Features For The Home-Theater Crowd
Let's have a look at the 785G's new features and how these might benefit the end user.
Eight-channel LPCM audio support over HDMI
Arguably, the most compelling feature for the hardcore home-theater enthusiast is eight-channel LPCM uncompressed audio support over HDMI. While the Intel G45 and Nvidia 8200/9300/9400 chipsets have supported this feature since their release, AMD's 780G/790GX have been limited to two-channel LPCM over HDMI. This is somewhat ironic, since AMD's Radeon HD series of discrete video cards supported eight-channel LPCM over HDMI before these IGPs came to market.
But I have a confession to make: I am not an audiophile. I listen to regular MP3s and think they sound great, so I don't have much of a problem with standard Dolby Digital/DTS. I don't own an HDMI amplifier and make due with the optical connection on Logitech's Z-5450 speaker system, which I inappropriately use in my home theater. It is because of this that eight-channel LPCM doesn't excite me all that much. Even the previous 780G chipset could handle six channels (5.1 sound) of audio using Dolby Digital or DTS and simulate eight channels using a matrix algorithm such as DTS Neo6 or Dolby Prologic IIx. Sure it's lossy, but the difference is hardly perceptible to a guy like me.
Having said that, I can appreciate the audiophile's desire to have access to eight-channel Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD. It is for this discerning crowd that the 785G chipset offers eight channels of discrete uncompressed audio, which gets decoded by your software player of choice, down-sampled to CD-quality audio due to rights management restrictions and a lack of protected audio paths, and output as linear PCM. For more on our explorations check out parts one and two of our HTPC series. To this day, the only way to get true Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA is through Asus' Xonar HDAV 1.3 doing pass-through over HDMI.
Video Detail Enhancements in UVD 2.0
The 785G has stepped up video quality with UVD 2.0, compared to UVD 1.0 in the 780G and 790GX chipsets. What this means is that the 785G chipset has the following four features that its predecessors do not:
Dynamic Contrast: Enabling this feature facilitates automatic adjustment of black and white levels for optimum contrast on the fly. Nvidia has offered something similar for a little while now, so it's only natural that AMD would add it to its portfolio of video quality enhancements. It is important to note that AMD warns against enabling the dynamic contrast feature, which it says can negate other image-quality enhancements, such as 3:2 pulldown, detail enhancement, and more.
Picture in Picture Acceleration: This feature will lower CPU utilization when dual video streams are being displayed at the same time. While dual video streams probably aren't a problem for modern low-end CPUs to handle, Nvidia's IGPs have offered this feature for some time. The 785G has the checkbox ticked as well, necessary for BD-Live compliance.
HD Flesh Tone Enhancement: This improves the appearance of skin color, ideally keeping it at natural hues.
HD Color Vibrance: This feature improves the vividness of color.
Features like these can make video enthusiasts weary, as dynamic enhancements have been known to arbitrarily over-saturate and over-contrast the video output. Fortunately, we have the option of leaving it off, so everybody wins.
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just want to give you guys a heads up, meybe you wanna look into it:
AMD 785G Update - Multi-Channel LPCM is not Available
or at least thats what AMD says accordign to anandtech:
http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=629
Great article..thanks for including the GPGPU benchmarks
Be nice to see those vs. the fastest i7 and it's respective power draw.
Fair do's to AMD. They've bounced back, and given the market some products that can compete with both Intel (CPU's) and nVidia (GPU's). Seems like it's only nVidia that has kept Intel's head above water in the GPU market..the G45 couldn't even play Blue-Ray properly, let alone produce decent frame rates even in slightly older games.
If I was in AMD's shoes right now I'd push the advantage of GPGPU processing, in addition to low-cost Athlon II/Phenom II processors. Only thing that doesn't appeal to me is the naming conventions, which confuse the user into thinking higher numbers mean more performance..that really turned me off nVidia. The 785G is alright because it suggests a slightly modified design rather than a brand new one (nice to see them squeezing everything out of it and developing even better drivers), but the integrated HD4200 being slower than HD3300? Hmm, c'mon guys..that might cheese off a few people.
Finally, the article does lead me to ask: is nVidia doing the 9400 for AM3? If not, is it down to some competition law or something? The 8200 game results look very weak..they're even on par with the Intel G45 on occasion. An nVidia 9 series IGP for the AMD platform would obviously be better.
p.s.
I think Mother Earth is far better served by the US population, which is predicted to mushroom in a relatively short space of time..I'll settle for the lesser evil I think, and get that shiny new CPU.
I think Mother Earth is far better served by the US population, which is predicted to mushroom in a relatively short space of time..I'll settle for the lesser evil I think, and get that shiny new CPU.
I think you've missed out the words "not" and "cloud" from your quote
Anandtech is reporting that retail 785G motherboards typically won't actually support multi-channel LPCM. Any truth to this?
AMD chips still can't run standard windows Apps properly without cashing, so as far as I am concerned, Intel is a solid winner.
(every AMD I have been on has had an issue with some very basic program, ranging from Nero Burning Rom to something as simple as Microsoft Word (03/07))
Hey, this review is giving me ideas....
and now i'm slightly confused...
I was going to assemble an intel 5200+ Biostar g41 for a simple home use PC, but now I am seriously considering 785G. I am not really into gaming. All I want is a graphic good enough to play bluray with good onboard sound card.
Anyway, keep up the good work. This is the kind of review which a novice like me am looking at and depending upon when trying to buy a new PC. Thanks!!