I think Apple should concentrate on using a GPU that has hardware decode of VC-1 / H.264...just by making that change, they could get away with using a Pentium M and a small form factor...
This is: "Apple can use a cheap CPU if they also include an expensive GPU." Maybe. I think it's more likely that we'll just see a more burly CPU in a future Apple TV, almost undoubtedly with two cores. I am not aware of any graphics chipsets that support a "hardware" H.264 decoder (it's actually a firmware decoder) but I would be excited to see one come along.
I disagree. Perhaps my 1080p TV has a crappy upscaler, but 1080i channels always look better than 720p, even (and perhaps especially) with sports. This may be counter-intuitive due to the interlacing, but there it is.
Given my preference, you can see why I won't be spending any money on a non-1080p AppleTV.
$300 gets me most of the way to a cheap HD-DVD player, and 75% of the way to the soon-to-emerge cheap PS3 (which is to say, a cheap Blu-Ray player).
Apple needs to do something with the AppleTV, and soon. I come back to the point that if I could do the equivalent to "rip, mix, burn" with SD DVDs and the AppleTV, there'd be a point to buying it. Imagine, all my DVDs ripped to a home server, and a couple of AppleTV clients to stream them to!
This is: "Apple can use a cheap CPU if they also include an expensive GPU." Maybe. I think it's more likely that we'll just see a more burly CPU in a future Apple TV, almost undoubtedly with two cores. I am not aware of any graphics chipsets that support a "hardware" H.264 decoder (it's actually a firmware decoder) but I would be excited to see one come along.
The GM965 and the G35 Intel chipsets use GPUs (X3100, X3500) that do some VC-1 Hardware decoding. More than likely, this will be the next platform Apple will migrate to.
The HD2000 series (thru UVD) does almost full VC-1 and H.264 hardware decoding also.
Comments
I think Apple should concentrate on using a GPU that has hardware decode of VC-1 / H.264...just by making that change, they could get away with using a Pentium M and a small form factor...
This is: "Apple can use a cheap CPU if they also include an expensive GPU." Maybe. I think it's more likely that we'll just see a more burly CPU in a future Apple TV, almost undoubtedly with two cores. I am not aware of any graphics chipsets that support a "hardware" H.264 decoder (it's actually a firmware decoder) but I would be excited to see one come along.
i find 720p and 1080i to be equivalent visually
I disagree. Perhaps my 1080p TV has a crappy upscaler, but 1080i channels always look better than 720p, even (and perhaps especially) with sports. This may be counter-intuitive due to the interlacing, but there it is.
Given my preference, you can see why I won't be spending any money on a non-1080p AppleTV.
$300 gets me most of the way to a cheap HD-DVD player, and 75% of the way to the soon-to-emerge cheap PS3 (which is to say, a cheap Blu-Ray player).
Apple needs to do something with the AppleTV, and soon. I come back to the point that if I could do the equivalent to "rip, mix, burn" with SD DVDs and the AppleTV, there'd be a point to buying it. Imagine, all my DVDs ripped to a home server, and a couple of AppleTV clients to stream them to!
This is: "Apple can use a cheap CPU if they also include an expensive GPU." Maybe. I think it's more likely that we'll just see a more burly CPU in a future Apple TV, almost undoubtedly with two cores. I am not aware of any graphics chipsets that support a "hardware" H.264 decoder (it's actually a firmware decoder) but I would be excited to see one come along.
The GM965 and the G35 Intel chipsets use GPUs (X3100, X3500) that do some VC-1 Hardware decoding. More than likely, this will be the next platform Apple will migrate to.
The HD2000 series (thru UVD) does almost full VC-1 and H.264 hardware decoding also.