ATI showcased the first hardware accelerated H.264 video playback at Computex.

H.264 is the video compression standard that will be used in the next generation high-definition video players such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD. The ATI H.264 video demonstration with ATI's next generation Radeon(R) technology will occur during Computex Taipei 2005 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

H.264 is a new video compression standard that's designed to have two to three times the compression efficiency of current schemes such as MPEG-2, while simultaneously improving overall image quality. This increased compression efficiency is highly computationally demanding, therefore graphics hardware assistance is crucial for real-time decoding of high bit-rate video.

"Consumers are clamoring for the amazing visual quality that Blu-ray and HD-DVD will bring to PCs," said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President, PC Business Unit, ATI Technologies. "ATI is transforming the PC video landscape by leading the industry adoption of Blu-ray and HD DVD on the PC. This new innovation builds upon ATI's unrivaled video and display technologies."

The ATI demonstration at Computex features H.264 playback with Radeon technology and a CyberLink video player application. In addition to hardware acceleration of H.264, the Radeon processor is performing next generation video processing and showing off advanced display capabilities.

ATI will exhibit PC video and graphics innovations from May 31 to June 4, in the Regency Ballroom-1F, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan.