Nvidia PureVideo HD beta released

[Kirby]

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_do...bit_92.91.html

Anyone tried it yet? Looks like they are bundling PureVideo HD and the core video driver together?

Purevideo HD only tested on these chipsets though:

GeForce 7950 GX2
GeForce 7950 GT
GeForce 7900 GT
GeForce 7900 GS
GeForce 7600 GT

Hope my 7800GTX works with it.

[Bryann]

I don't know that many will be able to test it since you need a HD or Blu-Ray drive and an HDCP compliant video card.

[Kirby]

I believe that limitation is ONLY if you are playing protected content, i.e., HD DVD or Blu-Ray. Its not for programs coming from OTA/satellite/cable, or ripped DVD's. Put in a OTA HD stream and there should be no issue.

[blade]

PureVideo isn't just the decoder, it's also what Nvidia calls some of its hardware features. My guess would be the drivers allow the hardware to take advantage of a few more of the PureVideo hardware features.

For example post processing such as edge enhancement and noise reduction were added several releases ago.

[Kirby]

From an interview with one of the NVidia heads (Scott Vouri), the question was posed about home made HD movies and what it will require, and he replied that so long as it was unprotected content, no HDCP display or card is needed. And that even covers putting those homemade movies onto HD DVD or Bluray yourself. Those discs will still be able to play just fine without HDCP.

This beta release is supposed to have fully enabled the H264 and VC1 hardware acceleration capabilities, so I'll be trying it out tonight for sure.

[Bryann]

Maybe I'm confused by Nvidia's site then.

NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology—Essential for the Ultimate HD Movie Experience on a PC
PureVideo HD technology includes all the features of PureVideo, plus additional features required for playing HD DVD and Blu-ray movies at full resolution on a PC, including HDCP support, high-definition movie decode acceleration, and integration with HD movie players.

Play HD DVD and Blu-ray movies on your PC with PureVideo HD technology

Available on HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs, high-definition movies are bringing an exciting new video experience to PC users. NVIDIA® PureVideo™ HD technology lets you enjoy cinematic-quality HD DVD and Blu-ray movies with low CPU utilization and power consumption, allowing higher quality movie playback and picture clarity.

PureVideo HD technology provides a combination of powerful hardware acceleration, content security, and integration with movie players, plus all the features found in PureVideo.

By the wording on the site, all this driver does is to play and enable PureVideo acceleration of HDCP compliant HD and BR discs with HDCP compliant hardware. It doesn't change the existing H.264 and Mpeg2 playback already available.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_hd.html
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_pvhd_build.html

[Kirby]

I think the Purevideo HD FAQ has your answers a bit better.

What is PureVideo HD?
NVIDIA® PureVideo™ HD technology is the combination of high-definition video decode acceleration and post-processing that delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for movies and video. PureVideo HD includes required content protection circuitry (HDCP) for playing the new Blu-ray and HD DVD movies at the highest quality possible, and is directly integrated with the leading HD movie software players. PureVideo HD delivers the ultimate high-definition movie experience on a PC.

How does PureVideo HD differ from PureVideo technology?
PureVideo HD is a superset of PureVideo. PureVideo is a combination of a hardware video processor and video decode software that delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for all video content. It turns your PC into a high-end home-theater. PureVideo technology is built into a variety of NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs), including GeForce® and GeForce Go 6600, 6800, 7300, 7600, 7800, and 7900-series GPUs.

PureVideo HD includes all of the features of PureVideo, plus advanced technologies for playing HD DVD and Blu-ray movies. PureVideo HD is a combination of high-definition movie decode acceleration hardware with post-processing features, HDCP circuitry, and integration with HD movie players that delivers cinematic-quality Blu-ray and HD DVD movie playback on your PC.

AFAIK, the actual hardware acceleration circuitry in the nvidia cards has not as yet been turned on, even with Purevideo 223. Purevideo HD enables this, as its required for HD DVD and BluRay. Where the confusion is coming from is that much is being made about playing these 2 formats on PC, and there isnt a huge amount of H264/VC1 material out there in the PC world as of yet. I could be all wrong on this, but I do honestly believe that Purevideo HD is aimed at providing better playback even from files, not just the 2 DVD formats.

[Naylia]

Those are just drivers not codecs...in particular they enable WinDVD and PowerDVD and other software players with PureVideoHD codecs built-in to talk directly to the video card (part of the security they provide by bypassing the DirectX chain of modular components).

[lobosrul]

So... anyone test these out? Is it worth the download? Does it decode h.264?

[toricred]

I installed them, but I don't have anything to test h.264 with. They do seem to have eliminated some micro stutters I was experiencing.

[Kirby]

To test H264 you would have to force sage to use a demux filter such as Cyberlink's from PowerDVD7 I think.