Date:
Thursday , September 14, 2006
Author:
Kyle Bennett
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NVIDIA's PureVideo HD Interview & Experiences

Looking for HD on your PC or HTPC? What video cards, displays, hardware, software? We ask some pointed questions of NVIDIA about making this happen and then tell you about our experiences with HD-DVD and NVIDIA's PureVideHD technology.

Introduction

Today NVIDIA is launching Beta drivers containing their newest NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology. But if you think this is all you are going to need in order to watch HD DVD or Blu-ray movies, think again. Below are ten questions we asked of NVIDIA’s Multimedia General Manager, Scott Vouri. After those ten questions, we follow up with our hands-on experience using NVIDIA PureVideo HD, an HDMI/HDCP equipped video card, a HD-DVD payer, and various displays. We do our best to cut through the BS and get you solid answers about your hardware needs with these new mediums.

Scott Vouri, NVIDIA GM Multimedia - Interview

1. Stories about HD DVD and Blu-Ray seem to be all the rage now, but there are so many pieces to the puzzle that are missing when it comes to using these devices on the PC and how they can be used on the PC. So in what ways are HD DVD and Blu-Ray different from each other, and how do they differ from DVD?

At their core HD DVD and Blu-ray are new storage mediums. They are the next step – capacity wise – in the evolution from floppy (3MB) to CD (700MB) to DVD (8.5GB). This capacity, 30GB max in the case of HD DVD and 50GB max for Blu-ray is needed to hold an entire HD movie on a single disc. The Blu-ray and HD DVD technologies both use a blue laser to write data to the disc – DVDs used a red laser technology – but the aperture size for Blu-ray is smaller than the one used for HD DVD, meaning it can record more data and can record closer to the edge of the disc.

Blu-ray, HD DVD and DVDs also differ in the way content protection for movies is implemented. DVDs used the Content Scramble System (CSS), while HD DVD and Blu-ray use the 128-bit encrypted Advanced Access Content System (AACS). In addition to AACS, the Blu-ray movie format also uses to other technologies called BD-ROM mark and BD+.

2. When it comes to buying a HD DVD or Blu-Ray player for my PC, can I expect to have a unit that will both act as a storage media device that I can write to as well as a high-definition content player?

Yes. We’ll be able to buy either playback only drives or playback plus record drives. Of course the latter will cost more. Fortunately, the same drives will read CDs and DVDs as well.

It is worth mentioning here that there are reports of initial Blu-ray players for the PC that have not been able to play back Blu-ray movies without first doing a firmware update.

3. If I am using my HD DVD or Blu-Ray player for storage only, do I need much anything else in the ways of equipment and media? What if I am burning my own HD movies from content I have produced, do I need extra equipment to even watch them on my PC?

For personal content, which is presumably unprotected, you will not need the other hardware components required for watching Blu-ray or HD DVD movies (an HDCP equipped graphics card and an HDCP equipped monitor). Of course you’ll still want a graphics card with NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology, so that your home movie doesn’t chug like molasses in the wintertime.

4. Now let’s move on to watching HD DVD or Blu-Ray movies on my PC that I will be getting at Blockbuster. We are hearing all sorts of thing about HDCP and HDMI and HD This and Blu That. What am I going to need in order to watch these type of movies on my PC?

In order to play protected content like HD DVD or Blu-ray movies you need:

• An HD DVD or Blu-ray disc drive with AACS and other content protection mechanisms installed. There are some older drives that do not have the content protection circuitry, so it’s important to check for this.

• AACS certified movie player software capable of playing Blu-ray or HD DVD movies. Initially player providers such as CyberLink and InterVideo will offer separate versions for Blu-ray and HD DVD movies. Today’s CPUs cannot decode the most demanding H.264 encoded Blu-ray or HD DVD movies on their own, so it is important to buy movie player software that takes full advantage of hardware accelerated decoding technology, such as PureVideo HD.

