[mythtv-users] Myth on WD HDTV Media Player for $99

[Scott D. Davilla]

>On Saturday 10 October 2009 23:52:58 Jean-Yves Avenard wrote:
>>  On 11/10/2009, at 12:59 PM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>>  > It requires a lot of RAM to do well, and also a lot of code,
>>  > including a
>>  > complete OS and the proprietary video drivers, seems like a lot to
>>  > just play
>>  > back a file.
>>
>>  And which hardware accelerated stuff doesn't require an OS and drivers?
>
>By a "full" OS I was comparing standard Linux distributions to embedded
>systems thast require a lot less in terms of hardware, can run with very
>little RAM and little power. The Sigma chips are used with a lot of embedded
>systems, I'm not aware of any way to utilize VDPAU with an embedded system,
>though I'd love to hear of one.

XBMC Live :) uses a moblin built distro with vdpau capability, USB drive boot.

Nvidia's VDPAU is much, much more "open" than the API for Sigma 
chipsets (what API ?). Embedding just means that someone took a 
standard linux distro and stripped it down to only include parts that 
they need. Nothing fancy here. The work involved is proportional to 
how embedded one wants to go.

>  >
>>  Broadcom would require a full Linux and drivers obviously.
>>

Nah, it could easily be embedded. In fact the technology already 
exists in several embedded platforms. The Dish Network 722 uses a 
bcm7412 chipset. Guess what's inside ?

>  > Vdpau API is open source, anyone (intel, ati) is free to write drivers
>>  fir the vdpau libraries.
>
>I thought it required the proprietary nVidia video drivers (ie: the binary
>blob) in order to use VDPAU, at least today.

So? Big deal, it uses a private binary blob around an open source 
wrapper. Sigma chipsets also require proprietary drivers. The 
difference is Nvidia's have usable API. Sigma does not.

All the squawking about proprietary binary blobs is a bit silly, the 
alternative is zero ability to tap hardware video decode. This is the 
real world we live in and not some fantasy world where everything is 
free and open. It costs real money to develop these software and 
hardware solutions and I don't see the open source world stepping up 
to do it as real money would be required and not just the part-time 
effort of volunteers.

Broadcom is taking a different path than vdpau, the driver will be 
fully open and licensed GPL. This satisfies Linux kernel GPL 
requirements to run un-tainted. The library that talks to the driver 
will be LGPL. That's so Broadcom can use it in other closed source 
projects without GPL tainting those projects. The firmware that the 
library loads via the driver is proprietary closed source. To me this 
is the prefect solution to the whole open source issue regarding 
hardware devices.

Here's a thought, decoding h.264 requires a license with the patent 
holders. That's a fact that we conveniently ignore all the time in 
open source software because the patent holders will only go after 
big fish that bundle and sell such software. Anytime you use ffmpeg 
to play h.264 content via software, you are violating the licensing 
no matter how much you might feel entitled. So you could say that use 
of a lib like vdpau or crystal hd actually is more legal than using a 
software based solution. You better believe that Both Nvidia and 
Broadcom have licenses with the patent holders for decoding the video 
formats that they support.

>  >
>>  I'm guessing ATI and Intel will follow because of the rather good
>>  vdpau support now. Nvidia filled a gap, so everyone were quick to use
>>  it.

Buzz on Intel except for maybe on their high end video cards. Google 
around, Intel is partnering with Broadcom for PineTrail for low power 
HD video decode capability. They have nothing in site for the short 
term (next few years).