Video Performance
S3 advertise the S27 as having built-in WMV9 HD acceleration, so we tested playback using Windows Media Player 10 and the 10Mib/sec Alexander trailer at 1920x1080p. The hardware reduced CPU usage, but only by a small amount, although inline with decreases we saw on the ATI and NVIDIA hardware performance the same playback.The hardware doesn't accelerate playback of the popular H.264 profiles supported by HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, however, unlike ATI and NVIDIA with their more programmable video processing hardware on competing GPUs.
However, for WMV9 HD or regular SD video, including DVD playback, there's acceleration and comprehensive over/underscan adjustment, component output as mentioned previously, along with extra zoom options for full-screen video. However, recent testing shows that Chromotion 3.0, S3's latest video technology on S27, isn't that great at DVD playback [site:techreport.com] when compared to common rivals from ATI and NVIDIA.
So some benefits to choosing an S27 for video playback, but also some demonstrable downsides.
