News

NVIDIA Technology Receives Industry's Highest Video Quality Certification for Home Theater PCs (27/6/2005)

NVIDIA ForceWare(TM) Release 72.14 Driver Also Offers New Extensions to Simplify the Process of Configuring HDTVs for Windows Media Center Edition PCs

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) , a worldwide leader in graphics and digital media processors, today announced that the NVIDIA GeForce(TM) 6600 and 6800 graphics processing units (GPUs) and the NVIDIA ForceWare(TM) Release 72.14 driver are now Imaging Science Foundation Research Labs (ISF RL) certified, indicating that these products meet ISF's standards for artifact-free film and sports viewing, superb color fidelity, quiet operation, and other home entertainment-based quality parameters. Dedicated to improving the quality of electronic imaging, the ISF has been testing and certifying leading high-end video consumer products since 1994.

"We've established a very strict set of testing metrics to evaluate Windows XP Media Center Edition components because we feel a strong responsibility to the consumer," said Joel Silver, founder and president of ISF. "In our testing, we found the NVIDIA hardware and software products handily exceeded all of our criteria for certification. When consumers see the ISF logo on these graphics cards, they should feel very comfortable that they are getting an outstanding product with the highest video quality possible for their Media Center Edition 2005 PCs."

Available immediately for download at www.nvidia.com/object/winxpmce_72.14.html, the NVIDIA ForceWare Release 72.14 driver features new Media Center PC extensions, which greatly simplify the process of configuring the consumer's NVIDIA graphics processor for Media Center Edition PCs with a high-definition display. The extensions enable a consumer-friendly set-up wizard controlled by a remote control instead of a PC keyboard. The wizard detects the user's display format, resolution, and connector output type, and guides the user through set-up, offering adjustments to settings such as color correction, PureVideo(TM), and Digital Vibrance Control. For more information on the new ForceWare Release 72.14 driver extensions for Media Center PCs, please visit the Company's Web site at http://www.nvidia.com/object/mce_extensions.html .

In addition to superb high-definition video quality, both the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 and 6800 GPUs feature excellent gaming performance and accelerate video processing through Windows Media Video (WMV) and MPEG video. The NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GPU will be found in many Media Center Edition PCs from systems builders and OEMs this year. For example, NVIDIA PureVideo technology and the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GPUs were integrated into the HP z555 and z557 Digital Entertainment Centers.

"NVIDIA continues to deliver innovative enhancements to Windows XP Media Center Edition," said Bill Mannion, director of Windows XP Consumer Marketing at Microsoft Corp. "Its new software extensions provide added value to the Media Center consumer, and the ISF's certification of the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 and 6800 GPUs illustrates NVIDIA's commitment to working to deliver exceptional PC video quality to Media Center customers."

Working in close collaboration with Microsoft, ISF opened the Imaging Science Foundation Research Labs (ISF RL) last year to certify Media Center PC hardware for audio/video quality. Since then, the ISF RL determined the metrics and specifications that define the best video performance available for consumers. Hardware and systems that can meet or exceed these criteria are eligible for ISF RL certification so consumers can identify them as best of class video products.

"ISF has established itself as a widely respected, impartial third-party evaluator of video quality," said Scott Vouri, general manager of multimedia at NVIDIA. "The foundation's certification confirms that our investments in programmable video processors, advanced video algorithms, hardware acceleration capabilities, and display processing technology are resulting in the superb picture clarity that our Media Center customers depend on."

www.nvidia.com
www.imagingscience.com