Here's some initial results from my evaluation of the Arcsoft beta on my home rig
RIG: C2D 2.7 XP home, Nvidia 8500GT
S/W: Nero 8+BD/Powerdvd 7.3.x/Arcsoft beta 2.1.6.105
Region: Europe
Blu-ray from optical disk:
Fantastic Four sequel (BD+): pass 85 percent cpu without DXVA but v.good
Layer Cake: pass
HD-dvd from optical disk:
Matrrix reloaded: pass
Miami vice pass:
HD-dvd from hard-drive folder:
several titles: passed
Blu-Ray from hard-drive folder:
not tested yet
HD-DVD individual .EVO file:
Video great, no sound
Blu-Ray individual .m2ts file:
Not tested yet
ISO image playback: not tested yet
Switch off hardware acceleration and it actually switches off: yes, dynamic in-movie alteration possible which is nice.
Codec efficiency without DxVA: High, at leastequal to powerdvd but much better than Nero.
Look and feel: excellent UI, smooth slick and trustworthy.
reliability: excellent, feels robust and responsive wheras powerdvd has always felt like it's about to break any minute and then does.
I've only spent a couple of hours so far, and there is much more testing still to do, but my initial reaction is to breathe a sigh of relief and welcome this new player to a very narrow marketplace. Arcsoft here is every bit as good as the latest powerdvd builds, if not better in terms of reliability and smooth with it. The UI is glossy and makes powerdvd look a bit tacky although this is not the cosmetics that matter.
Video playback is lovely and crips, with slightly different contrast to cyberlink. The inky, velvety blacks of Powerdvd give way to more gray scales with Arcsoft but there's not much in it for video quality.
Audio is good, but no quadrophonic option on Arcsoft (probably only me that cares about that though)
For a first release this is a triumph. The only criticism, which is not necessarily a negative, is that it resembles powerdvd and nero showtime very closely in terms of the UI basic design, player features, information available, OSD, and the menu structures. The features offered are almost identical to these players but why mess with an industry standard???
However, making this player directly comparable to the competition is not a bad thing, as nobody wanted a brand new INNOVATIVE player packed with new features, we just need a RELIABLE player and that's what this looks like. It got from the front to the back of Fantastic Four Surfer Blu-ray without a single hiccup and that is good enough for me.
All in all, the Arcsoft player looks like what cyberlink could have come up with had they not spent the last year creating new functionality with one hand and taking existing functionality away with the other. I understand that cyberlink were under pressure from the studios, but now they are under a far worse type of presssure: strong competition!
