Is ATI clutching at straws?

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: HDTVMan

Originally posted by: Excelsior

Originally posted by: HDTVMan

Originally posted by: flexy
H.264 is the MOST awesome video codec.

If you ever saw a H.264/AVC movie then you would UNDERSTAND.

It makes DVD and (of course) formats like MP2 lok like cr*p !

This is ONE good thing ATI does - because H.264 will be *THE* next big thing (read my lips)...and just wait Apple launching QT7 and everyone incl. their mother will talk about H.264

H.264 hardware acceleration == best thing sincle sliced bread !

If you COMPLAIN about that ATI supports this then you have a problem

That Apple Crap will never be installed on any of my machines same goes for Real. Between CrApple bugging me to buy/upgrade quicktime every time it loads is worth avoiding it forever and also it installing its iTunes crap is also another reason to avoid it.

But even lower than CrApple is Real. Those hidden options that subscribe you to spam is the deal that seals their fate. FRVCK Real. I look forward to them Chap 11.

Forever HD-DIVX, WMV9, and TS. Of course accelerated by H264.

Your use of "crApple" is quite ingenious :roll:.

And you will be waiting a looooong time before they file for bankruptcy.

Im looking for Real to go chap 11.

Apple just needs to stop annoying everyone with Upgrade now? Just play the darn video apple. I thought apple was supposed to be easier with just recently added 2 button mice. But I guess they are killing everyone with having to answer extra questions instead.

My bad, good point.

 

[imported_Rampage]

Originally posted by: SilverTrine

yeah its not going to make me run out and buy a ati over an nvidia card if thats what you mean.. no way

No one would expect you to buy an ATi card if it beat the 7800 and solved world hunger to boot. Trust me we all know where you're coming from we've seen a ton of shills over the years.

Coming from THIS guy.. I can brush you off with relative ease:

Originally posted by: SilverTrine
Given that 90% of the people who buy SLI capable cards will never put them in SLI mode Crossfire is a better solution.

Anyone who's gone from Nvidia cards to ATi cards find it hard to go back to Nvidia. Nvidia has inferior 2d quality, the cards usually have noisier fans, and the cards are usually more power hungry therefore put out more heat.

I had a GF4 Ti4200 and then got a 9800pro and when it came right down to it I couldnt bring myself to go back to Nvidia given all the faults of their cards.

 

[Auric]

When DVD was introduced, PC output was cheaper and could produce higher quality. Now that the hardware has become a cheap commodity (and in fact hundreds of manufacturers have recently gone out of bidness), HD DVD gear may not be able to demand much of a premium however if a PC exists and a viddy card is going to be purchased anyway, then it could still be a cheaper alternative to a dedicated box -perhaps more so if recording as well. Plus, the software upgradability is nice (many hardware decoders had quality defects). So MPEG-4 AVC acceleration is a feature I expect, just as with MPEG-2.

 

[dfloyd]

The funny thing about this is how much Nvidia Hyped Pure Video and we all know how that turned out.

This thing sounds like a hundred times better and if its anything like it sounds then this is HUGE. I dont think you could appreciate it unless you were really big into Divx Xvid etc but if you were and saw some of the capabilites of this you would understand why it is, at least to some, as impressive as the other features you are mentioning, I for one am one of those people especially considering I am moving more and more towards a HTPC type of PC user.

I am suprised that when Nvidia touted Purevideo so much that there was never a similar mention of Nvidia doing the same thing that people are now claiming Ati is doing (Instead of talking about standard expected video features, they spoke alot about how Purevideo would be the next best thing since sliced bread, and as I recall it was a very very wanted and requested feature, so much so that quite a few people actually reutrned their 6800 cards once they realized that it did not work on them), so I would say that this is a new different type of feature that is not the standard stuff we have come to expect from video cards. So it should recieve alot of attention based on that fact. And if its nearly as impressive as it sounds then all I can say is HOO YEAH (Best Peggy Hill Impression).

