[AppleTV2] Clarification on HW

davilla Wrote:You don't need more than 256MBs of RAM to render 1080p if you watch your resources and don't use brute force solutons.

ATV2 uses a PowerVR 535 for GPU and hw decoder. All PowerVR 535 are not alike so you can't make general comparisons.

Davilla it isnt a question of rendering 1080p on 256MB of RAM... It is a question of rendering 1080p while supporting the OS on 256MB of RAM.. the A4 doesnt have Dedicated RAM on board for gpu functions... It has to pull system memory...
Looks like they built it on 640kb L2 although the 1MB would have been better... Wonder if the cpu can be overclocked to give it a performance boost...
Then using a VXD375, it looks like apple specifically designed this setup with only 720p in mind... you would think if the system was stable enough to handle 1080p they would have included it, even if it isnt practical it would be a consumer selling point..

Apple-TV:~ root# sysctl -a hw.cpufrequency
hw.cpufrequency: 1000000000

Well it doesn't appear Apple wanted to hide the clock speed of this device like they did for their ipad and iphone 4... Good to know it isnt underclocked

davilla Wrote:ATV2 uses a PowerVR 535 for GPU and hw decoder.

PowerVR SGX 535 to be specific.

Numus Wrote:Then using a VXD375, it looks like apple specifically designed this setup with only 720p in mind... you would think if the system was stable enough to handle 1080p they would have included it, even if it isnt practical it would be a consumer selling point..

Apple has always been known to only expose what fit's into their long range plans. 720p is what they stream for rentals, they have no need to expose anything else because then they get user complaints about apple not streaming 1080p. This happened with the first AppleTV, it could display 1080p and Apple got hit with users wanting to stream 1080p rentals which they do not do.

davilla Wrote:Apple has always been known to only expose what fit's into their long range plans. 720p is what they stream for rentals, they have no need to expose anything else because then they get user complaints about apple not streaming 1080p. This happened with the first AppleTV, it could display 1080p and Apple got hit with users wanting to stream 1080p rentals which they do not do.

Sorry, I realised going back and rereading all the information that I am applying a samsung business model to this product. Since I have dedicated a lot of time getting to know samsung's business model and predicting what is in the future and what it is capable of. I only assumed based upon the fact the A4 was designed by samsung and then tweaked relabeled the S5PC110 hummingbird (chip that is in the galaxy line of devices) that Apple had the same business plan. Then i realized how flawed this argument is. But I think all this is a moot point in the end. It doesn't appear that even if capable, that this device will output 1080p anytime in the near future. The statement "If you want 1080p output, the apple tv is NOT the way to go" still holds true, and no one should buy this with the intent that the future will allow it.

True, there are no grantee if its possible to "output" at 1080p

However, apple seem to always trickle feed its users with disabled features with new firmware updates and hopefully in future it is possible to output at 1080p.

I personally cant wait for AppStore and Cydia to be released on it, and some hacks that comes from the jailbreak scene.

like i said on my first statement, there are no grantee's on it, but one can only hope.

IMO The reason it has such a big buzz, is the fact that its the first cheap form media player on the market that has XBMC ported on it.
Which is a big thing for me