Image Quality Test Results

Comparison of Image Quality in HQV Test

The standard Silicon Optix HQV test should be familiar to our readers by our previous report, so we won’t dwell upon the contents of the test here.

Like in our previous review, the difference in DVD playback quality between the different generations and classes of hardware is negligible, although the product from S3 Graphics stands out among the others: it is much better than software MPEG 2 decoding, yet cannot be considered a worthy alternative to the current-generation solutions.

The table shows that each of the Nvidia GeForce processors has a somewhat lower quality of deinterlacing in comparison with the opponent, but the ATI Radeons cannot boast the same level of detail, mostly due to the lack of adjustment of the edge enhancements option in the driver.

Comparison of Image Quality in HQV HD Test

Surprisingly enough, the HQV HD test is less detailed than its predecessor, and some places in the documentation are rather vague. Considering that we are unable to re-check the quality on many high-end devices due to their scarcity, the evaluation is often a nontrivial task.

The test itself consists of five steps as follows:

• HD noise reduction consists of two clips – a static and a dynamic one – the video-processor has to remove noise from during playback, but not to blur smaller details. The tester evaluates the playback quality on a four-grade scale. Silicon Optix recommends to enable noise reduction on the video-processor if the latter offers such an option.
• Video resolution loss test . This is a test of quality of deinterlacing of video in 1080i SMPTE 133 format that should be played as 1080p without any loss of quality. Since this is video, the test chart now has a moving element, a line rotating clockwise. The tester can evaluate the quality as just good or bad, awarding 25 or 0 points, respectively. Silicon Optix prohibits the tester to change the video-processor’s deinterlacing settings during this test. In other words, the settings must be set at Automatic or something like that.
• The video-processor has to reconstruct a lot when processing interlaced HD content, so it is interesting to see how well it reconstructs not only horizontal but also diagonal lines. The Jaggies test can bring the graphics card one of four possible grades.
• Film resolution loss test is meant to evaluate the quality of inverse telecine/3:2 cadence for content recorded in 1080p24 (1920x1080 resolution, progressive scan, 24 frames per second) but output to the video-processor in 1080i60 format (1920x1080, interlaced scan, 60fps). The video processor has to reconstruct the original quality without visual artifacts. The test shows a moving chart with a few squares the quality of which should be indicative of the video-processor’s success. The video processor can be awarded 25 or 0 points.
• Film resolution loss test: Stadium. This is a practical implementation of the above-described mechanisms. The card can score 10 or 0 points here.