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Eug Wanker · 04:50 PM

With the new ATI Radeon X1600 GPUs, QuickTime H.264 HD playback in OS X is now GPU accelerated...

Or at least it looks that way:

[removed oversize images --tooki]

Updated images:

hmurchison2001 · Jan 17, 2006, 01:29 PM

Sweet!!

Once you go HD you never go back

Leia's Left Bun · Jan 17, 2006, 02:31 PM

I thought Steve even mentioned that in the keynote.

Eug Wanker · Jan 17, 2006, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by Leia's Left Bun

I thought Steve even mentioned that in the keynote.

Did he? I don't remember any reference to that being mentioned in any of the articles, but then again I haven't watched the keynote myself (yet).

Anyways, Blu-ray is gonna rock on the Intel Macs to be released 6 months from now.

hmurchison2001 · Jan 17, 2006, 06:32 PM

Anyways, Blu-ray is gonna rock on the Intel Macs to be released 6 months from now

Don't hold your breath. Pioneer's drive is $995 and it's not shipping yet. You can't playback any movies until you have a HDCP enabled device....but what cards support HDCP on computers? Not many.

Give me the ability to play HD video and I'm happy.

f1000 · Jan 17, 2006, 07:16 PM

That doesn't look GPU acceleration to me. Notice how the %CPU usages on both the G5 and the Mactel scale up similarly with an increase in file resolution? If the GPU were handling the decoding, I'd expect %CPU usage not to scale up as much on the MacBook.

The low %CPU usage is a testament to how much faster the Duo Core is versus the lowly G4.

f1000 · Jan 17, 2006, 08:08 PM

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but according to Anandtech the Radeon X1600 can't decode 1080p h.264,

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2645&p=2

Eug Wanker · Jan 17, 2006, 09:24 PM

Originally Posted by f1000

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but according to Anandtech the Radeon X1600 can't decode 1080p h.264,

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2645&p=2

Yeah, I saw that a while ago. I didn't quite understand it either and hoped it just meant it wasn't very good at 1080p but still could do some mild assist.

Originally Posted by f1000

That doesn't look GPU acceleration to me. Notice how the %CPU usages on both the G5 and the Mactel scale up similarly with an increase in file resolution? If the GPU were handling the decoding, I'd expect %CPU usage not to scale up as much on the MacBook.

The low %CPU usage is a testament to how much faster the Duo Core is versus the lowly G4.

On the Core Duo it goes from 12.5% -> 40% = 3.2X
On the Dual G5 it goes from 30% -> 55% = 1.8X

ie. For 720p, the X1600 maybe helps a lot, but for 1080p not so much.

f1000 · Jan 17, 2006, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

ie. For 720p, the X1600 maybe helps a lot, but for 1080p not so much.

That makes sense; in any case, the MacBook Pro can clearly play back 1080p H.264 files with or without GPU assist, which is an amazing feat. My PowerBook suddenly looks its age.

JLL · Jan 18, 2006, 05:49 AM

Originally Posted by hmurchison2001

Don't hold your breath. Pioneer's drive is $995 and it's not shipping yet.

What was the price of Pioneer's DVD-R when Apple introduced it in a Power Mac?

Goldfinger · Jan 18, 2006, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

Yeah, I saw that a while ago. I didn't quite understand it either and hoped it just meant it wasn't very good at 1080p but still could do some mild assist.

From what I gathered the X1600 is perfectly capable of doing 1080p but it all depends on the drivers. The drivers need to be adapted to this and ATI isn't sure yet if they're going to do that. The current ones only support 720p acceleration.

Eug Wanker · 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by Goldfinger

From what I gathered the X1600 is perfectly capable of doing 1080p but it all depends on the drivers. The drivers need to be adapted to this and ATI isn't sure yet if they're going to do that. The current ones only support 720p acceleration.

Where did you see that?

That would perhaps support the numbers we're seeing. OTOH, if what you read was for Windows, then it may not apply here since the OS X and Windows drivers are very different as you know and are developed relatively independently apparently.

Originally Posted by hmurchison2001

Don't hold your breath. Pioneer's drive is $995 and it's not shipping yet. You can't playback any movies until you have a HDCP enabled device....but what cards support HDCP on computers? Not many.

Give me the ability to play HD video and I'm happy.

Does Pioneer even have a slot-load laptop drive announced? Also, do you have link for the Pioneer pricing? I'd be surprised if the slot-load Panasonic drive were that expensive an upgrade. Toshiba's HD-DVD standalone machines will be much cheaper than that ($500 at launch), and there's always the PS3 which includes Blu-ray and will be less than $500. Perhaps a Blu-ray drive will be a $400-400 CTO upgrade to the SuperDrive in a MacBook Pro? I don't expect its imminent release either. I was thinking more along the lines of Q3 for a Blu-ray endowed MacBook Pro. However, if it's a $500 upgrade, I would not be surprised if the iMac didn't get the option immediately. I'd be willing to deal with an external Firewire drive if it saved me moolah too, but I'm not sure it would.

BTW, laptops with Blu-ray or HD-DVD playback have already been demo'd, so I'm not sure how significant that HDCP argument is here.

inkhead · Feb 23, 2006, 01:22 PM

yeah but who the hell is gonna watch blu-ray movies on a small laptop screen. It entire misses the point of HD.

Eug Wanker · Feb 23, 2006, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by inkhead

yeah but who the hell is gonna watch blu-ray movies on a small laptop screen. It entire misses the point of HD.

It doesn't miss the point of H.264 though.

I wouldn't want to have to buy Blu-ray for my TV, AND a DVD for my laptop just to watch the same movie.

Also, the difference between HD on a 17" laptop is easily noticeable compared to DVD. It's not so noticeable on a 13" screen though, for obvious reasons.

BTW, since this thread has been raised from the dead, it has now been confirmed that there is NOT any GPU acceleration for H.264 on Macs yet. That's actually even more impressive in a way. It's a testament to just how fast Yonah is.

jeebus · Feb 23, 2006, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

With the new ATI Radeon X1600 GPUs, QuickTime H.264 HD playback in OS X is now GPU accelerated...

Or at least it looks that way...

I don't know, it may be GPU accelerated but nobody has really said so with absolute certainty. I wouldn't be that surprised if the new intel macs are just that much faster at this sort of thing.

Eug Wanker · Feb 23, 2006, 10:13 PM

Check the previous post:

BTW, since this thread has been raised from the dead, it has now been confirmed that there is NOT any GPU acceleration for H.264 on Macs yet. That's actually even more impressive in a way. It's a testament to just how fast Yonah is.