Apple to add hardware video encoding/decoding to computers
Apple plans to add hardware video decoding to all
of its new computers beginning fairly soon, certainly this year.
You can replace this with a Mini Cooper
I have heard that Apple plans to add hardware video decoding to all of its new computers beginning fairly soon, certainly this year. The chip’s primary codec is H.264, which is at the heart of both Apple’s QuickTime software and its iTunes video downloading service.
Up until now it took a multi-core machine with a lot of memory to support real 1080p (HDTV) decoding, but soon you’ll be able to do that easily on a Mac Mini while leaving the main CPU to handle other chores like networking, running the graphical user interface, or perhaps integrating in real time a variety of video ad streams.
So what’s in it for Apple? Potentially a lot, because the chip Apple has chosen…doesn’t just do hardware H.264 decoding, it does hardware H.264 encoding, too.
Even the lowliest Mac will be able to effortlessly record in background one or more video signals while the user runs TurboTax on the screen…In a YouTube world, the new Macs will be a boon to user-produced video, which will, in turn, promote the H.264 standard. By being able to encode in real time, the new Macs will have that American Idol clip up and running faster than could be done on almost any other machine.
Cringeley must feel pretty certain about this one. He’s already patting himself on the back!
Posted: Mon - March 12, 2007 at 08:33 AM