Pure video = VDPAU ?

[castor]

@zbiggy

Time for a reality check?
A great majority of the customer base uses Windows
=> Feature set provided by the Windows driver is a greater priority than that of the Linux driver
=> Windows driver development gets more resources
=> Windows driver gets more features and gets them more quickly

Business.

[zbiggy]

Originally Posted by castor

@zbiggy

Time for a reality check?
A great majority of the customer base uses Windows
=> Feature set provided by the Windows driver is a greater priority than that of the Linux driver
=> Windows driver development gets more resources
=> Windows driver gets more features and gets them more quickly

Business.

True in 100MB driver. Now on Linux 15MB driver we have:
-very good 2D acceleration (there are some things not accelerated yet like GradientFill but windows driver misses this also).
-very good video acceleration. VDPAU rulez (I still miss deinterlacing and deblocking/deringing but I hope it will appear later)
-very good 3D.
-good other features (temperature meter, powermizer, small and comfortable control panel, i2c, DDC, acpi etc... however I miss bugless MSI IRQs)
Nvidia is focused on Linux in providing only really useful features. Maybe this is thanks to small Human Resources allocated to Linux driver and smart Linux Driver team at Nvidia.

In ancient times Windows 95 installation had 30 MB on HDD. Today packed Windows driver for Geforces has 100MB size. During WinXP startup some parts of Nvidia driver bloatware is loading even if I disable everything. On Linux only driver is loaded. I can run control panel when I want.

I migrated to Linux because Windows platform with every new release is less usable. Every driver setup pushes tons of bloatware to startup making Windows loading forever. System is overloaded later with other crap from other applications' setups. Linux is light, clean and fast.

I'm happy that on Linux I do not see cheap and low quality winmodems, GPU drivers which really use software than hardware just to meet marketing requirements. On Linux I get what hardware really provides. And this is cool for me.

[Sky777]

Originally Posted by zbiggy

-very good video acceleration. VDPAU rulez (I still miss deinterlacing and deblocking/deringing but I hope it will appear later)

what do you mean ? vdpau-deinterlacing is working
why not ?

[crisalide]

Originally Posted by zbiggy

(I still miss deinterlacing and deblocking/deringing but I hope it will appear later)

VDPAU already provides some postprocessing features: color space adjustments, deinterlacing (up to 50i->50p temporal spatial), sharpening, noise reduction.

[ticket]

Well, I didn't mean to start a Windows vs Linux debate!

It appears that a 6200 in Linux will not accelerate mp4 decoding, etc, and I was wondering why. I still don't have a good explanation.

Anyways, if I am limited to an AGP or PCI port (not PCI Express - it's an old machine), is there an nVidia card I can get that supports VDPAU?

[Sky777]

Originally Posted by ticket

Anyways, if I am limited to an AGP or PCI port (not PCI Express - it's an old machine), is there an nVidia card I can get that supports VDPAU?

yes. there is several PCI vdpau cards (no any AGP cards)


Sparkle SF-PC84GS512U2LP-P

EVGA 512-P1-N724-LR GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130451

http://www.albatron.ru/top/it/vga


PNY VERTO 8400GS PCI 512MB-64BIT DDR2 DVI+D VCG84512SPEB
http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/de...-Video%20Cards

Jaton Nvidia Geforce 8400gs Pci 512mb Ddr2 2port Dvi Hdtv Low Profile
http://www.costcentral.com/proddetai...PCIDLP/V24084/

BFG NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS 512MB PCI
http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgr84512gsp.aspx

PCI nVIDIA 8400 GS 512MB Low Profile Video Card 512
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-PCI-nVIDIA-8...3A1|240%3A1318

[mooninite]

Originally Posted by ticket

Well, I didn't mean to start a Windows vs Linux debate!

What debate? I don't see one.

Originally Posted by ticket

It appears that a 6200 in Linux will not accelerate mp4 decoding, etc, and I was wondering why.

It's not Linux that's at fault. Your card will not do H.264 decoding in the GPU. If you won't believe me then go see it for yourself. Go download a 1080p trailer and run it on Windows. Watch your CPU usage hit 100% and the video stutter. I'm sure you'll blow that off as to not having the drivers installed correctly or some other unrelated nonsense just to prove your point.

Originally Posted by ticket

I still don't have a good explanation.

Waiting for a nVidia representative to reply to your thread won't help you. They would be repeating what everyone has already stated.

Please stop believing the marketing language. You're so far hooked into it it's not funny.

This thread should never have even started.

Eg: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=geforce+6+h.264+decoding

[castor]

Originally Posted by zbiggy

Nvidia is focused on Linux in providing only really useful features. Maybe this is thanks to small Human Resources allocated to Linux driver and smart Linux Driver team at Nvidia.

You're probably right on that. With smaller resources its even more important to keep the eyes on the ball to get anything done properly. And the team is highly skilled, no doubt on that. Actually, I never liked the outlook of Nvidia as a company much - their marketing and communication strategies etc; those kept me in the ATI camp for a long time.. Its only the quality of the developers and the product that finally turned my head.

[sherbey]

There are multiple different levels of functionality present within 'purevideo' depending on the chipset used. Older chipsets offloaded mpeg1/2 decoding and a subset of mpeg4, later ones will handle the entire stream.
What you've got to ask yourself is what would be the point financially for nvidia to support an obsolete product with new software which wouldn't meet the requirements of anyone who owns it (ie stutter free decoding of h.264 1080i50). It would require considerable extra coding, validation and verification to absolutely no benefit to them or the customer base. A bit irritating if you have an older card that you bought assuming it would be supported at some point, but this is always the risk you run with technology purchases

The best concise description of the features of the various chipsets wrt purevideo I could find is on wikipedia

[ticket]

Originally Posted by sherbey

...What you've got to ask yourself is what would be the point financially for nvidia to support an obsolete product with new software which wouldn't meet the requirements of anyone who owns it (ie stutter free decoding of h.264 1080i50). It would require considerable extra coding, validation and verification to absolutely no benefit to them or the customer base.

http://www.nforcershq.com/secret-nvi...ce-6-7-series/
" Sources close Nvidia are claiming that Nvidia has a secret video driver that can make a real difference and give ATI’s Avivo a run for its money. Nvidia is getting ready to release the miraculous driver that is supposed to beat ATI in Video performances.

The driver will ensure that IGP 6150 integrated graphic core and 6200 low end core can play H.264 content at 720P resolution. Faster cards should be able to play 1080 P resolutions without problems. The new driver will allow all Geforce 6 and 7 series to play H.264 content. Yes, this means each and every card from Geforce 6200 to 7800 GTX will play H.264. "

I wonder if there will be a Linux version ....

[Lysius]

Originally Posted by ticket

I wonder if there will be a Linux version ....

Perhaps in another three and a half years...

[ticket]

This table is of some help:

It shows 6200 and 6800 cards can decode HD H.264 streams:

http://www.nvidia.com/docs/CP/11036/...Comparison.pdf

So the h/w capability is there, just not the s/w capability.