NVIDIA GeForce FX Personal Cinema Roundup - Asus, Chaintech, eVGA, and MSI
by Andrew Ku on December 23, 2003 10:48 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Conclusion
NVIDIA has made a lot of hardware changes over previous Personal Cinema cards, but they are still providing a lack luster software suite to back it up. We believe that NVIDIA can provide decent multimedia hardware, but their hand at software remains to be seen. At the most recent Comdex, NVIDIA promoted their Forceware multimedia software, which is, in essence, the equal to ATI's Multimedia Center. The list of its supported features is impressive: shared TV streams, burn directly to disk, a Gemstar Guide Plus+ based EPG, etc., but we will have to reserve judgment until we put it through the paces.According to a few of NVIDIA's partners, the software is still buggy and should be out in January or February, depending on how soon the issues are resolved, as this would affect the time it is WHQL certified. This was a project that was supposed to be all undertaken in 6 months - a very ambitious task that has been since put through several delays.
As it stands, NVIDIA acknowledges that the multimedia sector is the fastest growing segment of the desktop market because it applies to the masses and anyone/everyone who has a TV set in their home. This is why many of NVIDIA's partners, who have previously rejected Personal Cinema, are now embracing the product. However, the introduction of the GeForce FX Personal Cinema is more of a knee-jerk reaction to the more impressive All-in-Wonder products that we have seen recently from ATI.
NVIDIA would fare much better by holding off their GeForce FX Personal Cinema line until their software has been fully developed because the issue puts the current product into a bad limelight and puts pressure on NVIDIA's multimedia partners. Of the four cards, Asus has no doubt done the best job, but they are still leaving quite a bit to be desired, particularly dual display support and traits that we normally come to expect from digital VCR solutions.
NVIDIA tells us that their notebook graphic market is NVIDIA's fastest segment, and they do lay claim to all the MCE notebooks that we are at least aware of. The TV tuner and the MPEG-2 encoder in those notebooks, however, are not of their design or spec. Rather, it just happens to be that the system vendor uses the NVIDIA GPU. Secondly, an MCE notebook is not as attractive as a SFF MCE PC or a desktop one for that matter. Remember, MCE PCs are not of the same breed as the typical home PC, since they are intended to be a dedicated PC situated near the home TV system.
While NVIDIA tries to get Microsoft's certification for their software (WHQL) and multimedia hardware (MCE), we don't see their products as attractive as the multimedia solutions from ATI, mainly due to the lack of software support. Until that time comes, we would recommend readers lean a bit red and white this season with an All-in-Wonder VE, 9000 Pro, or better yet, a 9600 Pro over a GeForce FX 5200 or 5600 Personal Cinema.
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Webgod - Sunday, January 11, 2004 - link
Where's the review? Where's the comparison of screenshots of live TV with both the Personal Cinema and ATI AIW cards? How does it compare to your TV set side by side? How do the ATI AIW's compare to the Personal Cinema cards with PVR functions, etc.? Go more in depth, this is Anandtech.bschuler2004 - Monday, December 29, 2003 - link
Nvidia sure does make some crappy AIW imitators! I thought they'd be worse than ATI, but not THIS bad. It's shocking to say the least. I'd rather have an original AIW rage IIC card then one of these garbage cards.How on earth do they honestly intend to sell this junk with a straight face? It's laughable.
jruff - Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - link
PC CLub recommened the nVidia card which is what I built for my mothers computer. Going over tomorrow t o run thru the software. For my wife's machine I just bought a AIW 9600 Pro that I will be installing tomorrow. Shhhh, its a christmas present ;)I couldnt find much on the nVidia when I put her new system together I was just going on what PC Club said. Ill get a chance to use both here in the next week putting together the 6 Digital 8 tapes I have managed to make in the last year of my sons life (birthday jan 8, 1 year)
We will se how it goes and which makes the easiest final product.
Stay tuned :)
LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - link
Interesting, but I do get a little tired of bundling all of these products with the video card. I want to keep a TV tuner/PVR for the long haul, and every time graphics technology changes, buying a new all-in-one card would break my budget. That, and the fact that NVidia only offers these features on their low-end cards means I'd rather choose one of ATI's solutions, despite some issues with their software. The All-in-Wonder line now spans from the entry-level AIW 7500 and 9000 on up to the top. ATI has a much better tiered structure, and also has standalone tuner/capture cards (TV Wonder Pro).morcegovermelho - Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - link
Good review. Very good info on breakout box, remote control, and Dual Display Support.Maybe should be included in the review some info about video-capture.
What capture format? MPEG2? AVI? Other format?
If capture is mpeg2, what resolution? what bitrate? Is it DVD-compliant?
If capture is avi, what is the codec? Can it be uncompressed? Can we use DivX? It's a proprietary codec?
How about dropped frames?
Audio capture - 44khz or 48Khz? Uncompressed, mp2 or ac3 ?
sandorski - Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - link
I just kinda skimmed the article, but I saw enough to support my conclusion(I think ;) ): Nvidia has a long road to catch up to ATI in regards to Multimedia/Multifunction vidcards. It's not just in technology though, but also reputation.It wasn't too long ago when Multifunction was all ATI had, they certainly weren't selling their cards for Gaming Performance reasons. No serious Gamer would even consider them.
OTOH Nvidia and 3DFX were engaged in a bitter battle for the Gaming Performance crown. We all know how that turned out ( :( ).
Nvidia won the Crown and all seemed good....until ATI released the Radeon 9700 Pro. That one card turned the video card world on its' ear and NVidia has been trying to catch up since.
ATI's time relying on and perfecting their AIW and lesser MultiMedia functioning cards had allowed them to focus on Gaming Performance. They acheived that and the Marketplace is begining to turn on to the whole Multimedia/Multifunction idea in a big way.
Nvidia has a long road ahead and seems to be trying to desperately catch up on a number of fronts. Hopefully they can for Competitions sake, but ATI is turning into a Juggernaut.