Nvidia vs. ATI and the 150

[Hidef1080]

After working with my 150 for the last two day doing nothing more than 1 to 2 minute test clips at various settings and conditions I stumbled across an unexpected finding regarding my graphics cards.
Nvidia works better than ATI as far as displaying video is concerned and I'm wondering if anyone else who has access to different graphic cards found any results close to my findings.


This is what I'm seeing:
The ATI based computer [I have two with the same type card] will show blocky noise in dark areas.
Rather large blocks.
The Nvidia shows none of the blocky patterns in the same dark areas using the exact same clips.


I only work on laptops so I have no desktop references but here are the details:
Sony VAIO FZ
Nvidia – GeForce 8400M GT
256 dedicated 1008 total memory.
Vista Ultimate
Intel core 2 duo T7300 at 2.00 GHz
3 gigs of RAM.


2 Sony VAIO's FW
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470
256 dedicated 1531 total memory.
Vista Ultimate
Intel core 2 duo P8400 at 2.26 GHz
4 gigs of RAM.


In all test I used Corel WinDVD 9 to view the mts files on a 24 inch Gateway HD 1920 x 1200 via HDMI connection. No transcoding or editing just straight from the camera mts files.


The newer FW's have faster processors more memory and the ATI HD cards are supposed to handle hidef better than other integrated graphic cards but the “slower” older FZ is better at video display.


I would have wrote it off as a flaw in the 150 and not the graphic card if I did not test the same clips on different setups.


Has anyone else seen the same thing?

[douchebro]

do you have the latest drivers installed for both cards?
sometimes newer revisions can also be a bit slower than older ones, could be worth looking into.

[Hidef1080]

do you have the latest drivers installed for both cards?
sometimes newer revisions can also be a bit slower than older ones, could be worth looking into.

Yep.

All up to date.
I actually wanted to stick with Nvidia but it was ATI or ATI with the new laptops so I got ATI.

Oh well.:(

Thanks for your input!

[Jaimebailon]

show us some screen shots

[Everts]

show us some screen shots
\
For crying outloud :)

[Hidef1080]

Nvidia
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1232/nvidiaqa6.jpg

ATI
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6593/atica1.jpg

[Hidef1080]

I have the nvidia GTX 280 and it works like a charm....spent all my money on it though ={ stupid gaming addictions

Yeah.
I wanted to stay with Sony and Nvidia but ATI was all they had at the time.
I was really thinking about a gaming laptop over a multimedia laptop but I'm not sure.
My "slow, old" Nvidia multimedia computer is still working well for what I do and I believe that in my newer faster computers that the ATI HD cards are the weak link.


I downloaded a 30 day free copy of Corel's Video Studio Pro which will allow me to work with native AVCHD files. Just to see how taxing AVCHD would be on my systems.


I have to say that the program is pretty lightweight from an editing standpoint but it has “smart rendering” and I was happy with the AVCHD m2t output.
I did not time it but smart rendering did reduce the output time considerably on some 150 clips I strung together and the play back was smooth.

If I can output to AVCHD on my ATI machines and play it "block free" on my Nvidia machine [which is what I'm thinking will happen] then I should be okay.

I still want to see what CS4 is all about too...

So much stuff to think about and so many ways to go....

[vwolf]

I'm on the same boat, I've been shooting avchd for a year now and am looking into getting a new laptop just for video work and narrowed it down to the FW
or the MBP. I've only worked with nvidia gfx cards so I'm unsure about ati on the fw