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By William Van Winkle |
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DisplayPort competes against HDMI, but DisplayPort can pass through HDMI and DVI signals to attached converter dongles. The new format supports multiple digital copy protection formats and is embraced by the major names in PC graphics. In addition to seeing DisplayPort on upcoming Intel chipsets, support by AMD and NVIDIA on their impending products is also expected. System builders should also know that version 1.1 of the DisplayPort spec provided for fiber optics as an alternative to copper. This would set aside the connection’s full bandwidth distance limitation of 10 feet (or 15 meters for 1080p signals) and allow for far greater transmission distances through a home or office building. For now, we’re still waiting to see G35-based motherboards reach market. Until then, the G33 remains an excellent mainstream value. You might check out Intel’s DG33TL board, a member of Intel’s Media Series that’s loaded with 45nm CPU support, integrated VGA and DVI output, 7.1 HD audio, Gigabit Ethernet, and Vista Premium certification, all wrapped up in a compact microATX form factor suited to media PCs of nearly any size.
GETTING BLUE By this point in time, not to mention this point in the article, you should be fairly current on today’s blue laser situation. There are two incompatible formats fighting for the right to succeed DVD—-Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD—-and both have their benefits and drawbacks. Thus far, few industry experts without a stake in the multibillion-dollar outcome have ventured to say which format will win. At various times, it seemed as if the two camps would reach peace and blend their technologies, but ultimately the investment by each consortium and its corresponding payoff in potential licensing riches won out, and so the battle continues. As of the end of September, 3.01 million Blu-ray discs have been sold versus 1.97 discs in the HD DVD format. However, HD DVD’s backers claim that the number of discs bought per player is higher for its format than for Blu-ray. Blu-ray seems to have been much more aggressive about marketing—-no surprise for a format quarterbacked by Sony—-and there are definitely more Blu-ray drive options available in the channel. But thus far, HD DVD has proven to be a more cost-effective format, both to manufacture as well as to purchase. Either way, you could make a convincing argument that this format war has been one of the main delaying forces in the American public’s migration to HDTV and plodding pursuit of high-def PC video. Both blue laser formats use a 405nm blue-violet laser rather than the 650nm red laser of DVD technology. The numerical aperture of HD DVD is 0.65, which is very close to DVD’s 0.6 and one of the reasons why the two formats are so cross-compatible. In contrast, Blu-ray’s numerical aperture is 0.85. As with the single/dual nature of DVD (4.7GB and 8.5GB, respectively), Blu-ray has a single-sided capacity of 25GB and a dual-sided capacity of 50GB. This would seem to trounce HD DVD’s single/dual capacities of 15GB and 30GB, but in September, the DVD Forum, which controls the HD DVD spec, blessed a triple-layer 51GB HD DVD. This is a harbinger of the layer wars to come. Different vendors continue to experiment with the number of layers in a disc and the amount of data that can be stored per layer. Last year, TDK announced a Blu-ray Disc with 33GB per layer and six layers per side. Ritek believes it can achieve 10 layers per disc in either format. But one of the most important questions is how far can manufacturers push these capacities without losing backward-compatibility with today’s blue laser drives?
Moreover, as PC builders, we should keep track of the backup/archival potential of each format. As of October 2007, the cost per gigabyte of a bulk-pack, 25GB, 2X BD-R (Blu-Ray Disc write-once) was about 45 cents. Interestingly, the cost per gigabyte stayed constant moving into dual-layer, 50GB BD-R DL discs. On the HD DVD side, cost per gig of 15GB HD DVD-R was 67 cents, and 30GB HD DVD-R DL slipped only a pinch to 62 cents. Both are still a long way from the dime-per-gig of bulk DVD-R media. So far, there doesn’t seem to be bulk packaging of rewritable (-RE) blue laser media, but a single Sony 25GB 2X BD-RE disc goes for $15 on Newegg, meaning a $4 per disc premium over write-once. Archival capacities tie into this digital video discussion because, while most consumers may not need 50GB discs for their system backups, such discs will become increasingly important in 2008 and beyond as HD camcorders go mainstream. You’ll be seeing camcorder manufacturers trying to increase peak data rates from today’s 15 Mb/s to 30 Mb/sin MPEG-2 and AVCHD formats. Just backing up his family photos and a few hours of raw footage for safe, offsite storage, this author had to use seven DVD+R discs, and that’s just based on 3- to 6-megapixel images and standard-def DV footage. With 10MP and 30 Mb/s video becoming the norm, users are not going to want to play “52 Pickup” with their data archives. “A lot of system builders are putting in Blu-ray drives so customers can play movies on their computers,” says Sandra Benedetto, director of product development and sales engineering at Pioneer Electronics, which is a dedicated Blu-ray backer. “I think the need to write data at this point is...at the beginning. But certainly, it’s going to grow as people start to create their own HD movies. HD cameras are coming down in price quickly. People are going to want to back up those movies to a Blu-ray disc or make a Blu-ray disc for playback in their computers. That’s what the trends show for consumers, just like we saw with DVD.”
