Manila, Philippines -- AMD announces that starting next month, the company plans to release
for download a free ATI Catalyst driver update that instantly unlocks
new ATI Stream acceleration capabilities already built into millions of
ATI Radeon graphics cards.
ATI Stream is a set of advanced
hardware and software technologies that enable AMD graphics processors
(GPU), working in concert with the system’s central processor (CPU), to
accelerate applications beyond just graphics. This results in better
balanced platforms capable of running demanding computing tasks faster
than ever1.
ATI Stream-enabled software titles for
entertainment, gaming and productivity are being released or are under
development by a growing list of independent software vendors (ISVs)
including ArcSoft and CyberLink.
To give users immediate benefit
from ATI Stream, AMD also plans to release in December a free
downloadable version of its ATI Avivo Video Converter utility. This
intuitive, easy-to-use application enables transcoding of HD video up
to 17 times faster1 than with the CPU alone, in tests performed using
an ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card. “ATI Stream is one of the best
examples of the power of Fusion, and today’s announcement is the first
major step in taking this important new technology mainstream,” said
Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics
Products Group, AMD. “For the millions of people that have already
purchased an ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics card, this is one more
way we’re saying thank you and helping them get more out of their
investment. For those who haven’t yet, it’s one more reason for them to
go online right now and buy one.”
ATI Radeon graphics
processors from AMD are already found in millions of PCs around the
world, each running the ATI Catalyst software driver. In the past 12
months, the various ATI Catalyst driver packages have been downloaded
48 million times, averaging nearly four million downloads each month.
The next ATI Catalyst release is version 8.12. AMD has begun
distributing a beta version to its hardware and software technology
partners for testing, with the final version scheduled to be released
for download on or around December 10. Once installed, the driver
package automatically turns on the ATI Stream acceleration capabilities
within ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics cards. This will have the
immediate effect of allowing any ATI Stream-enabled application to run
faster, with no special effort required by consumers to enable this
technology. As always, expert users will have the ability to customize
their ATI Catalyst driver install options.
Users can then
download and install the free ATI Avivo Video Converter. In tests
performed using this utility, AMD was able to convert an hour of video
to a portable player format in about 12 minutes. Combined with one of
the recent ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics card offerings, the ATI
Avivo Video Converter helps deliver video conversion at up to twice the
speed of competing solutions, at just over half of the suggested retail
price.2
A growing number of ISVs are also lining up to provide
ATI Stream-enabled applications, including ArcSoft, a leading provider
of innovative digital imaging technologies and multimedia solutions.
The company plans to provide an update in December to its TotalMedia
Theatre application that will includes ArcSoft SimHD, a new type of
post processing technology that allows consumers to experience
close-to-HD viewing of standard definition content thanks to ATI
Stream. Another is CyberLink, an innovative software developer for
digital media creation, playback, sharing, and enjoyment applications,
has optimized its award-winning video editing software, PowerDirector
7. PowerDirector provides a robust set of features and functionality
for capturing, editing and distributing HD video. The updated version,
which is scheduled to be released in Q1 2009 will include ATI Stream
accelerated video conversion, featuring performance and functionality
exceeding that of the Avivo Video Converter.
To ensure easier
development of ATI Stream enabled applications capable of running on
platforms from multiple vendors, AMD is a member of the Khronos working
group defining the OpenCL standard, and is evolving the ATI Stream SDK
to be fully OpenCL compliant. LOL?