Video Quality
How does Avivo compare to PureVideo?This is not an apples to apples comparison. Avivo is a full fledged technology & marketing platform that encompasses the whole video pipeline, from capture to display; it includes features such as 10-bit display processing, the best de-interlacing algorithms and two integrated dual link DVI outputs, which no one in the industry can offer. Technologies like PureVideo are very narrow and focused on Standard Definition DVD quality. While DVD Quality is important, it is a small part of the overall Video pipeline and hence technologies focused on SD DVD playback have limited potential for growth.
Avivo is going to grow and morph but the end goal is to deliver the best video and display quality for the PC. We may be focusing on HD H.264 decode, new advanced de-interlacing, 2 integrated dual link TMDS transmitters and 10-bit display pipes this time but we could very well speak to you about new TV tuning or Conditional Access HDTV or much more advanced video processing or mobile technologies or chipset technologies the next time. I, of course, look forward to the competitive reactions as they try to expand beyond the SD DVD box – sticking HD and HD ready in marketing materials doesn’t count. :)
Anandtech recently ran some tests on your deinterlacing performance using HQV, which showed NVIDIA doing better with PureVideo than Avivo on R520. Care to comment on that?
Almost 100% of all PCs use Cyberlink or Intervideo DVD decoders, and by using the Cyberlink or Intervideo DVD decoder and application, the R520 (even with our immature drivers) beat our competition. Not bad considering the early state of our drivers – it is only going to get much better from here.
BTW, you should check out an article at FiringSquad. I am not going to sling mud but ATI’s goal for Avivo is to match or beat the $700 DVD players and we are not content to just beat up the cheap Chinese products.
Is HQV a good benchmark of video quality?
HQV is a good benchmark for SD DVD quality. We do encourage reviewers and discerning customers to use multiple benchmarks. Of course ATI is looking for benchmarks well beyond DVD and SD, and we will have more information for your readers shortly – we hope to help standardize the industry to a few reliable and objective benchmarks.
Is there still significant tuning of Avivo's performance and quality still to be done and if so, do you have a timeframe for when you guys will be generally convinced that Avivo is better than PureVideo across the board?
There hasn’t been much of any tuning done for video quality and oddly enough, even with our beta drivers, we are beating the competition with standard third party DVD decoders. We know there is lots of headroom for video quality improvements for the Radeon X1K family. We will deliver the best video quality for both SD and HD applications. So when a fat guy comes down the chimney, we expect that there will be no uncertainty that ATI’s Avivo delivers the world’s best video quality (that’s Christmas timeframe for the non-practicing Christians).
