6800 and PureVideo encoding

[binister]

I have read the forums/reviews/rants about the 6800 and the lack of support for PureVideo on NV40 cards but what I am confused about is what exactly is missing. According to nVidia, PureVideo consists of the following:

* Adaptable programmable video processor
* MPEG video encode and decode
* High-definition MPEG-2 hardware acceleration
* High-quality video scaling and filtering
* DVD and HDTV-ready MPEG-2 decoding up to 1920x1080i resolutions
* Dual integrated 400 MHz RAMDACs for display resolutions up to and including 2048 × 1536 at 85Hz
* Display gamma correction
* Microsoft® Video Mixing Renderer (VMR) supports multiple video windows with full video quality and features in each window

I have read that the HD decoding isn't working but what about the rest? Specifically, is MPEG encoding affected? I realize certain applications like After Effects need to be modified to take advantage of some of the PureVideo capabilities. Can someone please give me a clear cut answer as to what exactly is lacking and in which models? (links to proof would be appreciated as well)

Thanks.

 

[mavalpha]

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

Compare (caution- this page has long since been pulled from NV's homepage):

Another important factor is that the GeForce 6 Series GPUs are completely programmable and can handle formats such as WMV9 and MPEG-4. The NVIDIA motion compensation engine can provide decompression acceleration for a variety of video formats including WMV9, MPEG-4, H.264, and DiVX. As with motion compensation for MPEG-2, the NVIDIA video engine can perform most of the computation-intensive work, leaving the easiest work to the CPU.

Video Encoding
The GeForce 6 Series GPUs are also capable of hardware video encode acceleration. Traditionally, video encoding is a difficult and time consuming process. The GeForce 6 Series GPUs include a motion estimation engine. Using state-of-the-art technologies, the motion estimation engine delivers higher-quality video at the same or lower bit rate, as well as lower CPU utilization for improved system performance.

There's more, but this is semi-important for me. For example, unsuitable for a Media Center PC.

 

[binister]

Wow, great find!

The funny thing is I don't see mpeg encoding as supported on ANY card.

Thanks for the link!

 

[Rollo]

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

Compare (caution- this page has long since been pulled from NV's homepage):

There's more, but this is semi-important for me. For example, unsuitable for a Media Center PC.

What you leave out of this equation is that no other video cards support this, and the the nV41 (PCIE 6800NU) and nV43 (PCIE 6600GT) support more video decode acceleration/correction features than any other video cards. (e.g. WMV9 acceleration)

So saying a 6800 is "unsuitable for a Media Center PC" is like saying "all video cards are unsuitable for a media center PC".

You should be clearer about this, or people might buy ATI cards based on your post thinking they'll get these features, and then be disappointed.

 

[BlackPearl]

I doubt that many readers would decide to buy an ATI card based on one post discussing the NV40 features. I agree with mavalpha's conclusion - I like my gaming computer's NV40 card, but I don't think that it's the best choice for use in my HTPC.

 

[Rollo]

I doubt that many readers would decide to buy an ATI card based on one post discussing the NV40 features. I agree with mavalpha's conclusion - I like my gaming computer's NV40 card, but I don't think that it's the best choice for use in my HTPC.

I don't care if people buy ATI cards, just don't want them to get the impression they are any better for HTPC.

So if the nV40 isn't your choice, what is?

 

[BlackPearl]

Believe it or not, I had been using my old FX5200 from my office computer. I don't currently decode WMV9, etc. and for DVD playback and use w/HDTV Wonder it worked great - lower CPU use than my other cards. It's quieter and cooler than higher-performance cards also.

Now, because my TV w/DVI in is out of commission, I'm using a 9800pro strictly for compatibility w/the ATI component video converter dongle. Ultimately I would like to move to the 6200.