2D/HDTV features

Now that you’re a little more familiar with DeltaChrome’s 3D guts, let’s go over its 2D and video engines. If you’re a multimedia buff, you’re really going to like what S3 is offering here.

Hi-Def HDTV encoder

This is because S3 has integrated an HDTV encoder into DeltaChrome, the first chip to support this feature. Of course, the encoder can also act as a standard video encoder for video editing duties.

This feature makes DeltaChrome the perfect solution for editing your home movies off the camcorder, or using its video capture capabilities to record that perfect lap in Project Gotham Racing 2 on your Xbox. It goes without saying that it’s surprising to see this feature incorporated into a mainstream graphics chip, even ATI and NVIDIA’s high-end parts rely on external chips to support this feature. (ATI relies on the Rage Theater/Theater 200 chip for its RADEON cards, while NVIDIA utilizes video encoders manufactured by Philips.) As a result, many of the mainstream cards from both companies don’t even offer video input support among their list of features.

Resolutions of 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p are supported via a component (YPbPr) output, while 480i is supported via standard S-Video/Composite output. DeltaChrome will offer full range RGB to YUV color space conversion with hue, saturation, and contrast adjustment.

HDTV output!

Chromotion

Like ATI’s latest chips, DeltaChrome’s pixel shaders can access video streams, where they can apply post-processing effects such as emboss, sharpen, and neon edges. DeltaChrome can also use its pixel shaders to clean up video signals such as Internet webcasts, MPEG-2/4, Windows Media 8/9, and other media standards.

S3 has a video de-blocking filter similar to ATI’s:

DeltaChrome supports video de-blocking

A few of the effects Chromotion supports

S3 has signed a deal with Intervideo, bringing support for pixel shader effects in its popular WinDVD playback software.