Apple underclocking MacBook Pro graphics cards - Page 3

Video capture, and conversions are cpu tasks, not GPU tasks.

These aren't video cards, like my old TruVision boards were. Thse are graphics boards. There is a big difference.

Cool. Just wondering if the poster had any other stuff in his day-to-day workflow that utilized Core Image eg. Aperture adjustments that use the GPU not CPU. If it's just video capture and conversion, yeah, that's CPU.

Originally posted by melgross
...These aren't video cards, like my old TruVision boards were. These are graphics boards. There is a big difference.


You're talking old skool when the video card did the processing of the analog-to-digital conversion and then handed the bits off to the CPU. In gooddogs case, if it's DV, HDV, DVCPRO HD, everything's already digital and it's just a case of the bits going through the FireWire port into the computer. That's as far as the "conversion" goes. If gooddog is converting analog video though the existing Mac hardware doesn't do that, you gotta use a "video card" as you describe, the "graphic boards" in the Mac don't do analog-digital conversions.

Heh. I guess I'm just repeating what you said but it's fun to reminisce when there were these "video capture cards" (I used to play around with Matrox's "Rainbow Runner" analog capture cards to get S-Video into Matrox proprietary MJPEG files)... wow, a walk down memory lane You'd clip this Rainbow Runner onto the regular Matrox Mystique graphics card and voila: you're doing video editing off analog sources, even recording tv shows and stuff old skool mate, old skool.

http://www.businessweek.com/1997/39/b3546044.htm


http://www.businessweek.com/1997/39/b3546043.htm

"FROM TV TO PC--EASILY

YOU MAY PREFER TO SHOOT your video with a conventional camcorder. And while editing video on a PC is getting easier, transferring images from videotape to disk is still a challenge. A new Windows add-on board from Matrox Graphics (514 969-6320) can help. The board, the $185 Rainbow Runner, also requires a $140 Matrox Mystique display adapter. Composite video (the familiar yellow RCA jack on video gear) and S-video connectors allow you to send images to or from a camcorder or VCR. An $80 tuner card lets you watch or record broadcast and cable TV on your PC. The Mystique, Rainbow Runner, and tuner are also available as a package for $379.

Unlike the Hitachi camera, the Rainbow Runner stores video using a compression system (Motion JPEG) that is designed for easy editing. But the Ulead Multimedia Studio software that comes bundled with it is difficult to use. And you'd better have a big disk drive ready. An hour's worth of VHS-quality video will fill 3.6 gigabytes, while higher-quality S-VHS runs a staggering 7.2 gigabytes per hour.

Updated Sept. 18, 1997 by bwwebmaster"

I remember that, I had the Matrox Mystique for a while, but never bought the Rainbow Runner. The box had some creepy clown holding a bare video card. I had an odder one before that, well before the 3D hardware revolution, it was a 2D card supposedly designed by the same group of engineers that later formed 3DFX. That card was supposed to have a video I/O add-on but the add-on was never released.

Yes, that's what I mean. The graphics card does nothing. The cpu is handling the work, which may not be much, depending on how you are bringing it in.


It's a lot easier these days.

Originally posted by JeffDM
I remember that, I had the Matrox Mystique for a while, but never bought the Rainbow Runner. The box had some creepy clown holding a bare video card...


IIRC Matrox is Canadian. Maybe it's a Canadian thing, the clowns and what not (think Cirque Du Soleil)

Heh...Talking 'bout Mystique and 3DFX... old skool, man, old skool. Now it's Intel Integrated, and the ATI vs nVidia wars.

It's sad that Creative pulled the plug on 3DLabs. They has some of the best Hdware out there.