ATi AVIVO HD vs. Nvidia Purevideo HD comparison

[XS2K]

Driverheaven made an extensive comparison between both technologies and the results are quite surprising,if in games the IQ between both companies don't differ much, in the video area there are alot of differences.
But I for one would tweak the sliders until I get the results I LIKE not the defaults of each tech.

It would be fair to say that the image quality we obtained from ATI and Nvidia hardware has given us a lot to think about. On one hand we have ATI with a superior level of detail; on the other we have Nvidia with much more intense and realistic colour, not only on skin but many areas of scenery too.

Source

[BenchZowner]

Nice stuff.
Haven't checked the article yet, but if they've done defaults vs defaults then.... good job batman.
ATi has noise reduction enabled by default and over 50% while nVIDIA has noise reduction disabled by default.

[STaRGaZeR]

You can decode AVC streams with PowerDVD and AVIVO with Aero enabled... so that's wrong in the article. And twice, because they based their opinion on that and it's wrong.

I'm with them with the image detail thing. In ATI it's much better.

In the colour department I'm not so sure. I tested a 8800GTX a while ago and I saw similar results as if the 8800 were like the 3870 and the 3870 were like the 9600, better colour by far in the ATI card. Maybe they have changed things with the 9600, will try to find one and test it. If true, a huge step forward for nVIDIA!

BTW a nice article, it's always nice to see a web that actually cares about IQ and not only framerates

EDIT: I've taken two screenshots of Aero during AVIVO HD decoding of Transformers HDDVD (H.264). Sorry, no thumbnail, Imageshack doesn't work for me right now :

[perkam]

Thank you for the additions, stargazer.

I would love to see how lower end cards + lower end CPUs handle HD media. I`ve had most trouble with HD mp4 files, myself. Really slows my notebook down. Maybe a combination of a Purevideo type solution + fast hard drive optimizes the experience.

As for the lack of color in the ATI video, I think you turn up the saturation in control center.

Perkam

[STaRGaZeR]

If you use PowerDVD, every card with UVD will handle Blu-Ray, HDDVD or any other source with H.264 or VC1 streams just fine, with only 1-10% CPU usage even with low end CPUs.

If you use other players for .mp4 or .mkv files containing H.264 video, UVD will not work, because AVIVO needs a dedicated codec that only PDVD has, and maybe WinDVD. I strongly suggest you to use CoreAVC to decode it. It's the fastest codec for H.264 decoding available out there (without hardware acceleration), I can play 5-10mbps 1080p files perfectly fine with a Pentium-M 1,6GHz laptop. Also a somewhat fast HDD will be required

[lowfat]

very good very indepth article, i actually read the whole thing

[systemviper]

Driverheaven made an extensive comparison between both technologies and the results are quite surprising,if in games the IQ between both companies don't differ much, in the video area there are alot of differences.
But I for one would tweak the sliders until I get the results I LIKE not the defaults of each tech.





Source

Interesting article, it's always nice to learn a bit here and there.

PS, nice avatar

[HiJon89]

If you use PowerDVD, every card with UVD will handle Blu-Ray, HDDVD or any other source with H.264 or VC1 streams just fine, with only 1-10% CPU usage even with low end CPUs.

If you use other players for .mp4 or .mkv files containing H.264 video, UVD will not work, because AVIVO needs a dedicated codec that only PDVD has, and maybe WinDVD.

Not anymore, now you can get UVD and PureVideo 2 GPU acceleration working in Media Player Classic (the media player of choice for HD content)
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123537

[STaRGaZeR]

Not anymore, now you can get UVD and PureVideo 2 GPU acceleration working in Media Player Classic (the media player of choice for HD content)
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123537

nice news indeed! I wasn't aware of it. But as they say, there are a few issues that forces me not to use it

* For Vista users, select EVR or EVR Custom --> I always use Overlay in Vista, it gives you better IQ, the less resolution the video has, the more noticeable the IQ enhancement becomes.
* For DXVA and subtitles support select VMR7(9) Renderless or EVR Custom. --> Same as above.
* Video decoder should be connected directly to the renderer. This means that no intermediate filters such as DirectVobSub or ffdshow can be inserted between decoder and video renderer. --> This ruins all the softsubs concept, and I watch anime with softsubs everyday. DirectVobSub is a must.

Not an option for me, but a great one for others

[fireice2]

both cards are really good. But I think for the average joe, more vibrant colors would be more important since most do not really look at the fine details when watching from afar.

just my 0.02.

[zanzabar]

both cards are really good. But I think for the average joe, more vibrant colors would be more important since most do not really look at the fine details when watching from afar.

just my 0.02.

but the default ati card has to be tuned or the gama and contrast are low so u can see text, if the monitor was spidered for each card it would be different

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

I wonder if they considered that ATI and NVidia may use drivers that display differently from one frame to the next?

A single frame is a very poor way to judge the IQ of video.

[Papu]

I wonder if they considered that ATI and NVidia may use drivers that display differently from one frame to the next?

A single frame is a very poor way to judge the IQ of video.

and how else would you recommend they do it.
to me this is the fairest way of judging exact same frame see the differences <3 my mediacentres 3450

[BenchZowner]

HQV Benchmark