False information in the articles: No UVD in R600

[cadaveca]

Any-way, yes quicktime pro can play H.264 files, as well as encode them, but i fear the functionality is almost purely software encode/decode, and thereby cannot make use of the r600 hardware.

the software needs to know that the r600 is there...and while quicktime offers hardware DX9 acceleration, this is purely shader acceleration, and is yet again more software that is not aware r600 even exists.

I know the prices of the player are a bit steep, Sampsa, but it might be worthwhile to get a BD or HD internal player for reviews...but you also have to have an HDCP-compliant monitor for playback!

[The Coolest]

Why don't you try WinDVD or any other software which supports hardware acceleration/decoding?

[Sampsa]

I know the prices of the player are a bit steep, Sampsa, but it might be worthwhile to get a BD or HD internal player for reviews...but you also have to have an HDCP-compliant monitor for playback!

I have 24" Fujitsu-Siemens Scenicview P24-1W LCD display which supports 1920x1200 resolution and HDCP:
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/produ...cview_p24.html

[Sampsa]

Why don't you try WinDVD or any other software which supports hardware acceleration/decoding?

I just asked couple of posts back what other softwares there are... I'll try WinDVD next.

[Sampsa]

The latest WinDVD ( not 100% sure about this one ) & PowerDVD can Sampsa.

I'm now using Cyberlink's PowerDVD Ultra with latest patch including Radeon HD 2000 support.

[cadaveca]

I have 24" Fujitsu-Siemens Scenicview P24-1W LCD display which supports 1920x1200 resolution and HDCP:
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/produ...cview_p24.html

Just checking...cannot be to careful in this. I do not see driver working for hardware acceleration at all, for the moment, so any software you try is not going to work. I get acceleration when I pop my X1950 in, although slight, so keep this in mind.

[Sampsa]

Here are offical answers from AMD to my questions:

Sampsa: Is UVD a feature of Radeon HD 2900 XT? Is UVD included to R600 die? If it is, when will it be enabled?

AMD: "UVD is available for RV630 and RV610. UVD is meant to enable HD playback for entry level and mainstream PCs, which often do not have the system power to decode HD content from blu-ray or HD-DVD. The HD2900 XT is meant for high end gaming and for that target, it is common to have an average system performance. The ATI Radeon HD 2900 is bursting with shader power and will assist decode in the same way our previous generation did – the advantages of the UVD block in video performance are not required here."

Sampsa: Will Radeon HD 2900 XT support video decoding (VC-1 and H.264) through unified stream processors (Shaders). When will this
feature be enabled?

AMD: "HD decode acceleration will be enabled in the upcoming Catalyst release (7.5), which should become available in the next few days."

[XS Janus]

^Their answer was pretty conclusive.
Although they got some nerve saying that 2900 doesnt need UVD since it will be paired with a powerfull PC.
The truth is that if it was enabled it would probably overheat, or something.

[Verisimilitude]

Thanks for clearing that up Sampsa, although I am sure someone who thinks they are more informed wants to argue that the answers were from an employee that has no idea what they were talking about. Lets hope that doesn't happen.

[Shintai]

^Their answer was pretty conclusive.
Although they got some nerve saying that 2900 doesnt need UVD since it will be paired with a powerfull PC.
The truth is that if it was enabled it would probably overheat, or something.

Its abit funny. Arcording to Anandtech you need a E6700 or higher without GPU support. That would be an X2 >6000+? :P

Perhaps the X2 6000 could do it.

[Eastcoasthandle]

Here are offical answers from AMD to my questions:

Sampsa: Is UVD a feature of Radeon HD 2900 XT? Is UVD included to R600 die? If it is, when will it be enabled?

AMD: "UVD is available for RV630 and RV610. UVD is meant to enable HD playback for entry level and mainstream PCs, which often do not have the system power to decode HD content from blu-ray or HD-DVD. The HD2900 XT is meant for high end gaming and for that target, it is common to have an average system performance. The ATI Radeon HD 2900 is bursting with shader power and will assist decode in the same way our previous generation did – the advantages of the UVD block in video performance are not required here."

Sampsa: Will Radeon HD 2900 XT support video decoding (VC-1 and H.264) through unified stream processors (Shaders). When will this
feature be enabled?

