The HD experience on the PC

This article arose out of my frustration with PC Blu-ray and HD DVD solutions. FiringSquad is working on our Winter Video Shootout. This is an article that’ll look at ATI’s latest Radeon HD 3850 series with the UVD working to full effect (even 2560x1600 video) comparing ATI and NVIDIA performance on Blu-ray and HD DVD. As a bonus, we were going to look at Blu-ray vs. HD DVD, looking at the exclusive titles for each format.

Unfortunately, my efforts have been limited. In the last Autumn Video Processing Shoot Out, we found that PC HD solutions had trouble playing some of the latest BD-Java enabled movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean. In the interim 3 months, there have only been some improvements. Playback of HD movies in Vista x64 continues to be limited for both NVIDIA and AMD solutions. While standard HD DVD and Blu-ray movies work well in Vista x64 (with all of the appropriate GPU acceleration), it’s impossible to play movies such as Ratatouille or Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer .

Going to Vista x32 didn’t solve my problems either. While AMD UVD offered exceptional video decoding performance in our last round-up by offering lower CPU utilization than NVIDIA PureVideo, the latest version of PowerDVD refuses to enable the AVIVO features of the Radeon HD 3850. Hardware acceleration simply wasn’t working at all. Without hardware decoding of MPEG-4 AVC, even a Core 2 Duo E6600 is too slow to play the movie at full speed. Compare this to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 where HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs “just work.”

Turns out that PowerDVD fails to enable the UVD when the monitor is configured for dual display. This is a huge problem as many enthusiasts have their HTPC configured for dual monitors. A desktop LCD for work/play and a dedicated HDMI or DVI connection to the receiver/projector/TV. Given that UVD worked in dual monitor configurations in the past when it comes to deinterlacing, we believe this is a bug with PowerDVD. Why stick with PowerDVD when there’s WinDVD? We’ve yet to get WinDVD working with some of these latest BD-Java movies.

When we had trouble playing BD-J movies with our NVIDIA PureVideo. NVIDIA insisted that it was the software player’s fault. Indeed, it seems to have been the case. Now, we’ve run into a problem with AMD UVD and we’re sure AMD is going to insist that the software player is at fault. This is all fine, and AMD and NVIDIA are probably right. Unfortunately, HTPC enthusiasts just want their system to work.

When you look back at what made HTPCs a viable platform for the select group of video enthusiasts during the era of DVD, there was one big difference. ATI and NVIDIA took charge of their software development. ATI developed their Multimedia Center, providing a common interface for PC TV watching and DVD playback. While there were admittedly problems with the multimedia suite, consumers could rest assured that they’d have no problems using their hardware to its fullest extent. NVIDIA had the PureVideo Decoder along with nStant Media.

Things have gotten “easier” with DXVA and Microsoft’s own MPEG-2 decoder in Windows Vista. When it comes to H.264 and management of Blu-ray/HD DVD though, AMD and NVIDIA have dropped the ball. From our very first attempt at building a Blu-ray HTPC to our current UVD versus PureVideo comparison, we’ve always run into software compatibility issues. NVIDIA and AMD are good at developing the hardware, but they simply don’t have the same level of accountability when all of the pieces of the puzzle are left to other companies.

There are still enough idiosyncracies with Blu-ray and HD DVD playback on the PC where it’s very tempting to go with a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. This shouldn’t be the case. The transition to HDCP monitors and graphics cards are complete and even gamers are moving to Windows Vista. Drives have dropped in price tremendously, and today you can find a Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid drive for only $300. It should be easier. It should be as simple as buying a Blu-ray drive from ASUS, an external HD DVD drive from Microsoft, or a Blu-ray/HD DVD combo drive from LG, sticking it in your PC and enjoying the high definition revolution…

The first time around, it was a lack of 2560x1600 upscaling. The second time around, it was a lack of BD-Java support. Third time’s the charm, right? This time, I’m having trouble with a dual-monitor configuration. Mind you, I’m not trying to span the image over two monitors – I’m just trying to do full screen video on a secondary monitor. Matrox understood that this was the way HTPC enthusiasts wanted to use their monitors in 1999. Sigh.