NVIDIA Influencing YouTube Tech Journalists' Product-Placements, Alleges Whistleblower

[NRANM]

Well, the pattern is there:
1) publish unverified information from dubious sources as fact(s)
2) hope no one would notice or care enough to call TPU/btarnur out on it
3) if someone does, (pretend to) apologize, and optionally cite some lame excuse
4) actually learn nothing from the experience, and move on.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

The problem isn't that a mistake was made. That is a problem, not the problem. The bigger issue is that it keeps happening.

btarnur is indefensible:
- this was posted not as an editorial or an opinion piece, but as actual news, with no language indicating that the information presented may not be (at all) accurate;
- this was posted on TechPowerUp, which is a website that still has and tries to maintain some level of credibility and reputation (I assume);
- this was posted not by some random intern or newbie, but by the a senior member and editior, who has at least 12 years of experience (self-admitted).

Of course some people would assume btarnur has an agenda. The other option would mean he hasn't learned anything about journalism in 12 years! I'm not sure which would be worse of the two, both options look awful.

 

[MazeFrame]

The source is Reddit, so you got a source about as good as /dev/null is a place to store your backups.

IIRC we had the exact same bullshit story last year, published unchecked, without any validation to speak off.
Is this the "hole before holiday season"-story now?
Will we get to read the same unchecked gargabe that may aswell have been writen by a 4chan troll next year again?

2nd one might actually prompt an investigation, especially if you'd also mention GPP.

Nvidia knows where questionable legal turns into billion dollar fine by EU illegal.
They will be very carefuly navigating around that, by means of cooperating with software devs and slowly turning themself into a walled garden.

Intel has run into the EU on the competetive front a few times, and since then, the fines were significantly increased. They are not GDPR levels of "20,000,000€ or 4% of last years revenue, whatever is higher" levels, but slowly getting there.

 

[killthelawyers]

Nor does your post. You've censored your bar number... we can't validate anything and that's a weird way to brag.

I can actaully think of some legally iffy things TPU has done (advertising partners anyone?), but this article? It's never going to go anywhere in court.

Sorry, I'm not willing to completely deanonymize myself, so I guess you'll have to live with the presumption that I forged a bar card for a flyover state and then let it sit in my wallet for years so that I could later win an argument with some rando on the internet.

The reason it's not going anywhere is because Steve didn't go nuclear. Even as limited purpose public figures, this article did enough to establish a defamation claim for GN. I like TPU so I'm glad it ended there, but this should be a serious wake up call for them. Your business is worth more than daily click bait so act accordingly.

 

[R-T-B]

forged a bar card

I was more thinking along the lines of google images rather than forgery. Weirder crap has happened. Heck, it could be expired too for all I know.

If I'm wrong, then you have nothing to prove and shouldn't fret on it. But I think you know I am right to be at least a little suspicious in the modern online world.

The reason it's not going anywhere is because Steve didn't go nuclear.

Or rather, because it did not really impact him in any meaningful capacity. There must be damage or loss for a civil claim like that. There is none.

Regardless, you and I will both agree it needs to be managed better from here. Do not lose sight of the fact I've been saying that for eons, really. We agree there. I just think it isn't anything honestly worth the level of drama seen here... especially when I've seen just as bad (if not worse) elsewhere.

 

[Dr_b_]

As I said, "here's what's _being alleged_", and an example of the allegation. I cast no aspersions on the neutrality of GamersNexus, this could be anyone making YouTube videos with boxes in the background (which is pretty much every YouTube-based media). I follow GN, so their video came up on top.

"I cast no aspersions on the neutrality of GamersNexus, this could be anyone making YouTube videos with boxes in the background (which is pretty much every YouTube-based media)"

Yeah, but you put the thumbnail on an article about paid shills. How does that not cast aspersions on the neutrality of the youtuber whose image you posted? Where is your brain? By putting the image of the youtuber there, you directly implied that they were engaging in said practice.

"I follow GN, so their video came up on top."

Again, this excuse is pathetic, see comment above. It would have been better if you had investigated this yourself and found real evidence of the payment, and linked a youtuber who received that payment, and had boxes in the background.

 

[Vya Domus]

There was no talk about any payments being made to this guy, you people are out of touch with anything related to this matter.

 

[techguymaxc]

tpu has been on a downward slide for the last year
and I am pretty sure its financial at this stage they seem to be grasping at straws trying to drive traffic up and its backfiring big time

welp grab your smores-fixings kids and lets roast one over the embers of tpu

I really hope you're wrong. The quality of tech journalism has declined drastically in the past few years, to the point that there are very few sources for reliable, accurate, in-depth technical information remaining. Outlets like PC Perspective, Tech Report, and even HardOCP have either shut the doors, or lost nearly every member of staff that contributed to their well-deserved reputations. I hope TPU isn't headed towards a similar outcome. Gamers Nexus is one of the few outlets remaining that serves this market well, and it's sad to see them associated with this conspiratorial nonsense.

