From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 28 16:18:24 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9D56D1065672 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 16:18:24 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@sopwith.solgatos.com) Received: from parsely.rain.com (parsely.rain.com [199.26.172.196]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2C4E88FC22 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 16:18:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@sopwith.solgatos.com) Received: from sopwith.solgatos.com (uucp@localhost) by parsely.rain.com (8.11.4/8.11.4) with UUCP id m4SGIM908476 for freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org; Wed, 28 May 2008 09:18:22 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from freebsd@sopwith.solgatos.com) Received: from localhost by sopwith.solgatos.com (8.8.8/6.24) id QAA16740; Wed, 28 May 2008 16:15:58 GMT Message-Id: <200805281615.QAA16740@sopwith.solgatos.com> To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 28 May 2008 09:37:57 BST." <1211963877.10665.48.camel@localhost> Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 09:15:58 +0100 From: Dieter Subject: Re: TV-Tuner cards ( NTSC / PAL / SECAM ) - which works best? X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 16:18:24 -0000 > > You can get decoder chips, for example: > >=20 > > Broadcom BCM70010 and BCM70012 claim to decode HD. > > Mpeg2 up to 125 Mbps, H.264 up to 40 Mbps. > >=20 > > Available as chips, or on PCIe, PCIe mini, and ExpressCard 34 cards. > >=20 > > Under $40. > >=20 > > Product brief: > > http://www.broadcom.com/collateral/pb/70010_70012-PB00.pdf > >=20 > > A BSD device driver would need to be written. And you need > > a free slot. (Free slot? What's that?) > > That sounds freakin awesome. Wonder if they can handle MBAFF encoding. I don't know. We need a data sheet for the chip. That is one problem with decoder chips, they may not work with new codecs. Some of them are said to not work well with freeze frame, slow/fast motion, reverse, etc, anything but normal forward 1x play. Another method is a DSP chip. Less expensive and less power/heat than a CPU. And you can program it to handle new codecs. The problem is finding one that is fast enough. > > ATI has documented some of their graphics chips. The penguins > > have them offloading some of the video decode work. Is anyone > > working on getting this working with BSD? > >=20 > > The 780G is supposed to be able to decode HD H.264, but I don't know > > if they've documented that chip or not. > > All Nvidia chips from 6600 (ish) up can accelerate H264, and all Ati > with 'avivo' (1xxx series) can also do it. The problem is, they can only > accelerate within windows. Theres no open API that would allow apps + > drivers to accelerate video decoding. There is a started project at > freedesktop working on video acceleration apis [3], but it isn't exactly > making stellar progress :) I was thinking Xv and XvMC. IIUC the penguins have at least Xv working with some ATI chips.