrated from there on the screenshots that led off the large thread... But it came pretty close anyway, with the variance, not surprisingly, on the black.


Please note that the resolution pattern is affected quite a bit by the deinterlacing method on both DScaler and the software players. I think I did this one with simple weave.


Please let me know if anything seems off. I keep playing with new settings and could have screwed something up...

 

[davidgrove]

Might the quote refer to this:


"Software dvd players cannot decode the full Mpeg stream of dvd. They use a simple bob/weave algorithms. "


by Alan Gouger from the big SDI thread?


DG

 

[Hugh Magoo]

if you buy a new Radeon and plan on using it for gaming, then check the clock&ram speeds with powerstrip when you get it. There are apparently plenty of people who have received cards set at diferent speeds. This issue existed with the previous radeon releases as well. In one statement given to Hardocp.com from ATI they basicly said that they give no gurantees as to which clock speeds will be on your card. Strange sounding, when frames per second is a product of these speeds. But apparently that is their position. I believe the new retail Radeons are supposed to be clocked at 270 core and 270 DDR.


By the way, I am not referring to differeces in OEM and retail versions. I can come to terms with that. What angers me is that ATI's position is to not list clock speeds as a spec and let the consumer gamble.


Also, boards "Manufactured by ATI" will say exactly that on the outside of the box. This leads many to believe that other companies will be making ATI boards.


FYI, I've seen 7191 drivers out there. www.electic.com is one download site I found for them.