To clear my mind … register combiners are a kind of less powerfull version of the DX8 pixel shaders …
True or false ? why ?
Matt ?
Register combiners are NOT the same as pixel shaders.
They’re more like a limited set of operations wich you can also do with vertex programs.
(correct me if I’m wrong 
)
But reg. combiners are HW accelerated on current GeForce class cards and vertex programs not. 
The register combiners are not as capable as the full DX8 pixel shaders spec because there is no hardware on the market that meets the full DX8 pixel shaders spec.
That means that you can expect further pixel shading extensions in the future beyond what is possible today with register combiners.
Just as register combiners are more capable than DX7 multitexturing, register combiners plus these other extensions will be more capable than DX8 pixel shaders.
- Matt