New S3 HD card.

[jeffreyd_tx]

Here is todays press release. I would love to get a sample of one to check it out!
http://www.via.com.tw/en/Digital%20L...OmniChrome.jsp

[jeffreyd_tx]

Here is a review from firing squad. Not a great gaming card (though it ain't bad either) but looks pretty good for a HTPC setup.

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/s3_d...me_s8_preview/

[imf4]

"The OmniChrome brings HDTV component Video In and Video Out (VIVO)"

Hmm could it be a Component Capture device? It doesn't really say much int he press release.

[martyc]

How is HDTV going in the USA? The last I heard is that most people can't be bothered with it. It isn't available at all in the UK yet but I read somewhere that an HDTV station is starting in Europe so hopefully it is on it's way.

This may be a daft question but is it possible to view high definition broadcasts on a regular definition TV ? If so are there any improvements in the picture quality?

Martin.

[nanook105]

A lot of the cable companies in the US are starting to offer it as an additional service. It is poorly integrated with the rest of the cable service (at least for my provider - wideopenwest). If you get an HD box, all of the rest of the channels (non HD) have dead space on the left and right that gives the appearance of being squeezed. My provider claims that everyone is having this issue, and they are working on it. Fortunately, there is another output from the box that I run to BTV that doesn't have the formatting issue. However, it doesn't have the EPG

The overall quality of the HD channels is excellent, especially the digital sound. Only a couple of channels broadcast in HD 24/7, the rest broadcast sporting events and/or prime time only.

I haven't tried to display HD broadcasts on a regular TV, but I don't think that it is supposed to work.

[martyc]

Cheers dude, this is all I needed to know.

I have recently started getting digital TV in the UK and have noticed a similar situation (black borders to the left and right), however it only occurrs when watching an anamorphic 16:9 broadcast that contains some regular 4:3 footage. The full-screen anamorphic 16:9 picture will switch to a bordered 4:3 picture (thereby maintaing the correct aspect ratio and the enhanced definition of anamorphic), it just looks weird when you are used to watching everything in full-screen 16:9. Broadcasts that are entirely 4:3 fill the screen. Is this what happens in America, or is the picture genuinely squashed?

Martin.

[nanook105]

Regular TV is always squashed/always has borders left and right. 16X9 is worse since it also has borders top and bottom. The non HD is all digital, so the picture is crisp - however, it is a waste of screen space on my HDTV. My TV has settings that should be able to convert to full screen, but they don't work with the signal from the HD cable box.

[jeffreyd_tx]

This post has changed to an entirely different subject it seems.

[Eric3a]

Different subject yes and no:
Basically the point is that HDTV is not such a great interesting proposition at the moment, therefore the S3 card is not that exciting at it is.
I guess it will mostly depends on the price point, but since it's deemed less good than a 9700 I wouldn't think about it unless HDTV was really SO great, and will wait for ATI's next gen. But mostly for the HDTV market to stabilize and make sense. Another 2 or 3 years at least?

Eric

[jeffreyd_tx]

Originally Posted by Eric3a

Different subject yes and no:
Basically the point is that HDTV is not such a great interesting proposition at the moment, therefore the S3 card is not that exciting at it is.
I guess it will mostly depends on the price point, but since it's deemed less good than a 9700 I wouldn't think about it unless HDTV was really SO great, and will wait for ATI's next gen. But mostly for the HDTV market to stabilize and make sense. Another 2 or 3 years at least?

I disagree with your post. I almost became upset but calmed quickly thanks to the hops that I am enjoying right now

Under dogs rule. They make the world exciting and they are the ones who listen to the people. Where would AMD, ATI, X10, VIA (who owns S3), Philadelphia Eagles, USA, etc... be today if people said (see Erics comment below)

Originally Posted by Eric3a

that is not that exciting at it is?

[Eric3a]

Good thing for the hops then!

My comment was not about the card so much, or the underdog company. ATi was the underdog not that long ago if you remember. I tend to like underdogs.

It's more about how unattractive I find HDTV at the moment. I think the HDTV market is a mess that's hard to understand. Overpriced TVs, poorly implemented delivery, uninteresting (overpriced?) content...... Basically I will wait that one out until he whole thing stabilizes, HDTVs are common and cheap (say at price of Standard TV of 3 years ago), and so on.

So the HDTV element of the card I have a hard time getting excited over. And it is compounded because I am a hard core gamer and I wouldn't want to downgrade to a 9700 level. Now if it came with HDBTV for off the air HD channels and a fast gaming card I could be interested!

I think that the point the other posters were making was similar: HDTV is not that interesting to them... So they didn't even comment on the card.

But different people have different needs and tastes. Enough are eager to get HDTV that a "mass market" product might be of interest to them. I'm pretty sure most these people wouldn't think of buying a $400 video card.

Eric

[jeffreyd_tx]

Some words about the NVidia 6800 from bit-tech.com

If you’re counting on HDTV working on your spanky new 6800, you’re out of luck: it has been confirmed this morning by Derek Perez of NVIDIA that the both the core and the existing reference board have no capacity to support an HDTV signal – though it is planned for the future NV43 & NV41 cores. If you are hoping a third party vendor is going to slap a discrete chip on there, you are likely to be disappointed because as far as we know no vendors are straying from the reference design.