 

[cucker tarlson]

tpu has been on a downward slide for the last year
and I am pretty sure its financial at this stage they seem to be grasping at straws trying to drive traffic up and its backfiring big time

welp grab your smores-fixings kids and lets roast one over the embers of tpu

this is a major screw up.major one.

but tpu is still all around the best.
I have accounts on several ones,I check them maybe once a week while I go on TPU several times a day.why ? cause it's good and it's got what I need.
that's why I'm saddened by some low brow writing that btranur sometimes produces.it's just not up to this site's standards.
and frankly whoever allows this is just as responsible as he is.

 

[Xzibit]

Sorry, I'm not willing to completely deanonymize myself, so I guess you'll have to live with the presumption that I forged a bar card for a flyover state and then let it sit in my wallet for years so that I could later win an argument with some rando on the internet.

You have to look at it from others perspective like R-T-B

I was more thinking along the lines of google images rather than forgery. Weirder crap has happened. Heck, it could be expired too for all I know.

If I'm wrong, then you have nothing to prove and shouldn't fret on it. But I think you know I am right to be at least a little suspicious in the modern online world.

Part of the discussion is about not checking sources, validating the authenticity and a picture is presented blocking the bar number that is used to check. In that sense its kind of funny.

 

[Vya Domus]

In that sense its kind of funny.

It's not funny, it's ironic.

 

[BigMack70]

Really shameful that you guys grab reddit nonsense and report on it as if it's news without doing any leg work on your own to verify claims and sources. You really should have taken this entire hit piece down.

 

[R-T-B]

and frankly whoever allows this is just as responsible as he is.

Well, I hate to say it but...

that'd be one of two groups/people.

a.) W1zzard

or

b.) his readers.

So really, there aren't many parties to complain too until we end up looking in a mirror.

 

[Durvelle27]

Does a tech site really need a news sections

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Does a tech site really need a news sections

Yes, definitely yes, IMHO.

 

[MuhammedAbdo]

Freesync getting renamed gsync compatible somehow - Proven without doubt ,skull duggery occuring.

It's AMD's fault, they let their FreeSync brand get trash quality monitors that ran their logo into the ground, NVIDIA just reaped the benefits of known quality logo, and their actual certification program that ensures every monitor that gets the logo is an actual usable quality product. NVIDIA also offers G-Sync Ultimate, which AMD still has no answer for even with it's FreeSync 2.

Releasing half assed next gen and supers all over the show befuddling the market.

It's called product superiority .. they are have tech that AMD is yet to implement, and they have the performance and power and node advantage.

STEALING others work ie reshade to sell more cards.

It's called getting shit done and serving your customers, allowing them to have officially supported graphics mods right built into their driver. They have Ansel, Highlights, driver level AO, FreeStyle, Super Resolution image capturing, AI image capture, Gif ShadowPlay .. etc. AMD is miles behind this area.

Over hype in the extreme RTX.

It's called DXR support, and it's coming to consoles, and NVIDIA is ahead in this regard. They are also ahead in AI and Variable Rate Shading.

Your post is a bunch on nonsesne. You've taken every NVIDIA advantage and somehow turned it into a flaw through some weird mental gymnastics!

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

It's AMD's fault, they let their FreeSync brand get trash quality monitors that ran their logo into the ground, NVIDIA just reaped the benefits of known quality logo, and their actual certification program that ensures every monitor that gets the logo is an actual usable quality product. NVIDIA also offers G-Sync Ultimate, which AMD still has no answer for even with it's FreeSync 2.


It's called product superiority .. they are have tech that AMD is yet to implement, and they have the performance and power and node advantage.

It's called getting shit done and serving your customers, allowing them to have officially supported graphics mods right built into their driver. They have Ansel, Highlights, driver level AO, FreeStyle, Super Resolution image capturing, AI image capture, Gif ShadowPlay .. etc. AMD is miles behind this area.


It's called DXR support, and it's coming to consoles, and NVIDIA is ahead in this regard. They are also ahead in AI and Variable Rate Shading.

Your post is a bunch on nonsesne. You've taken every NVIDIA advantage and somehow turned it into a flaw through some weird mental gymnastics!

Nvidia took most of these advantages and will make them a flaw.

TV's will tie up with console specs over pc branded proprietary tech every time. Hence AMD'S lack of fight, they don't need to.
Nvidia charge hefty premiums for all such advances in technology to CONSUMER s.

2060 ,2060Ti, 2060 super plus all the air ,toxic ,Rog branding equals a complete wall of nonsense for a new to the platform buyer, noob.

They have been adjusting the way their gpu and driver settings run to optimise for framerates etc , while adding useful stuff, that's arguable if you have less than £1200.
I feel you are clueless as to what AMD driver's offer they ditched image filters years ago, how innovating Nvidia are ,inventing Rtx and Raytracing well see how that pans out if the console's Don't have transferability of Raytracing operations with Rtx , quite possible and Nvidia hint it's happening with them developing their own lol not Rtx games..
Companies are switching Ai as often as picking Nvidia or building their own.
I can live without any effect that reduces the quality of parts of the image ,i hope to be able to disable that when I get a chance.

Nvidia will make them as useless as physx or stereo 3d etc etc , proprietary is on the downward curve imho.