AMD: "HD decode acceleration will be enabled in the upcoming Catalyst release (7.5), which should become available in the next few days."

This really doesn't make sense. The HD 2900XT uses Avivo HD which suppose to use UVD hardware assist of some type for BR/HD content (from my understanding). The use of UVD in Avivo HD is suppose to differentiate it from Avivo (regular) in ATI's earlier video cards.

[Sampsa]

This really doesn't make sense. The HD 2900XT uses Avivo HD meaning it employees UVD hardware assist of some type for HD/BR content. The use of UVD in Avivo HD is suppose to differentiate it from Avivo (regular) in ATI's earlier video cards.

Don't shoot the messenger

[Eastcoasthandle]

Don't shoot the messenger

I didn't mean to imply or come off to "shoot the messenger" . So if I did I apologize. It's just that the information surrounding UVD with the HD 2900XT has been very confusing for me. I too talked to tech support and was told that the HD 2900XT does feature UVD integrated inside the GPU called Avivo HD.

source

[BenchZowner]

Tech Support personnel can't tell such things for sure ECH.

I'm pretty sure Sampsa got his answers from a higher level personnel

[Eastcoasthandle]

Tech Support personnel can't tell such things for sure ECH.

I'm pretty sure Sampsa got his answers from a higher level personnel

The information from ATI's own website regarding Avivo HD can't be wrong. We know the HD 2900XT uses Avivo HD. This is why none of this makes sense to me.

[DilTech]

The information from ATI's own website regarding Avivo HD can't be wrong. We know the HD 2900XT uses Avivo HD. This is why none of this makes sense to me.

Did you read the fine print?

Note: ATI Avivo™ and ATI Avivo HD are a technology platform that include a broad set of capabilities offered by certain ATI Radeon™ GPUs. Not all products have all features and full enablement of some ATI Avivo™ capabilities may require complementary products.

Not all the products have all the features of avivo. AMD's own press release about the cards stated it was only found on the HD 2600 and 2300's.

[Eastcoasthandle]

Did you read the fine print?



Not all the products have all the features of avivo. AMD's own press release about the cards stated it was only found on the HD 2600 and 2300's.

What you do not understand when reading the find print is that Avivo and Avivo HD are 2 different things. If Avivo HD doesn't use UVD then it's called Avivo (from my understanding) There are other features that come with Avivo besides UVD. Therefore, it makes sense that some of those Avivo features are not included in other products.

[DilTech]

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/V...117414,00.html

Confirmed by AMD.

1. All ATI Radeon HD 2000 products feature AMD’s second-generation Unified Shader Architecture (USA). All ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2000 products feature AMD’s second-generation Unified Shader Architecture, except the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2300. The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT features a 512 MB memory bus designed for full performance high dynamic range (HDR) rendering. The ATI Radeon HD 2600 series, ATI Radeon HD 2400 series, and all ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2000 series products include AMD’s new Unified Video Decoder (UVD) technology for high-fidelity HD multimedia playback.

They state it's on the 2600 and the 2300, but they do NOT mention it being on the 2900. Straight from AMD, just like I told you.

[Eastcoasthandle]

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/V...117414,00.html

Confirmed by AMD.



They state it's on the 2600 and the 2300, but they do NOT mention it being on the 2900. Straight from AMD, just like I told you.

The HD2900XT uses Avivo HD. Please read the HD2900XT specs. Then read what Avivo HD is.

[DilTech]

It's not mention because Avivo HD is used. Please read the HD2900XT specs.

I'm just going to spell it out.

They specifically mention UVD is on the 2600 and the 2300... Stop and think on this. Avivo HD is suppose to be on all HD 2xxx parts, right? So why would they specifically state UVD was only on those parts since they have avivo HD but not mention the HD 2900xt when it has avivo hd as well.

Makes no sense, now does it.

Then reading the fine print on the link you posted states that not all parts have all features. Fits in with the HD 2900XT not having all the features of Avivo HD, i.e. UVD. Now doesn't it?

Dave Baumann stated the HD 2900XT doesn't have UVD.

http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd2900/specs.html
No UVD listed on the specs...This is starting to all draw to one clear conclusion, no?

Sampsa has more confirmations of no UVD on the 2900XT as well.

how much more proof do you need?

[Eastcoasthandle]

I'm just going to spell it out.

