A Few Questions Regarding the AIW 1800XL

[Alex Moreau]

Hello,
I recently purchased this card and have been mostly satisified with it. I
don't really game, but the improvement in video & TV quality on my 2405fpw
has made the purchase worthwhile.

The questions:

1) How does one determine which catalyst version is in play? I installed the
drivers from the CD and haven;t bothered to upgrade. MMC is 9.10. The driver
version on the device manager display properties are 8.183.0.0, whereas
clicking on Driver Details states a file version of 6.14.10.0298. I suppose
what I may be looking for is the 'Catalyst' version #.

2) Upon installation, the CD provided an opportunity to download an H.264
decoder. What will this decoder do for me? Will it allow better playback of
DVDs & TV? Will it decode HD content from my STB (although it's connected
using s-video, so that alone would limit the quality). IOW, Is this decoder
worth bothering with, and under what circumstances would it be used?

Thanks,
Alex

 

[First of One]

1) How does one determine which catalyst version is in play? I installed
the drivers from the CD and haven;t bothered to upgrade. MMC is 9.10. The
driver version on the device manager display properties are 8.183.0.0,
whereas clicking on Driver Details states a file version of 6.14.10.0298.
I suppose what I may be looking for is the 'Catalyst' version #.

8.183.0.0 is fairly old, at about the age of Catalyst 5.10. The latest is of
course Catalyst 6.5 and MMC 9.14. Update if you have issues, or if game
performance is unsatisfactory.

2) Upon installation, the CD provided an opportunity to download an H.264
decoder. What will this decoder do for me? Will it allow better playback
of DVDs & TV? Will it decode HD content from my STB (although it's
connected using s-video, so that alone would limit the quality). IOW, Is
this decoder worth bothering with, and under what circumstances would it
be used?

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=21594

H.264 is just another video format under the MPEG4 umbrella, similar to
DivX, XviD, etc. If you come across H.264-encoded video online, like a
bootleg of some movie, then this decoder will let you to play it, no more,
no less.

DVD playback and TV reception are not touched at all. If a signal is coming
in through the S-video port, the card treats it as just another analog video
stream.

Keep in mind the ATi/Cyberlink decoder costs money. There are free H.264/AVC
decoders available online. Of course, download and install only if you come
across H.264 content.

 

[Alex Moreau]

8.183.0.0 is fairly old, at about the age of Catalyst 5.10. The latest is
of course Catalyst 6.5 and MMC 9.14. Update if you have issues, or if game
performance is unsatisfactory.

5.1 seems kind of old for an 1800XL, but I guess the question then could be:
is 6.5 generally thought to be less buggy than 5.1? There are some stability
issues with MMC, nothing that can't be tolerated, but somewhat of a
nusiance. Also, any video related benefits to upgrading?

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=21594

H.264 is just another video format under the MPEG4 umbrella, similar to
DivX, XviD, etc. If you come across H.264-encoded video online, like a
bootleg of some movie, then this decoder will let you to play it, no more,
no less.

DVD playback and TV reception are not touched at all. If a signal is
coming in through the S-video port, the card treats it as just another
analog video stream.

Keep in mind the ATi/Cyberlink decoder costs money. There are free
H.264/AVC decoders available online. Of course, download and install only
if you come across H.264 content.

OK, Thanks. I can't think of any reason to have it at theis point in time.


Thanks,
Alex

 

[First of One]

5.1 seems kind of old for an 1800XL, but I guess the question then could
be: is 6.5 generally thought to be less buggy than 5.1? There are some
stability issues with MMC, nothing that can't be tolerated, but somewhat
of a nusiance.

Note there's a distinction between Catalyst 5.1 (released Jan. 2005) and
5.10 (released Oct. 2005). 5.10 already supports the X1800 series. The
drivers on your CD may in fact be slightly older than 5.10.

Catalyst 6.5 is less buggy than 5.10. Read the release notes for a list of
fixed issues and known problems.

Also, any video related benefits to upgrading?

Image quality should be unchanged. You will find newer MMC fixes a few bugs
and perhaps adds a few more. Only way to know is to try it out.

 

[T Shadow]

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=21594

H.264 is just another video format under the MPEG4 umbrella, similar to
DivX, XviD, etc. If you come across H.264-encoded video online, like a
bootleg of some movie, then this decoder will let you to play it, no more,
no less.

DVD playback and TV reception are not touched at all. If a signal is coming
in through the S-video port, the card treats it as just another analog video
stream.

while war is politics with bloodshed."If I understand correctly .264 can be used to put your own video on devices
like Ipod to take your video with you. I have recently seen DVD players that
support it. .264 is supposed to have better compression for a quality
setting. It would take up less room on disk(c)s too. Don't know that it's
true. Have no experience with it.
YMMV

 

[First of One]

If I understand correctly .264 can be used to put your own video on
devices
like Ipod to take your video with you.

Yep, though you'll need an H.264 *en*coder for that. The *de*coder offered
by ATi/Cyberlink doesn't come into play at all.

I have recently seen DVD players that
support it. .264 is supposed to have better compression for a quality
setting. It would take up less room on disk(c)s too. Don't know that it's
true. Have no experience with it.
YMMV

Yes, H.264 is another format under the MPEG4 umbrella, with all its benefits
(and stiffer hardware requirements). I imagine some DVD players support it,
along with DivX and XviD. However, no commercial DVD movie uses H.264.

The upcoming HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs use H.264 as the standard codec.

 

[Alex Moreau]

Note there's a distinction between Catalyst 5.1 (released Jan. 2005) and
5.10 (released Oct. 2005). 5.10 already supports the X1800 series. The
drivers on your CD may in fact be slightly older than 5.10.

Catalyst 6.5 is less buggy than 5.10. Read the release notes for a list of
fixed issues and known problems.


Image quality should be unchanged. You will find newer MMC fixes a few
bugs and perhaps adds a few more. Only way to know is to try it out.

Thanks, First. I appreciate the info.

Alex

 

[T Shadow]

Yep, though you'll need an H.264 *en*coder for that. The *de*coder offered
by ATi/Cyberlink doesn't come into play at all.

ATI site says the AVIVO Converter outputs H.264/AVC.
?

 

[First of One]

Correct. The AVIVO Converter is a different animal from the Cyberlink
decoder that's linked from the ATi web article on H.264, though. As far as I
know, installing AVIVO alone won't let you watch H.264 videos; it just
outputs to that format. (Someone with experience using AVIVO please correct
me if I'm wrong on this.)

 

[T Shadow]

Correct. The AVIVO Converter is a different animal from the Cyberlink
decoder that's linked from the ATi web article on H.264, though. As far as I
know, installing AVIVO alone won't let you watch H.264 videos; it just
outputs to that format. (Someone with experience using AVIVO please correct
me if I'm wrong on this.)

O.K. I see what your getting at. Didn't realize something else had to be
bought from Cyberlink. Thought it was like the ATI/Cyberlink audio renderer
that comes with the HDTV Wonder. Doesn't surprise me too much though, after
the fiasco with the HDTV Wonder and Multview.