What do you need for HD H264 playback?

[Apulo]

What kind of memory and CPU power is required to smoothly playback HD videos encoded with H264?

What codec would you recommend?

I know that ATI and Nvidia both offer HW supported playback but those need pretty hot gfx cards, and I'm trying to set up a small cool HTPC setup, not a gaming rig.

Thx

[Jerry Jones]

APPLE:

http://tinyurl.com/cyhw7

MICROSOFT:

http://tinyurl.com/lh6dt

Basically anything less than a 3 GHz dual core processor may not work for 1080p.

When 3GHz + dual core chips are common in low-end notebook computers, then I think the average consumer will be ready to jump on the high definition editing bandwagon... not before...

...because the truth is that 3 GHz is the BARE MINIMUM.

High definition video - regardless of whether it's MPEG-2 or H.264 - is PROCESSOR INTENSIVE and therefore is not "low cost" no matter how you slice it.

That's the truth.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Apulo]

OK, so how about 720p? Still needs that much power? The Microsoft site is not very representative since it assumes their own codec, not H264.

Anyone heard of the CoreAVC codec? It's not freeware but supposedly much faster. But is it just as good in picture quality?

[Jerry Jones]

For 720p, Microsoft specifies a 2.4 GHz processor.

I think that's roughly equal to what would be required for H.264.

I have only heard about the codec you mentioned, but I have no direct experience with it.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Here's a Web site where various H.264 codecs are being compared and tested by the legendary Dmitriy Vatolin who I think may have posted to this forum frequently in past years.

http://tinyurl.com/g3onf

He's calling on various codec developers to submit their codecs for ***PUBLIC*** comparison testing.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

For those who are curious, the CoreAVC Web site is here:

http://tinyurl.com/k752f

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Here are the CoreAVC system recommendations:

http://tinyurl.com/k469a

1080p: 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 or faster processor

720p: 2.2 GHz Pentium 4 or faster processor

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Apulo]

Thanks for all the info! Found a Celly 1.4GHz laptop to borrow, it plays the 1280x720 H264 clips I have fluently. Not sure if these use every feature of the codec and are therefor easier to decode or if the recommendations are a bit too high.

Apulo