With all said and done though this post seems more to be about implications, rather than features. Please remember to toon in next time as we continue with the Days of our Anandtech Lives. heh

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: X
It seems like ATI is trying to hype H.264 in the R520 as a major feature. Personally, I couldn't care less if it has H.264 support or not. I want a faster card that is fully SM3.0 compliant, with nice IQ enhancements like SSAA in the 7800.

Is ATI just trying to cover for lack of progress on the fronts that actually matter to gamers? I really hope not.

No ATI is having trouble at the fabs getting out its 32pipe card with some coming out with defective piplines. It will be SM3 compliant and as was stated in the crossfire article by Anand it will be using SSAA to that of a higher level than Nv. Just google search R520 and you should find all the information.

 

[imported_X]

I realize that, but there has also been speculation that due to these issues, ATI might go with a 24-pipe version instead. Given the launch delay, unless they are able to significantly beat 7800 performance, I think they will be in trouble.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: southpawuni

Originally posted by: SilverTrine

yeah its not going to make me run out and buy a ati over an nvidia card if thats what you mean.. no way

No one would expect you to buy an ATi card if it beat the 7800 and solved world hunger to boot. Trust me we all know where you're coming from we've seen a ton of shills over the years.

Coming from THIS guy.. I can brush you off with relative ease:

Originally posted by: SilverTrine
Given that 90% of the people who buy SLI capable cards will never put them in SLI mode Crossfire is a better solution.

Anyone who's gone from Nvidia cards to ATi cards find it hard to go back to Nvidia. Nvidia has inferior 2d quality, the cards usually have noisier fans, and the cards are usually more power hungry therefore put out more heat.

I had a GF4 Ti4200 and then got a 9800pro and when it came right down to it I couldnt bring myself to go back to Nvidia given all the faults of their cards.

Ouch. Guess you turned that around, p3wnd.

nVidia hasn't had "inferior 2d quality" since the days of the GF2 when some OEMs used cheap filters AFAIK.

The power consumption flips back and forth on a card by card basis, and usually they're pretty close. (although the 7800GTX sort of ends the "close"- it uses 50% less power than a X850XT PE and often outperforms it by 50%)

Noisey fans? Sure, some of the dual slot fans are louder than ATI, but again, that's an OEM choice, not nVidia's doing. Asus put out a single slot/quieter 6800ultra, nothing was stopping the other OEMs.

Most of all Silvertrine, you're sounding like an old guy reminiscing about the "good ol'days" talking about the 9800Pro. Who cares about 2 years ago? These days I think we all know who makes the best products and leads the industry?

 

[biostud]

I have a 9800pro and I would like to go back to nvidia, since I don't care much for catalyst. But I take benches and pricing over such details.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: biostud
I have a 9800pro and I would like to go back to nvidia, since I don't care much for catalyst. But I take benches and pricing over such details.

Your wish will be granted soon. I have standard SLI benches up now, am working on single, HDR, high AA, etc, now. By tomorrow.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: bjc112
I'm glad they are putting it in..


When I can barely run a 1080p HD trailer on a athlon 64 @ 2.8ghz, I NEED HW acceleration!!

Can't wait to see Ati's offering.

i REALLY, REALLY dont understand "you people".

I have an A64@2601 mhz and i am POSITIVE that my X850XT has NO h.264 acceleration !

All my 1080 H.264 are SMOOTH like silk and CPU usage is between 40% and 50%.

Use a nice codec like ffdshow or anything better.

Your systems are FAST enough - mine is and yours for sure


I agree that H.264 is taxing the hardware - but THEN we're talking about a future technology which SLOWLY will become mainstream (am very, very sure about that sicne H.264 beats ALL other codecs).

Bandwidth WILL always get higher, comps will always get faster etc..etc..

 

[Romir]

H.264 acceleration is going to be essential for the notebook market (is it still larger than the desktop market and ATI is probably still #1 in it). Since they basically have to support it to be able to play future hidef material on the go, why not bring it to the desktop as well? If nothing else, media pcs could use it.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX
X2s are as expensive as a top-of-line GPU...
It's much more fruitful for gamers to get a new gen grahic card than to buy a X2

True, and then there will be those who would want to watch some HD while running some CPU intensive tasks and wouldn't be able to do so if their CPU is being taxed so much just for video playback.

