NVIDIA PureVideoâ„¢ e Windows Media Player 10

[Staff]

<p>NVIDIA Corporation is pleased to announce that Microsoft Corporation has released a software update that enables NVIDIA PureVideo™ decode acceleration of Microsoft Windows Media High Definition Video (WMV-HD) content in Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 with NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6 Series video cards. NVIDIA PureVideo™ technology – a combination of NVIDIA GeForce 6 Series graphics processing units (GPUs), NVIDIA® ForceWare™ software drivers, and advanced algorithms—is among the first technologies to take advantage of this feature with its WMV-HD decode acceleration. </p>
<p>With WMV-HD decode acceleration, NVIDIA PureVideo technology can offload video decoding from the CPU onto the GPU, giving users up to 40% gains in CPU utilization and smooth, stutter-free, HD video on any display. Unlike most video solutions which are hard-wired for MPEG decoding, NVIDIA GeForce 6 Series GPUs are programmable. They feature an on-chip, programmable video processing engine to support multiple video formats, such as WMV-HD. As with MPEG-2 decoding, the NVIDIA video engine can perform most of the computation-intensive work, leaving lesser aspects to the CPU. This capability is important if users want to watch videos while recording other programs in the background.</p>
<p>According to Microsoft, its software update enables WMV-HD decode acceleration after users meet the following prerequisites:</p>
<p>-- The graphics adapter must support this update.</p>
<p>-- The user must install hotfix 891122.</p>
<p>-- The content must be WMV-HD clips (720p and 1080p) with a frame rate that is less than or equal to 30 frames per second.</p>
<p>For more information, please visit the Microsoft Web site at: <a href="http://www.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888656" target="_blank">http://www.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888656</a>. </p>
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