• A graphics card that has High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) circuitry implemented on-board and provides hardware accelerated decoding of HD DVD and Blu-ray movies. You will also need an upcoming version of our ForceWare graphics driver that supports PureVideo HD to provide content protection and hardware accelerated decoding.

• A monitor or television that also supports HDCP.

A full list of HDCP compliant video cards is being kept in our Video Cards Forum along with a lot of other information.

5. What’s the difference between HDCP and HDMI?

HDCP is a hardware based content protection system that encrypts the movie stream for transmission to your HDCP compatible monitor or television , where it is then unencrypted for display. HDCP can be implemented over DVI or HDMI connectors. HDMI is a new type of connector used mostly on consumer electronics devices and HDTVs. It is similar to DVI for transmitting digital video data, but adds the capability to transmit the audio data (sound track) for the movie on the same cable, so you no longer need separate audio and video cables. HDCP can be implemented over both DVI and HDMI cables and connectors.

6. What if I don’t have an HDCP or HDMI display?

For now you are in luck – as long as your display does support an analog input format such as VGA or component. The AACS content protection system defines a flag which content producers put in the header of their movies called the “Image Constraint Token”. This flag tells the movie player what to do if you are attempting to play protected content out an analog connector. The flag options are “don’t play at all”, “scale down to a lower resolution and then play”, or “play at full resolution”. For now, most movie studios have chosen to let the content play through analog connections at full resolution. This way, older HDTVs out there that do not have a DVI or HDMI input will still work.

On the other hand, if your graphics card or CE player only has digital output capability and you do not have an HDCP compliant display, you will get a blank screen when you try to play protected content.

7. When will all of those components be available?

There are many HDCP compliant monitors on the market today. Just make sure to check the specs before you buy. There are also a few DVI w/ HDCP or HDMI w/ HDCP graphics cards out now with many more set to come out within the next few weeks. NVIDIA’s graphics driver that enables Blu-ray and HD DVD movies on a PC is expected to be released soon; we will announce driver availability in the near future. Add-in Blu-ray drives have recently started to appear and will soon come bundled with a movie player. By October time frame it should be relatively easy to purchase everything you need to build your own Blu-ray high definition movie entertainment system. HD DVD drives should come on the retail market later this year.

8. The initial reviews for Toshiba’s HD DVD consumer electronics device and Samsung’s Blu-ray player weren’t very good. How does the performance of PureVideo HD compare in terms of movie playback versus the consumer electronics devices that have come out so far?

We believe NVIDIA PureVideo HD provides the best consumer experience available today, whether on a PC or a consumer electronics device.

9. Why are there different codecs being used for Blu-ray and HD DVD movies? Will PureVideo HD play all of them?

HD DVDs and Blu-ray both support three different codecs – H.264, VC-1 and MPEG2 HD. The movie studios make their choice of codec based on economic and time to market factors. The studios have been producing DVDs based on the MPEG2 format for years, so there is an entire authoring and duplication infrastructure in place that can turn out MPEG2 encoded high definition movies very quickly. MPEG2 HD movies take up a lot of space though and don’t leave much room on the disc for special features. VC-1 has a higher compression ratio than MPEG2 and has been an early favorite for U.S. movie releases. H.264 has an incredibly high signal to noise ratio (meaning great images) and provides excellent compression, but since it is a fairly new standard, the infrastructure to support it is still maturing. PureVideo HD provides hardware accelerated decoding for H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2 HD, MPEG2 SD and WMV.

10. A recent story about Vista revealed that the 32bit version of Microsoft’s new OS won’t support playback of protected HD content. Does that mean that anyone running a 32bit version of Vista won’t be able to watch an HD DVD or Blu-ray movie on their PC?

Microsoft Vista users will be able to play HD DVD and Blu-ray movies if they have an appropriate movie player from software vendors such as CyberLink, InterVideo, and Nero. Microsoft's statement only means that Vista alone won't have a built-in HD movie player.

Following Pages - Our PureVideo HD Experiences