Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Mon, Aug 20, 2007 at 08:18:27PM -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
> I did a direct comparision of the nv driver with the debian-packaged
> nvidia non-free driver. The difference I noticed was with playing back
> a DVD.
>
> Card: Asus EN7300GT silent (nVidia EN7300GT), 256 MB.
> MB/CPU: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe, Athlon64 3800+, 1x 1GB ram stick.
> Display: Intergraph 21" CRT at 1600 x 1200 x 32-bit, 85 Hz.
>
> Test movie: 40th anniversary edition DVD of __The_Sound_of_Music__.
> Ideal test scene, near the beginning where the Nuns are in the chapple,
> shot on location, good contrast, facial details, candle flames, etc.
>
> VLC setup: full-screen (so the picture gets enlarged from the default
> DVD), de-interlace blending.
>
> Nvidia driver: CPU 98% idle, little memory used.
> fine detail clear, lines in old nun's face, great dynamic range (subtle
> shading light to dark), clear definition around candle flame on dark
> background, motion smooth.
>
> nv driver: CPU 94% idle, little memory used.
> blurred fine detail, old nun has a younger (smoother) face, less dynamic
> range (some dark details lost), candle flame blurred, motion slightly
> rough.
>
> Another good test scene: Maria in the Mother Superior's office, the
> Nvidia driver lets the viewer see the MS's facial expression change as
> Maria talks, with the nv driver you miss this subtle facial acting.
>
> I too was surprised that having the hardware decoding made a qualatative
> difference rather than just using more system resources.
Wow, I hadn't expected the Xv extensions to be able to make that kind of
difference to the decoded video. Or perhaps there is some serious bug
in the open nv driver.
--
Len Sorensen
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