Thursday, March 30, 2006

Intel lures consumers with VIIV feature


The INQ digs out some details of Intel's so called VIIV here, it discovers that the VIIV Instant On/Off feature is just turning off the monitor and muting the sound - what a cheap gimmick.

INQ also reports Chartered FAB7 is ramping as Opterons are on allocation.

16 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

LMAO, what a scam. While reading INQ's article, I just can't stop laughing.

7:56 AM, March 30, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

AMD is aim to take the market crown (>50%) from INTEL with such manufacturing capacity, right ?

8:39 AM, March 30, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it looks like intel's QRTD is just a program that only turns off the screen, muted the sound, and switch monitor's LED...
and intel is actually claiming it is a new technology?
i really think intel is running out of real inventions, so that they keep adding names and branding old stuff...

10:33 AM, March 30, 2006  
Blogger netrama said...

I think Intel is running out of ways to sell their crappy processors.
There is nothing this VIIV can do that my one year old laptop cannot.
But then I might have to spray paint the laptop in silver paint and put a fancy
sticker on it and attach a DV card. (LOL)

10:43 AM, March 30, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lolz... don't forget your intel ViiV and Windows MCE (Vista Premium) logo... they really cost.. XD

11:13 AM, March 30, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those stickers sell well on ebay :)

12:44 PM, March 30, 2006  
Blogger Bobbie Mac said...

Not that instant on/off is stunning technology, but anyone with any real interest in this can walk into a local store selling a Viiv system and see for themselves that this INQ story is inaccurate. The feature puts the computer into a sleep mode. It's like the current "Hibernation" setting, just a little faster.

12:30 PM, March 31, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Try hibernating your PC, it takes at least 30 seconds to come back.

12:35 PM, March 31, 2006  
Blogger Bobbie Mac said...

Which is why I said it's "like" hibernation, only faster. The time for full response is between 2 to 5 seconds on the systems I've tried.

12:40 PM, March 31, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

bobbie mac, looks like you are deceived. read this:

"We asked Intel how the Instant On/Off worked, and got an answer very different than we expected. The Instant On/Off truly is instant, but it isn't exactly turning the machine on or off. When you hit the Instant On/Off button on the remote, the VIIV PC goes into what is known as a "visual off state." Basically, the computer looks like it is turned off, but in reality it is not. The monitor and all LEDs on the system will shut off, but the system can continue to operate as normal. "

12:56 PM, March 31, 2006  
Blogger Bobbie Mac said...

I don't think I am.

But if I am, I came by it honestly by going to the store and trying it out myself.

; )

3:09 PM, March 31, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

AnandTech asked Intel, Intel told them only the monitor, LED are turned off. Are you saying AnandTech or Intel folks were lying? How did you know the computer was turned off? Looking at the monitor?

4:30 PM, March 31, 2006  
Blogger Bobbie Mac said...

My only point in this whole conversation is that you can judge for yourself quite easily.

As for what I saw trying it out:

fans and discs seem to wind down, listening to the tower I heard that residual static crackle that happens when you power down (made sure it was from the tower and not the monitor).

Waited a few seconds and then hit the power switch again and the reverse happened. Fans come back on, disks ramp back up and a second or 5 later the monitor comes back on. Not instant, but fast.

I'm the type who never turns off a PC anyway, so I never saw what the fuss was about with this feature. I guess in a living room setting it might be useful.

6:46 PM, March 31, 2006  
Blogger Sharikou, Ph. D. said...

Let me put a conclusion to this dicsussion here. According to Intel's own explanation at http://www.intel.com/support/entertainment/viiv/sb/cs-021742.htm

"In Quick Resume mode, the:
Video output is stopped (Note: some monitors may display "no input" when in Quick Resume mode)
Sound is muted
Monitor LED indicates a lowered power state
Power continues to the vital components on the system (processor, fans, etc...)
."

This matches AnandTech's report that it was a "visual off" state. Power continues to the Fan and CPU.

What bobbie mac described seemed to be the standby mode of Windows(we do this with laptops all the time), which is different from the Instant On/Off mode described by Intel. In standby mode, the running programs are frozen. In AnandTech's article, it gave the details on Instant On/Off:

"So if you were copying files over the network or streaming video to another user and you were to hit the instant off button, those processes would continue. "

Conclusion: The Instant On/Off is just a cheap gimmick.

7:13 PM, March 31, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

bobbie mac -- exactly like stand by. This isn't anything new.

12:39 AM, April 03, 2006  
Blogger Bobbie Mac said...

This was just a blip on the radar as far as features go, but a lot of people seem to have really latched on to it as important. I guess if you think the computer is really "off" then yes...you'd be surprised (maybe angered) that this wasn't the case. The fact that it's one of the power states you activate through the power management in Windows made it seem to me immediately like a new sleep mode. Of course the computer doesn't really turn totally off and on in this short amount of time.

3:58 PM, April 03, 2006  

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