Nvidia: You're Really Annoying Me

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The Nvidia DVD Decoder (now called Purevideo) store is back, and better than ever*.

It only took three months more than originally promised, but that's OK. I'd signed up for the "when we're ready, we'll email you" email from them. I got it last night.

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your previous interest in NVIDIA's DVD Decoder (now called the PureVideo Decoder). We are excited to announce that the NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder is once again available online, and it's better than ever!

New Features Include:

  • Full support for Microsoft's new Media Center Edition Update, RollUp 2
  • Complete support for the latest NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GTX graphics processing unit (GPU), including spatial-temporal de-interlacing of HD content
  • Seamless playback of ATSC and DVB transport streams in both HD and SD formats
  • Inverse Telecine (2:2 Pulldown Correction) support for PAL DVDs and videos to provide more accurate video playback and superior picture quality.

Please visit the NVIDIA Store to purchase your NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder Now!

BUY NOW!
https://store.nvidia.com/

Finally! I can give them money! The store is better than ever! Only... No, no I can't. US and Canada orders only. From distant, distant memory, the old store (the one that allowed you to buy things) worked.

I'm really trying to be nice here, but some might consider it impolite to supply trialware, and when it expires, offer no method of getting it. No third party resellers, no way of acquiring it outside the US and Canada, no store shelf option, nothing. As Jar Jar might say, Meesa very frustraaaateeed.

So last night, my PC decided the (new) trial period was up, and that's it. I'm done. Can't buy Nvidia's decoder. Going to buy one of the alternatives, which seem to generally cost twice as much for the entry-level set.

Today, there's a short apologetic note on the website indicating that we "check back" for international orders.

Attn: Nvidia Executive In Charge Of Online Stuff: In what approximate timeframe can we expect store support for Australian and other overseas credit cards?

Annoyed. As are others:
https://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?s=7142276d9c35bc530c032be2aa916723&showtopic=23978&pid=264966&st=0&#entry264966
https://msmvps.com/chrisl/archive/2005/09/02/65052.aspx
https://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/showthread.php?t=1351

Still: at least there's hope in sight for Purevideo... the ATI decoder seems to be totally unobtainable without random hardware purchase.

Microsoft: None of this would be an issue if we included a decoder with Media Center and/or Windows. Food for thought.