They specifically mention UVD is on the 2600 and the 2300... Stop and think on this. Avivo HD is suppose to be on all HD 2xxx parts, right? So why would they specifically state UVD was only on those parts since they have avivo HD but not mention the HD 2900xt when it has avivo hd as well.

Makes no sense, now does it.

Then reading the fine print on the link you posted states that not all parts have all features. Fits in with the HD 2900XT not having all the features of Avivo HD, i.e. UVD. Now doesn't it?

Dave Baumann stated the HD 2900XT doesn't have UVD.

Sampsa has more confirmations of no UVD on the 2900XT as well.

how much more proof do you need?

No need to be immature about it. The simple fact of the matter is that HD 2900XT uses Avivo HD. Avivo HD uses UVD. From my point of view the link you provided did not say that UVD was not used on the HD 2900XT. Therefore, the absence of the HD 2900XT is vague at best IMO.

[Circaflex]

this sounds like the 6800gt all over again

[DilTech]

No need to be immature about it. The simple fact of the matter is that HD 2900XT uses Avivo HD. Avivo HD uses UVD. From my point of view the link you provided did not say that UVD was not used on the HD 2900XT. Therefore, the absence of the HD 2900XT is vague at best IMO.

I'd think ATi employees like Dave Baumann stating specifically that UVD is not on the HD 2900 would knock it from vague at best to confirmed.

[DilTech]

I'm going to go ahead and give you more proof...

http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd2600/specs.html
http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd2400/specs.html

Notice, it clearly states UVD in the specs, right? Now, lets mosey on over to the HD2900XT specs, shall we?

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonhd2900/specs.html

Look mom, no UVD listed.

Do you need more proof, or is this good enough now?

[cadaveca]

Diltech...even AATI's product page mentions xilleon engine inside 2900XT...this is from product specifications, BTW.

ATI Avivo™ HD Video and Display Platform
Two independent display controllers
Drive two displays simultaneously with independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls and video overlays for each display
Full 30-bit display processing
Programmable piecewise linear gamma correction, color correction, and color space conversion
Spatial/temporal dithering provides 30-bit color quality on 24-bit and 18-bit displays
High quality pre- and post-scaling engines, with underscan support for all display outputs
Content-adaptive de-flicker filtering for interlaced displays
Fast, glitch-free mode switching
Hardware cursor
Two integrated dual-link DVI display outputs
Each supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)1
Each includes a dual-link HDCP encoder with on-chip key storage for high resolution playback of protected content2
Two integrated 400 MHz 30-bit RAMDACs
Each supports analog displays connected by VGA at all resolutions up to 2048x15361
HDMI output support
Supports all display resolutions up to 1920x10801
Integrated HD audio controller with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support, enabling a plug-and-play cable-less audio solution
Integrated AMD Xilleon™ HDTV encoder
Provides high quality analog TV output (component/S-video/composite)
Supports SDTV and HDTV resolutions
Underscan and overscan compensation
HD decode acceleration for H.264/AVC, VC-1, DivX and MPEG-2 video formats
Flawless DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray™ playback
Motion compensation and IDCT (Inverse Discrete Cosine Transformation)
HD video processing
Advanced vector adaptive per-pixel de-interlacing
De-blocking and noise reduction filtering
Edge enhancement
Inverse telecine (2:2 and 3:2 pull-down correction)
Bad edit correction
High fidelity gamma correction, color correction, color space conversion, and scaling
MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, WMV9, VC-1, and H.264/AVC encoding and transcoding
Seamless integration of pixel shaders with video in real time
VGA mode support on all display outputs

My sapphire box states it uses UVD to process HD signal..i can take a pic...

Gecube boxes have UVD logo on front.

HIS boxes have UVD on back.

All boxes state specifications needed for proper functionality. NOt one mentions need of a decent cpu for HD decoding. In fact look up above, it says the card accelerates HD decode, and as Sampsa has shown, it doesn't work. As it stand now, there is no AVIVO functionality for this card at all, nevermind AVIVO HD. Notice the bolded part..flawless HD playback...insinuating it's the card that makes the difference, whe nreally, you need an appropriate cpu.

UVD on 2300/2400/2600 is not cpu dependant, BTW. 2900 HD decode acceleration is.