Is PowerVR chip (used in Dreamcast) a good one?

[mjg59]

downix wrote:

>The PVR's drivers are open-source

No they're not. The Linux drivers have a partially open-source section to interface with the kernel, but the actual drivers are binaries.

[mjg59]

AmiDelf wrote:
I
When you connect a Dreamcast to VGA monitor, the screen is just amazing good! And I mean it.

Oddly enough, if you connect something to a monitor you'll get a better picture than if you connect it to a TV. The picture quality of any modern graphics card (leaving aside hardware effects like anti-aliasing, which is hardly the PowerVR's strong point) is primarily determined by the quality of the digital to analog conversion hardware rather than the graphics chip itself. Different cards with the same ATI chip will have different picture qualities. The PowerVR was a moderately decent chip with some innovative ideas, but in terms of performance it's worse than most other stuff on the market and the quality is no better.