AMD A8-3850 : An HTPC Perspective
by Ganesh T S on June 30, 2011 6:20 AM ESTDXVA Checker indicates the various capabilities of the AMD6550D, as exposed by the drivers.
The only puzzling aspect is the missing ModeH264MVC_VLD_Avivo entry which is present in the AMD 6xxx cards with UVD3. Instead, we have ModeH264_VLD_Multiview_Avido, which means that the Blu-ray players will have to interface with this new entry. AMD let us know that the 6550D doesn't have full hardware acceleration for 3D Blu-Rays. Some sort of extra assistance from the host CPU will be needed.
Our grouse with the low end AMD GPUs like the 6450 and 5450 was the fact that they were not certified for 1080p60 H.264 playback. Instead, they confined themselves to Blu-ray specs. With the advent of camcorders capable of 1080p60 recording, we believe this restriction should not be in place. What about the AMD 6550D?
We fired up DXVA Checker, and tried to benchmark a 1080p60 clip from a camcorder.
With all post processing steps enabled, I was pleased to find that the clip benchmarked at 77 fps, well beyond the 60 fps necessary to avoid frame drops.
With full hope, I tried playing back the clip in MPC-HC. As it turned out, approximately half the frames were dropped with ESVP on. Manually disabling all post processing options enabled us to play back the clip without frame drops (except for the initial startup trouble).
The discrepancy between DXVA Checker and MPC-HC was a surprise. They tallied without issues when we were benchmarking the discrete GPUs earlier this month. Either DXVA Checker or MPC-HC has problems with the AMD 3550D, and hence, we decided not to carry out the FPS benchmark for various codecs.
According to AMD, Blu-ray content shouldn't have any such issues. We took a 1080i60 clip from a Blu-ray (M2TS file) and tried playing it back in PowerDVD. Unfortunately, it looks like nothing other than Vector Adaptive (VA) deinterlacing is available, as shown in the gallery below.
In our opinion, it is not good for mainstream integrated GPUs to skimp on video post processing for Blu-ray videos itself.
All in all, even without running the DXVA benchmark, we have encountered a host of issues in playing back files at their native frame rate. Once the drivers get mature and the discrepancy between MPC-HC and DXVA Checker get resolved, we will probably revisit this. But, we wouldn't be surprised if AMD puts up its hands and says that the unit's functionality and performance are as per expectations.
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prdola0 - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
Typical PR stuff. Just as expected. There are cheaper SB-capable boards than that, also with cheaper chipsets.But nice try.
I hate State - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
Not that I completely disagree with what you said, but why wouldn't you use an H61 board for an HTPC. H61's cost around 70 bucks and you can just tack on a graphics card. Though built in 23.975FPS is nice, I'll be waiting for either Ivy Bridge (if it has the correct playback) or the next generation of Lynx where processing power is up to snuff and hopefully better power draw figures for my next HTPC.Broheim - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
45.99$ for the cheapest H67 on newegg...H61 goes down to 31.99$
where's your god now?
MrTeal - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
Got a link to that $31.99 H61 mobo? I can't find it on newegg.Broheim - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...blunt14468 - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
OPEN BOXprdola0 - Friday, July 1, 2011 - link
59$ a brand new one. Still the same point. You?maroon1 - Friday, July 1, 2011 - link
H61 can found at $60http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
And those are not open box
duploxxx - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
just dropped today with more then 50% now aint that funny....Broheim - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
it is still 31.99$ is it not? your move mr. fanboy...