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ATI's Avivo vs. NVIDIA's PureVideo: De-Interlacing Quality Compared

 by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 5, 2005 9:00 AM EST
20 Comments | Add A Comment
20 Comments
De-Interlacing Quality - Film Cadence
"The ability of a processor to detect and correct for a given film-to-video cadence affects image detail and may introduce scan line artifacts ("jaggies") as the video processor defaults to video mode. Observe the lines in the coffee cups and watch to see if they appear to jump or flicker, a sign of incorrect cadence detection resulting in half-resolution images. The text in the newspaper may also exhibit moiré and interlaced scan line artifacts."
In this test, we have a 2:2 cadence that neither card handles properly. According to the benchmark's documentation, "documentaries shot on high speed film use 30 frames per second frame rates resulting in a 2:2 cadence."



Hold mouse over image to see NVIDIA's Image Quality.

Nor can either card handle the 2:2:2:4 test; "Professional DV camcorders and the new HDV models can capture video at a 24 fps rate for a film 'look', but employ a special cadence (either 2:2:2:4 or 2:3:3:2) for more efficient digital compression":



Hold mouse over image to see NVIDIA's Image Quality.

Or the 2:3:3:2 test:



Hold mouse over image to see NVIDIA's Image Quality.

Finally, we have success with one card; NVIDIA properly de-interlaces when presented with the 3:2:3:2:2 cadence; unfortunately, ATI does not. The benchmark authors explain why this test is important: "To allow more time for commercials, theatrical films shown on television are often sped-up or edited to remove 1 out of every 13 video fields after 3:2 pull-down has been applied, resulting in a cadence of 3:2:3:2:2. "



Hold mouse over image to see NVIDIA's Image Quality.

The results continue to be dismal for both cards, for the next three tests. Once again, from the benchmark authors: "Animation is often rendered at 12fps. Two pull-down cadences can be used to convert this to the 30 fps broadcast standard. Doubling every frame, and then applying 3:2 pull-down to the resultant fields will generate a 5:5 cadence. Applying 3:2 pull-down to the frames (rather than the fields) will generate a 6:4 cadence."



Hold mouse over image to see NVIDIA's Image Quality.

Despite the fact that both ATI and NVIDIA fail the 6:4 cadence test, ATI actually does significantly worse as you can see from the shot below:



Hold mouse over image to see NVIDIA's Image Quality.

Next up is an 8:7 cadence test, described as an "anime" format. "The Japanese 'Anime' format is often rendered at 8 fps. To convert this to 30 fps, each frame of animation is repeated three times, and then 3:2 conversion is performed for an effective cadence of 8:7."



Hold mouse over image to see NVIDIA's Image Quality.

Both ATI and NVIDIA manage to pass the 3:2 24 fps test with flying colors:



Hold mouse over image to see NVIDIA's Image Quality.


Scoring Description (5 points for each cadence)
5 THE INDIVIDUAL TEST CADENCE IS PRESENTED SMOOTHLY WITH NO FLICKERING OR JAGGIES IN THE COFFEE CUPS, NO MOIRÉ IN THE NEWSPAPER, AND NO LOSS OF RESOLUTION
0 ANY OF THE ABOVE ARTIFACTS APPEAR DURING ANY INDIVIDUAL TEST CADENCES


De-Interlacing Quality - 3:2 Detection De-Interlacing Quality - Mixed 3:2 Film with Added Video Titles
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  • intellon - Thursday, October 6, 2005 - link

    One thing about the guitar strings... Are you sure that they are artifacts and not the texture of the guitar strings? I do agree with one thing, they kinda look extreme...

  • TheSnowman - Friday, October 7, 2005 - link

    It is an acoustic base guitar and those do tend to use some pretty massive copper wound strings, but yeah I don't see anything that looks like interlacing artifacts in those shots.

    Regardless, thanks for the update Anand and I'll check back to see how things turn out. The next card I buy will most likely be for my media center so de-interlacing quality is on my priority list.

  • TheSnowman - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    I don't follow, the text at the bottom which the test askes to be compared defiantly doesn't show any interlacing artifacts in the posted pics while compression artifacts are mostly in the top right of the image and on the hands. The text does look a bit sharper on Nvidia, but best I can tell that is just from appling a sharpening fliter as that seems to be pretty obviously the case in the last shot with the fingers on piano keys and the slight shifts in geometry than can be seen there.

    Also, since the compression artifacts only appear in the first ATI shot, I can't help but wonder if that came about from downsampling as the jpg to under 40mb which nearly a quarter of what a full quality jpg of that resolution would be. Regardless, I am curious to see any further explnation of de-interlacing issues with the new r5xx chips as I would hate to try and upgrade my media center card only to wind up with worse de-interlacing than on my current r420 based card.

  • Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    The text itself is fine, it is the background image where the interlacing artifacts are seen. I'll see if I can get a better screen grab tonight.

    Take care,
    Anand

  • Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, October 6, 2005 - link

    Apparently ATI isn't seeing what I'm seeing, so the issues may have been a driver problem, I will update you guys as soon as I have a driver/fix for the situation.

    Take care,
    Anand

  • vailr - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    Newer driver version?
    Ati Catalyst 8.18 beta:
    http://www.station-drivers.com/forum/viewtopic.php...">http://www.station-drivers.com/forum/viewtopic.php...

  • Live - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    quote:
    For now, be sure to read our technology and gaming performance coverage on ATI's Radeon X1000 line.


    I would if I could. Quit teasing us and give as the real deal, lol.

  • cirrhosis - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    INQ has benchies already. Not a surprise. Cards are matched.

  • Hacp - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    GRAKK!

  • cirrhosis - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link

    Interesting. Here's hoping that ATI improves on what they've started. Looking forward to the comoing months and what they bring.
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