 

[MuhammedAbdo]

they ditched image filters years ago

They never had them to begin with. They don"t offer free camera as in Ansel, they don"t offer image capturing with super resolution as in Ansel, nor image capture with filters nor 360 degress capture or AI image processing "Green Screen". They don't have FreeStyle life functionality, NVIDIA has a massively better encoder and AI denoiser/enhancers.

that pans out if the console's Don't have transferability of Raytracing operations with Rtx

RTX is part of DXR, it's a transparent layer that doesn't care what consoles have. Just like all the games that are optimized for GCN still work on NVIDIA because they all support DX.

2060 ,2060Ti, 2060 super plus all the air ,toxic ,Rog branding equals a complete wall of nonsense for a new to the platform buyer, noob.

As oppsed to lazy ass AMD rebranding their shit every year: 480-580-590 .. and all of their lower end cards getting the same brand every damn year.

Nvidia will make them as useless as physx or stereo 3d etc etc , proprietary is on the downward curve imho.

NVIDIA supported Stereo 3D for a decade, while AMD ditched it in 2 years time. Talk about solid support here.
PhysX is a widely used physics engine. The GPU acceleration part of it became less important because all the engines now have GPU accelerated particle systems.

 

[biffzinker]

they have the performance and power and node advantage.

No, just a full stop no, Nvidia is currently on TSMC's 12nm process for Turing. AMD is using TSMC's 7nm process currently deployed on Navi or Radeon 7.

Stop spreading BS

 

[Vya Domus]

It's called DXR support, and it's coming to consoles

You've got no idea what you're talking about. DXR is an API, more specifically a Windows API, got nothing to do with consoles for now. PS always had proprietary APIs.

RTX is part of DXR, it's a transparent layer that doesn't care what consoles have.

Again, you ain't got a single clue. RTX isn't part of DXR, it's just a development platform. You'll never see an "RTX" feature in a game, DXR is the feature.

 

[MuhammedAbdo]

No, just a full stop no, Nvidia is currently on TSMC's 12nm process for Turing. AMD is using TSMC's 7nm process currently deployed on Navi or Radeon 7.

Despite this, NVIDIA's 12nm is better than AMD's 7nm, that is the definition of a NODE ADVANTAGE. Learn to think before rushing to post.

You've got no idea what you're talking about. DXR is an API, more specifically a Windows API, got nothing to do with consoles as of now.

Xbox will use the DXR, just like it uses DX12.

Again, you ain't got a single clue. RTX isn't part of DXR, it's just a development platform. You'll never see an "RTX" feature in a game, DXR is the feature.

Nope, RTX is the hardware acceleration of DXR and DirectML, through the RT cores and the Tensor cores. Oh and Metro and Control call it RTX by the way. As well as Shadow Of Tomb Raider.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

They never had them to begin with. They don"t offer free camera as in Ansel, they don"t offer image capturing with super resolution as in Ansel, nor image capture with filters nor 360 degress capture or AI image processing "Green Screen". They don't have FreeStyle life functionality, NVIDIA has a massively better encoder and AI denoiser/enhancers.


RTX is part of DXR, it's a transparent layer that doesn't care what consoles have. Just like all the games that are optimized for GCN still work on NVIDIA because they all support DX.

As oppsed to lazy ass AMD rebranding their shit every year: 480-580-590 .. and all of their lower end cards getting the same brand every damn year.

NVIDIA supported Stereo 3D for a decade, while AMD ditched it in 2 years time. Talk about solid support here.
PhysX is a widely used physics engine. The GPU acceleration part of it became less important because all the engines now have GPU accelerated particle systems.

Aww shit am i that old, i think it was Ati that had image filters, i think that was the first Ati card i bought , right now I can't remember what it was(rage 128?!) called but it got reflashed to a pro , i wish I could be reflashed right now, been a long day.

Im obviously not bothered about ansel in any way mate ,,it's not a negative but not the positive you see for most people, i play games not film or photography them, niche bro.

Your joking about the rebrands surely some of the supers didn't always be supers, they got took pre shelfand off some and reflashed for a lower MSRP, to save face while maybe moving stock.

Take those green shades off bro.

And ffs look up Rtx , it's proprietary, it's not a drop in slide out option with Dxr12.

 

[R-T-B]

Does a tech site really need a news sections

...Yes?

 

[MuhammedAbdo]

Your joking about the rebrands surely some of the supers didn't always be supers, they got took pre shelf, and reflashed for a lower MSRP, to save face while maybe moving stock.

Nope, each super card is a higher core count card compared to the non super card. Sometimes even with more RAM and memory bandwidth.

 

[R-T-B]

Despite this, NVIDIA's 12nm is better than AMD's 7nm, that is the definition of a NODE ADVANTAGE.

No, the definition of node advantage is when your advantage comes from... the node. It can't be that here because both nodes come from the same company (TSMC)

Nvidias advantage comes from superior chip design.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Nope, each super card is a higher core count card compared to the non super card. Sometimes even with more RAM and memory bandwidth.

I believe the 2070super was a 2080 in some cases.