ATI Charging Some For MMC 8.1 Update

[SteveC]

ATI is charging $9.99 + shipping to get the latest MMC 8.1 on a CD, except for those with a Radeon 9x00 series card (who get to download if for free). :evil: Why do companies do this?

http://www.ati.com/shopati/promotions/mmc81.html

 

[blakerwry]

i think you mean, why does ATi sux0r...

They've been playing this game for awhile... if you had an older card, the newer MMCs wouldn't install... leaving you with bugs of all sorts and no way to fix them... IIRC, you could trick the MMC into installing by modifying one of the installation files prior to doing the install...

I'm not really surprised at ATi... but I hope someone leaks this version of the MMC, because driver/program updates should be free if you purchased the hardware... there's no excuse for making people upgrade their hardware just to get the features of newer software. They're in the business to make hardware, not software.

HP did the same thing with their scanners... (not sure if they still do) and they make it impossible to just search for the software you want, they make everything seem like a driver or some such upate and it's organized by model... making it difficult to tell what is what...

 

[Mercutio]

Huh? 7.1 on a Rage is bug-free. It's missing a single feature (the one-touch record) that 7.5 - 7.7 have, and it's missing support for skins. MMC 7.5 was buggy, but it was designed for a different series of cards, and the bugs were worked out quickly.
I can't think of a time I've had a problem with MMC7.7.

 

[Mercutio]

I've got the update in-hand. I'll try it on some older cards tonight. I think the only thing that keeps this update from working is DVD support. At least, if I'm reading the site correctly.

 

[SteveC]

I've got the update in-hand. I'll try it on some older cards tonight. I think the only thing that keeps this update from working is DVD support. At least, if I'm reading the site correctly.

If it's only the DVD support that's missing, then that's fine. I like PowerDVD better, and their DVD player messed up my ability to play any MPEG-2 file on my system. I'll have to give it a try later tonight.

 

[SteveC]

It is just the DVD support that's missing, afterall. I tried it last night, and it installed fine.

 

[Pradeep]

The DVD player comes on the CD with the vid card. The DVD updates require the original CD to be inserted I believe.

 

[cquinn]

The reason they are charging is because they switched the DVD player code over to one provided by the same company that makes PowerDVD
(Cybermedia?) and there are licensing issues involved with bundling
it into the whole package.

AFAIK, you can download all the other updates (in parts), minus the
DVD player, from ATI now. It says it is only an update to the 9x00
series, but there are some reports at rage3d.com that say it will
work for older cards.

 

[Mercutio]

I put the disk from my 9700 in a machine with a 7500AIW and that worked, even the DVD upgrade. I upgraded my 8500DV to everything else but DVD, and that worked, too.

 

[blakerwry]

last time i tried to update my MMC (above 7.6 beta) it wouldn't install... stupid TV wonder... atleast the beta is working for me on this install of winXP

 

[honold]

mmc is a really bad name. i don't actively use any ati cards, and i know 'mmc' to be 'microsoft management console'

 

[P5-133XL]

mmc is a really bad name. i don't actively use any ati cards, and i know 'mmc' to be 'microsoft management console'

Yes, I had the same problem initially. It didn't take much time to figure out what they were talking about though.

 

[Jan Kivar]

mmc is a really bad name. i don't actively use any ati cards, and i know 'mmc' to be 'microsoft management console'

I link it to ATAPI/SCSI, "MultiMedia Command", how the CD/DVD recording software communicates with the drive.

Or "MultiMedia Card"... But something to do with ATI? :roll:

Jan