The public advocate in us likes that HD DVD drives tend to be less expensive, but this only applies to players, and by that we really mean the USB-based Xbox 360 HD DVD player. Frankly, it’s appalling that, heading into 2008, this is the only PC-friendly player for the HD DVD platform available for stand-alone purchase. And save your effort in looking for a PC HD DVD burner. They don’t exist. Home theater HD DVD components are now scraping down to $249, and we may yet see $199 for the holidays. But there’s no getting around the fact that, despite early buzz to the contrary, HD DVD is making it hard for the channel to embrace it. In contrast, Blu-ray seems to be gaining steam. Pioneer has its SATA-based BDC-2202 BD reader and DVD burner that streets for $270, which is a hot play for those who don’t care about backup. For those who do, expect to double the price for a Blu-ray burner available from several manufacturers. Sure, every PlayStation 3 has a BD player built in, and you’re starting to see a few camcorders with Mini-Blu-ray Disc media (BD9) support, but these things don’t touch resellers as closely as PC drives. More interesting is seeing powerhouse vendors like ASUS and Acer soften their HD DVD support and start selling notebooks with Blu-ray drives. It’s also interesting to see that the hybrid drives from LG and Samsung only burn in Blu-ray; HD DVD is solely supported for playback. NOW HEAR THIS
We’ve tried out many PC systems with integrated audio on top-end Logitech and Creative surround sound speakers. And without question, integrated audio has made massive leaps in quality. This explains why 95% of PC audio solutions are now integrated. However, consumer audio electronics frequently feature signal-to-noise ratios of 115 dB or higher. Meanwhile, top-end integrated PC audio hits in the 90 to 100 dB range, and many value to mainstream solutions chime in at 85 dB all the way down to 65 dB. Simply put, integrated PC audio isn’t up to par for enjoyment in a quality home theater setting. Our focus here is on the video side of multimedia PC entertainment, but you can’t ignore audio quality. And in all of the integrated audio systems we’ve tried, not even the best of them has come remotely close to Creative’s X-Fi add-in cards. Part of our love for the X-Fi line has to do with the CPU offloading performed by the X-Fi audio processor. Honestly, a regular 5.1 audio stream’s load isn’t huge, but the X-Fi earns its keep by also offloading much of the post-processing that makes the card sound so incredible. Creative boasts a 109 dB SNR, which is a great start, but the card’s drivers then kick in with frequency extension, subtle 3D environmental effects, a top-notch EQ, and several other features that all combine to make integrated audio sound like an orchestra in a beer can. This all sounds like marketing gibberish until you hear an X-Fi side by side with integrated motherboard audio. You won’t be convinced until you close your eyes and try it. More importantly, your customers will be convinced too.
Our favorite Creative SKU is the $199 X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion, a PCI card with front bay-mounted ports, including optical SPDIF in and out. (Another plus with the X-Fi is its excellent audio import quality and features, which may appeal to a subset of your multimedia audience that’s into amateur music recording.) We wish Creative had a $99 model with SPDIF out of the box as well as a top-end SNR, but so far there isn’t one—-hence the steep $199 buy-in. If your customer only needs analog support with a sterling 109 dB SNR, go for the $99 X-Fi XtremeGamer. When optical SPDIF matters more than signal-to-noise, the 100 dB Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio at under $70 is a real steal. Every so often, we’ll experiment with a new integrated audio setup in an effort to achieve similar quality to the Creative line without the added cost. So far, all efforts have failed. One alternative that we haven’t tried in-house but that has garnered rave reviews on the Web is ASUS’ new Xonar D2 PCI card, equipped with a fancy, black EMI shroud and 118 dB SNR rating. Like the X-Fi, the Xonar D2 features several post-processing enhancements and lots of Dolby and DTS support, including virtual upmixing from stereo into Dolby Digital. There’s plenty of cabling connectivity, including RCA SPDIF on the backplane, and the 1/8” jacks are backlit for proper color coding—-a very clever and sexy touch. But again, this is a $175+ card built for enthusiasts. There’s no cheap way into superior PC audio.
BREAKING OUT So far, we’ve covered the primary technologies and components that govern digital video within a PC. From TV tuners to post-processing to blue laser drives, a solid multimedia machine needs solid attention paid at the component level. Otherwise, all of your solution efforts will be for naught. But this still leaves the big, unanswered question: Now that you’ve got a bunch of great components ready to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s video streams, how do you turn this into a unique, value-add solution? For that, we have to think and step outside the box and start connecting that box to other home multimedia elements. And that, after all, is where the real fun starts. Now we can talk about media servers, optimized storage plays, and many other ways to deliver a simple but rich experience to clients while profiting handsomely. Stay tuned for next month when we dive in and show some of the many ways you can make video the star of your turnkey multimedia offerings. |
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Copyright © 2007 RAM Magazine. All rights reserved.
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