14 DAY TRIAL // With all the hype behind the launch of the 8800 series, people seem to forget that Nvidia has a really bad habit of letting some of the old problems unsolved. And this issue is a really old one. However word is out that Nvidia still lacks the ability to solve its mistakes. And I can't see that as a good thing, especially if I've just purchased a $1,200 SLI setup.
Nvidia had recently experienced some problems with the 680i boards and their SATA controllers. While that is nothing new, the one that's coming is a lot older. Because it seems that newer SLI setups have inherited the same SLI issue that the older Geforce 7 series had. And by that I mean that Nvidia still can't output 1080i content through DVI while running a SLI setup.
Ok, in case you're wondering why don't the users run their SLI setups with 1080p output (and this one really works) instead of running the same resolution with interlaced output, the answer is way simpler than the question. Because they can't. Several users have investigated this issue and it seems that newer 8800 SLI setups as well as older G7x ones have the same problem with outputting 1080i content. As a reminder, Nvidia's online specs and manuals say that SLI supports 1080i output. However, the practical situations show that they don't.
It is not the first time when this happens and I'm pretty sure that Nvidia won't lift a finger to solve the issue. Too bad for the owners of large LCDs that can only input interlaced 1080 resolutions and not progressive ones. Stupid as it may seem, if you use a single card setup, you'll get the 1080i mode.