News VIA brings 1080p video playback to small devices

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/03/13/via-vx855-brings-1080p-video-to-netbooks/1

VIA's new VX855 chip features hardware acceleration for H.264 video at 1080p, enabling netbooks to playback HD video.

 

PUT IT IN A HTPC!

 

Intel: "neither gaming nor video transcoding are relevant to Netbook and Nettop users"
Nettop users: "HTPC!"

 

I think Ill have to postpone building my htpc till this comes out.

 

Give me money, I want this!

 

ditto, the old electricity bill cant handle another PC, so this low power HD device is perfect!

 

I'd like a netbook to replace my PC when I 'play' with it too much.....(danm addiction to OCing)
If it could do HD playback thru a VGA/DVI port and at least quad audio thru my amp then i'm sold....
If it could look like the sony P-series too, and not have that price tag, i'd be there too.

As an HTPC, it can't decode VC-1 in hardware, but a Nano may suffice to decode VC-1 in software.....

 

I wouldn't really trust what they're saying because here I have a Clevo M540SR laptop (Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2330; 1.6 GHz Merom core w/ 1 MB cache, VIA VN896CE w/ VIA Chrome9 HC IGP, 2x DDR2-667 1 GB) and it can't even play a 720p AVC-1 video properly. And from my long experiences with VIA, I wouldn't trust them at all!

I believe the Chrome9 family IGP were just a rebranded version of their old Unichrome Pro IGP (which I had used them before too, in my ECS PM800-M2 motherboard back in years 2003). Both IGP can't even run the old Counter Strike 1.3 smoothly at 1024x768 so I'm pretty sure that they lie to you about their support for 1080p video playback unless they're adding some kind of a new hardware decoder to the IGP (which is highly unlikely).

 

With each and every day, Intel loses more of my respect, and VIA gains more.

I really want VIA to succeed... I like their understated presence and approach to the market.

 

I'm with you there.
They have great technology, just look at the Core and Core2 and Nehalem tech...brilliant.
Then they decide to release a castrated chip, and restrictions on its use ????? (Atom)

Whatever happenned to letting the user choose ? I don't NEED a laptop, as i've said before the p-series is my ideal form factor, but with just a little more functionality...
Maybe the ARM netbooks will be good enough, and unrestricted, along with Via...