On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:36:25 +0200
"Nicolas Boulay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> What are the interest of having most of the decoding done in the graphic card
> ?
General purpose CPUs are still too slow to decode video
in real time unless you restrict yourself to non-bleeding-edge
video systems (codec+resolution). It has been like this since
i first played a video on my K6-II 350 and i assume this will
stay like this for the next 10 years. If the codecs designer
don't have any new ideas how to waste CPU time i'm sure they'll
come up with some sort of 3D picture system that everyone must have.
> I don't see any interest beside the low power consumption but at a
> great design cost to match all the codec.
Being able to play a video at all?
Ok. There are not that many videos out there that hit the
CPU / Memory Bandwidth limit these days, but they exist and
they are real.
If you want to know more about why we need this, ask Dieter :-)
> But what's up if we could use open source codec ?
>
> If the gpu include a (fast) cpu. You can compile FOSS codec and use it
> directly on the board. You can imagine the same for a X server.
Using a on board general purpose CPU on the graphics card will
not give you any advantage at all. If a PC CPU is too slow, how
do you want to beat that with a CPU that you can put onto a graphics
card without implementing half a PC on it?
No, the only reasonable way to do that is to optimize the hardware
for this specific task.
And your idea about the X-server on a graphic card isn't new either.
I've heard this at least two or three times in the last couple of years.
However nice the idea might be, but it is, because of its specialization
commercialy not feasible.
If you dont believe me, have a look at the market of x terminals.
The market is pretty much dead for the last 5-10 years and has been
replaced by thin clients that are mostly PC based or some simple
of the shelf embedded system.
> Is it realistic ?
Technologically yes, commercially no.
Attila Kinali
PS: In case you wonder, i still think we should not do any
video decoding in hardware and leave everything to the software
running on the CPU. Unless we really have too much space on the
FPGA to waste.
--
Praised are the Fountains of Shelieth, the silver harp of the waters,
But blest in my name forever this stream that stanched my thirst!
-- Deed of Morred
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