 

[gwag]

I for one dont care to watch movies on my computers, trailers are nice but dont need HD content on the computer.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: gwag
I for one dont care to watch movies on my computers, trailers are nice but dont need HD content on the computer.

Yep. Even at 20", it's by far the smallest screen in the house.

 

[Beiruty]

If you can connect a DVI to your HDTV, you are all set to download some HDTV from the net. at 9-10 Mbps for 1080p films, a 2 hrs film will take 30 mins to download on 50 Mbps FtoP connection.

 

[ZimZum]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: gwag
I for one dont care to watch movies on my computers, trailers are nice but dont need HD content on the computer.

Yep. Even at 20", it's by far the smallest screen in the house.

Ever heard of a HTPC?

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: X
It seems like ATI is trying to hype H.264 in the R520 as a major feature. Personally, I couldn't care less if it has H.264 support or not. I want a faster card that is fully SM3.0 compliant, with nice IQ enhancements like SSAA in the 7800.

Is ATI just trying to cover for lack of progress on the fronts that actually matter to gamers? I really hope not.

I agree with you 100%. The R300 was fully DirectX 9 compliant before the API was even released. R520 should have aspired to the same thing with DX10. I guess the engineers feel as though they're proven themselves as brilliant at this point and are slacking.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: ZimZum

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: gwag
I for one dont care to watch movies on my computers, trailers are nice but dont need HD content on the computer.

Yep. Even at 20", it's by far the smallest screen in the house.

Ever heard of a HTPC?

I've considered it many times. Haven't decided on my direction into the home theatre age yet. I'm currently mainly watching movies on a 35" CRT TV I borrowed from Fred Flintstone.

 

[fstime]

Yep, HDTV's come with HDMI, HDMI is pretty much DVI with a smaller cable, its about the size of a USB cable.

HDMI can be converted to DVI and DVI can be converted to HDMI via adapter, like VGA>DVI adapters.

Some HDTVs even come with DVI/VGA ports.

 

[LeoMael]

Wouldn't the purpose of hyping H.264 acceleration in the high-end card and chipset is to get it so that everybody knows about the feature then trickle it down the the mid and low end cards. I mean the Sony, HP, etc, media center pcs that are bought in the stores usually have low end vid cards. That would be a plus for the OEM and end-user, right?

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: X
I realize that, but there has also been speculation that due to these issues, ATI might go with a 24-pipe version instead. Given the launch delay, unless they are able to significantly beat 7800 performance, I think they will be in trouble.

Nah, I have a feeling that the engineers on the team are just fussy and want to drop another bomb on the world like they did when the R300 was released. The trouble is, this product has been in development for years and the deadline has been continually pushed back. One has to wonder what is really going on at ATI and where the focus of the company has gone. It's almost as though they've put so much into the Xbox2 that they've pushed the PC graphics card side of things to the wayside.

It sounds like poor planning though and I'll bet some PM's at ATI have their heads on the chopping block for not allocating enough programmers to have drivers ready at the time of hardware launch. The manufacturing problems could be due to some bad luck, but again, it shows that they did not plan things out properly.

Pure speculation, but I get the impression that these are not happy times at ATI. Any time a company has to slash prices by 25% across the board it can't be good.

 

[ronnn]

Originally posted by: SickBeast


Pure speculation, but I get the impression that these are not happy times at ATI. Any time a company has to slash prices by 25% across the board it can't be good.

Where did you see this? If this is true I will make one last upgrade on this old box.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: ronnn

Originally posted by: SickBeast


Pure speculation, but I get the impression that these are not happy times at ATI. Any time a company has to slash prices by 25% across the board it can't be good.

Where did you see this? If this is true I will make one last upgrade on this old box.

Someone posted it here at AT and as far as I remember they said they read it on a newsgroup.

 

[ronnn]

Well I hope they are right, maybe ATI will have a fire sale and bring down all prices.

 

[ddogg]

Originally posted by: ronnn
Well I hope they are right, maybe ATI will have a fire sale and bring down all prices.

nahh its just rumors so far...25% seems a little too much.