Hi. I'm purchasing a replacement for my 8500 GT Video card.  It seems that when using editors the video on the 2900 gets blurry or something...

 
So, what should I get? 2900 or 1950?

 

The best bet at this time is to get the 1950.

Both cards still suffer some noticable softening if you use GPU effects with the latests RADEON drivers.

We still avoid GPU effects for the most part and stick with CPU they are MUCH cleaner.

 Westa

is this recoverable with sharpening effects?

davidus:

  It seems that when using editors the video on the 2900 gets blurry or something... 

Nice description of what it looks like, I am in the same situation myself, the solution is to stop using gpu effects.

When I used my 1900 card that went broke, I had no probs, should of course have replaced it with the same type of card but one of the users at the avid forum had a thread about how "fantastic" his new machine was working with the 2900 card .....seems to me that the user hadn´t done so much testing

Well, this "blurry or something" is "fantastic", lucky there is a workaround.

Pinnacle are rewriting the render engine right now, or at least should be, this is taking to long time I think, the fix for the new cards is for old cards soon, let´s hope for a christmas gift ...

With the 8k series out of the question, which is better? Switch to the 7s or to Radeons?

davidus:

With the 8k series out of the question, which is better? Switch to the 7s or to Radeons?

My 7800 gtx card on my second machine works very nice, it is also on the avid certified list.

My 1900 card also worked very well before it went broke, both will do a nice job, it´s just a question of using certified drivers for them.

I have a Sapphire ATI X1950 Pro 512MB and it works just fine with HDV 1080/50i in AL7.2. These cards are still on sale in the UK, so I expect they are available elsewhere, too. Unless there is a need for a DX10 card (e.g. for some other application), I'd recommend sticking with this or a similar model.

...off topic Mark but I've done the local steam runabouts...Haworth, Ramsbottom and such as the Round Robin at Dartmouth and I can see the fascination, especially now using video...even had to use extra throwaway UV filters in front to get those magical tunnel shots with the steam and soot spiralling around me...turning from the open window looking like the "Black & White Minstrel Show" with a big grin on my face and the missus saying "you're bloody daft ya know"...aah, women, whadda they know (just joking gals)...Pete.

    ...shame about Dibnah. He was a one-off.

I have the ATI Radeon X1950

What control panel and drivers should I be using with AL7.2

I see 7-11_xp32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_54435 is available, should I be using that?

I've been using Catalyst 7.11 since it came out and it seems to work well with my x1900. You should be at least at Catalyst 7.8, I would think.

Fact are this: If you are not going to use GPU effects, buy the 2900, it works just as good as the 190/1950 and is not 3 year old technology. If you are going to use GPU effects, there is a gamma issue with them on 2900 that you may need to correct manually if you wish to proceed.

- the age of the technology probably isn't so important here, but that's subjective.

I'd also like to understand something, if anyone is in a position to respond - if you're not going to use GPU effects, shouldn't an nVidia 8xxx series card work fine with Liquid or does Liquid still have problems?

salexander:

- the age of the technology probably isn't so important here, but that's subjective.

I'd also like to understand something, if anyone is in a position to respond - if you're not going to use GPU effects, shouldn't an nVidia 8xxx series card work fine with Liquid or does Liquid still have problems?

The Nvidia 8XXX Series and the ATI 2400/2600 have issues far beyond the ATI 2900. The 2900 has workarounds, the other ones have show stoppers that have been well-documented. And while we are on the subject the new lower cost 38XX series from ATI although I have not tested it, I would expect it to have the same issues as the ATI 2400/2600 as they are have very similar silicon, so Buyer Beware.

That's not my question. My question is, if you're willing to do without GPU effects, can you get away with nVidia 8xxx cards. There are a couple of users at the moment who are experiencing problems with their nVidia 8xxx cards and we've suggested that they stop using GPU effects for the time being (while waiting on new (older) cards). They report that excluding GPU effects does not entirely solve their rendering problems and that surprises me. I was looking for some clarification on this issue.

I have had others report to me (not in the forum) that going with CPU and Classic effects does not always resolve these issues. For the time being, I think it is best to stick with the earlier cards that we know work correctly until the rewrite of the render engine is released.

salexander:

That's not my question. My question is, if you're willing to do without GPU effects, can you get away with nVidia 8xxx cards.

I'll be clearer this time, the answer is defintely no.

Anyone there using the ATI X1950 using the newest driver?

Me.OK.

bigrock:

salexander:

That's not my question. My question is, if you're willing to do without GPU effects, can you get away with nVidia 8xxx cards.

I'll be clearer this time, the answer is defintely no.

Do I detect a note of hostility?

Good to know - we should have a sticky then since it seems that this issue is escalating....

salexander:

[Do I detect a note of hostility? Good to know - we should have a sticky then since it seems that this issue is escalating....

Not at all, just wanted to be clear as we have quite a few non-english speaking people here that I did not want to leave any question with.

Below I have summed what we know about video cards:

ATI 1950/1600/800 with dedicated video memory OK.

ATI 2900 Ok but with an known gamma shift issue.

ATI 2400/2600 No go at this time.

ATI 38XX Untested, highly suspect no go at this time.

Nvidia 6XXX, and 7XXX with dedicated video memory OK.

Nvidia 8XXX No go at this time.

Intel 850/950 No go at any time.

All series with shared video memory - no go at any time.

Some models with hyper memory does work.
 

sverkalo:

Me.OK.

 

I'm guessing your Sapphire 1950GT 512 uses the same chipset and everything that would equal my ATI X1950 then, is that correct. Do you see a difference in the newest driver over the last?

My ATI is almost as fast as a 1950 Pro (little slower). I think that the driver is ok, I made 2 48-50 timelines with that. Not problems in general. I can't see a real difference in Liquid.
 

bigrock:

Below I have summed what we know about video cards:

ATI 1950/1600/800 with dedicated video memory OK.

ATI 2900 Ok but with an known gamma shift issue.

ATI 2400/2600 No go at this time.

ATI 38XX Untested, highly suspect no go at this time.

Nvidia 6XXX, and 7XXX with dedicated video memory OK.

Nvidia 8XXX No go at this time.

Intel 850/950 No go at any time.

All series with shared video memory - no go at any time.

We should have this list pinned somewhere.