ATI Avivo and Nvidia's Purevideo Dissected

[Anusha]

Quoted from the conclusion...

Pulldown Detection. Purevideo requires the user to pay extra for the Purevideo decoder in order to enable pulldown detection, while Avivo comes with this ability for no extra charge. 3:2 pulldown detection is a pretty darned important feature when watching DVDs, you're definitely going to notice a quality loss without it.

Noise Reduction. Purevideo offers absolutely no noise reduction. Avivo offers excellent noise reduction. Noise reduction is another quality feature that will make a big impact on the visual quality you experience when watching DVDs on a PC.

Those two items are a big deal; you will notice this stuff when you're watching a DVD on your PC. Otherwise, there are some minor discrepancies - Avivo seems to use less CPU power, and Purevideo seems to lock on to 3:2 pulldown faster - but neither of these minor things are a big deal unless you have a very specific personal requirement. Pulldown detection and noise reduction though, those are pretty important.

As far as video encoding, Avivo offers a free encoder I guess, a nice free tool but not the GPU accelerated wonder-software that would make it a must-have.

Read the full review here.

 

[shanX]

These only work for DVD, right?

 

[Anusha]

PureVideo supports WMV, H.264 and MPEG-2 Standard Definition as well as High Definition. At least, that's what nVidia says

 

[zCexVe]

but the videos we get cannot be purified by even using those i think lol

 

[Anusha]

but the videos we get cannot be purified by even using those i think lol

It's not about purifying. That's just the name they've given it.
It's hardware acceleration and deinterlacing (simply post processing done on the GPU rather than the CPU)

 

[zCexVe]

nooooo i just ment that still we cant get a clearer view by using such things.It will bettern but not that crystal clear.I hardly see a genuine dvd outta here..
but it is really gud to have the hardware accel.I almost feel need of it...

 

[Anusha]

If you play movies in Windows Media Player, in Performance options, check Use High Quality Mode. This is tremendously improve the quality of the video, but will also increase the CPU utilization.

 

[zCexVe]

I h8 WMP.isnt there such a option in Power DvD?

 

[Anusha]

Nope. On my end, PowerDVD sux!!! I don't even have it installed anymore.

 

[zerocool]

Im using WinDVD 8 and DirectDVD 6 HD

 

[Anusha]

Since I don't watch anymore DVDs, I don't need PowerDVD, WinDVD or anything like that. I loved WinDVD's Trimension feature. Too bad it doesn't have support for DivX/XviD.

 

[shanX]

Yes, if we play sort of like a genuine dvd with region stuff and all, we could see a big difference! my experience...

 

[Anusha]

There isn't that much of a difference if the movie is shorter than 2 hours. I've seen DVD-5 movies as well as DVD-9 movies. For a movies like Lord of the Rings, which plays for about 3 hours, DVD-5 will not be suitable.

 

[shanX]

DVD-5??? DVD-9???

Are u saying about Dual layer and Double-side Dual Layer?

 

[Anusha]

Single layer vs. Dual layer

 

[shanX]

So why r u confused?

 

[Anusha]

Even though the smiley is for confusion, I meant it like "hmmmm :S"

 

[zCexVe]

Anusha u dload and watch dix/xvid movies and thats the reason u dont need any dvds???

 

[shanX]

Since I don't watch anymore DVDs, I don't need PowerDVD, WinDVD or anything like that

Have u switched over to HD-DVD ????

 

[zCexVe]

no kiddin man..Anusha hav u????or to blue-ray since the player+drive for them released????????