ATI's "VideoShader HD"...How much difference does it make with encoding?

[Namuna]

I tried searching the forums, but was unable to find any information on this, so I apologize if this topic has been covered.

Now that the X800XL PCI-E is out and at a decent pricepoint, I'm very interested in picking 1 up...When looking through the details of this card, I saw some info on the VideoShader HD and the claim of 'accelerating' encoding and decoding MPEG 1/2/4, Real, DivX and WMV9...

I haven't been able to find much of anything on the discussion of this, I download a LOT of TV Shows and Anime and convert to DVD compliant mpegs...If this card does indeed help with the encoding that would be a huge plus!

Thanks for any info!

 

[Namuna]

bump, anyone?

 

[Duvie]

Maybe they can have their own PVP debacle like Nvidiot....

I bet they may have better luck since they can implement this through their MMC program and user of ATI tv tuners and WME can probably see faster results now...

Unlike the morons at Nvidia who just blame it on developers who need to implement it in their programs....

 

[rbV5]

I should be getting my X800XL soon, so I'll put it through the paces.

VideoShader HD uses the 3d pipeline rather than a discrete chip like nvidia's attempt. ATI has already successfully used full stream technology to deblock real media and accelerate Divx, using the shader pipeline and enabled players. ATI's WMV acceleration is dependant on a Microsoft patch for WMP10 like Nvidia's purevideo (hmmmmm), and is currently not available with Catalyst drivers (even with the registry key enabled).

I'm not certain of the actual implementation on X8xx cards, since ATI isn't exactly forthcoming with how/if it works, but I am somewhat familiar with older functionality using my AIW 9700pro card. MPEG encoding is slightly accelerated <10% usng what ATI used to call the "cobra engine", it basically reduces the CPU utilization a little while encoding MPEG and allows real-time 3D Hollywood effects on the timeline with Pinnacle Studio.

Video Soap (another similar feature) is the best use IMO, it allows for hardware filtering during capture using Mpeg or ATI's VCR codecs (sharpen, blur....ect) it works very well, the biggest PITA is how well it cleans up live TV, except you can't use it for live TV viewing!!!! (you can see how well it works when configuring it in the preview window) ATI would make alot of fans if they would allow video soap on the live TV stream...believe me.


In any event, up untill nice, I've considered them "nice" features, but hardly robust enough to shorten encoding times for instance. They do work, and any help is welcome. Hopefully, these new cards step it up a little more.