To see if ATI's tool was really more efficient, we took three source videos: a WMV HD trailer, an MPEG-1 file and a DivX file and converted them all to 768kbps MPEG-4 files for use on a Sony PSP.  We measured the transcode time in minutes on our same Athlon 64 3500+ system and have reported the results below:

Video Transcode Comparison

When converting WMV HD to MPEG-4, ATI's Avivo Video Converter is a bit quicker than Nero Recode, completing the transcode 30 seconds less in time. 

Video Transcode Comparison

Our MPEG-1 source file was quite large at just under 1GB, so transcoding it took noticebaly longer.  It was here though that ATI's tool truly shined, completing the transcode in just over 5 minutes compared to about 12.5 minutes using Nero.  Again, this is with no GPU acceleration at all. 

Video Transcode Comparison

Finally, when converting DivX to the PSP format, we see once more that the Avivo Video Converter can accomplish the task in less than half the time of Nero Recode.

So, is ATI getting into the software business with the Avivo Video Converter?  No.  In fact, ATI is providing these algorithms and hooks to partners like Nero so that regardless of what software application you're using, you will get the best performance assuming that you have ATI hardware. 

We should note that the Avivo Video Converter, despite not being GPU accelerated, will only work on ATI Radeon X1000 series of GPUs.  ATI is still working on bringing a GPU accelerated version of the Avivo Video Converter to market, but that's still a while away.

Introducing the Avivo Video Converter ATI’s Gift to X1000 Owners - Get the Avivo Video Converter, Today!
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  • Pete84 - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link

    Looks like the AIW series got yet another shit in the multimedia arm. Capture video and then convert it to whichever format you desire, very nice.
  • vijay333 - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link

    yes...another "shot" indeed :)
  • Pete84 - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link

    Oops, that is what happens when I rush typing :p
  • RandomFool - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link

    I'm just waiting for the more creative users to show up. :)
  • ksherman - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link

    Thanks AT! you guys ROCK! I do a bit of video converting after I finish a movie project, and it seems as though this proggie might work a lot faster than the other ones I have used!
  • ksherman - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link

    one question though, if this tool is eventually released with GPU assisted recoding, is this going to be an ATI-only product, or will I be able to use it with my 7800??
  • Thalyn - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link

    Even though it currently uses the CPU to process the transcode, the final product will depend on features present on the X1x00 series and not on the NV4x (6x00/7x00) series. Specifically, it makes use of GPGPU - a function set that allows the graphics card to process more generic code, rather than just graphics, for features such as physics or, in this case, video transcoding.

    It's true that SM3 cards have been used for this purpose before (I recall an audio DSP program written to use a 6800 Ultra, since it could do the task about 5x faster than a P4 3.0e), but this time around it's been designed to work outside of DirectX - ergo, ATi only unless nVidia incorperates GPGPU at a later date.

    -Jack
  • ksherman - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link

    well, it seems I was a little too quick on the draw... doesnt work at all with nVidia cards :(... guess i really shouldnt have expected that, or just read the little two sentence sumary on the main page. alas, I am still saddened :(
  • karoldude - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link

    cool staff ,thannks for sharing.
    This <a href="http://www.best-video-converter.net">video converter</a> is great , i have tried it.

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