Status of ATI video on Ubuntu

[Rashkae]

A quick question for the community.

What is the status of Open Source ATI drivers in Ubuntu?  I don't really
care at all about 3D acceleration in Linux, but care a great deal about
video playback.  In particular, the Vsync must be working (so there is
no tearing in the playback) and scaling must be smooth (I know some ati
drivers had issues with upscaled (fullscreen) videos being all blocky,
like playing a DVD on HDTV without a decent upscaller.)

Is this all working now or am I still beholden to Nvidia for my
preferences?