Mobile HD-Ready H.264 PMPs [Archive]

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CruNcher

17th August 2009, 16:28

Yep it's no Future anymore HD-Ready H.264 playback inside your pocket is starting in acceptable Quality and not that expensive @ all.
The most prominent Device that makes the most noise currently is for sure Microsofts Nvidia Tegra based Zune HD (though it wont be available in Europe @ all).
In this thread i gonna show off some of the available HD Devices and hope in the future we can share our experiences with those :)

First of all i stumbled over this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERK6ETRytFM which finally visually shows that also TI Omap3 (Beagleboard, Openpandora) Platform is very well capable of 720p Baseline playback with enough optimization on their Davinci DSP in combo with the Arm Cortex :)

But also the Asians where quiet busy Developing solutions and as we are used from them for a very low price point :)

The most currently used Chipsets for these Devices are currently the RK2806 by RockChip, ingenic Jazz4xx, SoChip SC8600 by Secret Manufacture ;) and the good old Davinci DM6441 by TI

Information about the "REAL" capabilities of these Devices though is bad as most tests done currently are in a very chaotic shape, trying just to playback the available content without really doing any step by step H.264 compliance tests.
Also the Firmware gets still updated a lot with bug fixes and Performance improvements new Codec Playback capabilities get introduced (VC-1 VGA lately) so it's hard to say what will be tomorrow ;)

Currently the Generation with HDMI out (720p) reaches the Asian markets

Here are some of the new SoChip based HDMI out Devices

Teclast C500HD (1st HDMI out Device available)

http://s12b.directupload.net/images/090817/z8i7ze4f.jpg

Video of the HDMI out in Action:
http://v.pconline.com.cn/video-5203.html

Short UI Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDl20SCQ1B8

Ainol V8000HD (concept)

http://s12b.directupload.net/images/090817/98j6tfui.jpg

Cube H200HD (concept + Touchscreen)

http://s1.directupload.net/images/090817/stw3tct2.jpg

All these Devices have a DC of 5-5.5v (comparable to the PSP or Beagleboard) not really comparable to the Zune HD with 3.7v :)

All these Devices use Cheap LCDs of course so you get the viewing angle problems.

If you have any further information or conducted any compliance tests with these or other HD PMPs please share them :)

Here is a Video of a RK2806 PMP with Touchscreen in Action (no HDMI out)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyxTF9y8DMY

Nvidia Tegra PMPs
---------------
Microsoft Zune HD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b11EF0x9G68 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY6-rFCZPUM
Samsung YP-M1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJPtmaEcv4o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc948Dp0Ksw

Omap3 or Arm Cortex A8 based PMPs
----------------
Archos 5,7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVFOA1gIwVA
Ipod touch 3G 32/64 GB

Ziilabs (Creative) Zm-05 PMPs
------------------------------
Zii EGG | Developer Edition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy9TnVX169A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht0lcf0fMKY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDOB-vshc0E http://www.ziilabs.com/products/platforms/ziiegg.aspx http://www.ziilabs.com/downloads/datasheet/#gallery
Creative Zii EGG | Consumer ????

Smartphone PMPs (HD-Ready)
------------------------------
Samsung Omnia HD http://omniahd.samsungmobile.com/
Apple Iphone http://www.apple.com/iphone/

creamyhorror

17th August 2009, 19:40

For these players, everything depends on their level/profile playback capability. If they can handle main profile at decent battery life, I'm all over them. Especially since their prices look to be very reasonable.

HJRodrigo

17th August 2009, 20:16

I found some info on the chipsets of these chinese devices, thru rockbox forums. Here is one thread in particular that may intrest ppl: http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=10428.0

CruNcher

18th August 2009, 00:20

Thx for the Rockbox Hint very useful information especially how RockChip positions itself
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Frock-chips.com%2FnewEbiz1%2FEbizPortalFG%2Fportal%2Fhtml%2FInfoContent.html%3FInfoPublish_InfoID%3Dc373e9216b6adebc8f7e977394a65d1d

so the currently used RK2806 seems to be the pre version of the yet to come (even more powerfull) RK2808 somehow this company remembers me about MediaTek hehe that also found it's way into Phones ;) see the Meizume M8

Here is my 1 High Profile CABAC testclip 720p High Profile AVG 3 mbits max 7 mbits for these Mobile PMP Chips

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?5yyuvzn5b2l
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ivlzznnmjo3

No Cabac Version should be much lighter decoding complexity wise :)

http://www.mediafire.com/?tmjoyvnjyzj

Chengbin

21st August 2009, 19:24

I finally found this thread.

My friend told me his Ramos T12 can play high profile, but very badly. It consistently drop frames, even in SD because it isn't powerful enough. It does try to play anything though.

For these players, everything depends on their level/profile playback capability. If they can handle main profile at decent battery life, I'm all over them. Especially since their prices look to be very reasonable.

I have a friend who has a PMP (forgot what model), and it can play main profile H.264 @ 720p at very high bitrates. I don't know about the battery life though.

CruNcher

22nd August 2009, 01:09

Zune HD gets some Tegra competition :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJPtmaEcv4o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc948Dp0Ksw

Samsungs new 720p PMP YP-M1 gonna rival the Zune HD :) no extra Dockingstation for HDMI out needed

Here my new lowcomplexity High Profile testclip (no audio)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?lznz2goij3i

SeeMoreDigital

22nd August 2009, 18:37

Samsungs new 720p PMP YP-M1 gonna rival the Zune HD :) no extra Dockingstation for HDMI out needed Very nice...

The Samsung HMX-H106 looks very cool. And the GUI seems quick :)

CruNcher

23rd August 2009, 01:57

yeah i hope you can change the Video content view on the M1 to at least the one used on the HMX-H106
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50p_2uDPZZ8 that's not really a efficient way of visualizing the content
a simple but efficient way was Nvidias Tech Demo back then http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7R90A7ZqLU
It's nice to see the first Devices finally appearing after over 1 year now :)

creamyhorror

23rd August 2009, 04:20

My friend told me his Ramos T12 can play high profile, but very badly. It consistently drop frames, even in SD because it isn't powerful enough. It does try to play anything though.

I have an old RAmos and it's crappy at video :( Only ASP and I have to reconvert everything and even then it doesn't work. But I bought it only for music, and I guess the current generation will be better.

I have a friend who has a PMP (forgot what model), and it can play main profile H.264 @ 720p at very high bitrates. I don't know about the battery life though.
Sounds good. Is the screen nice and big?

popper

23rd August 2009, 21:50

popper

24th August 2009, 00:48

hmm its been speculated on one of the chinese boards
(i could post the babblefish translation but its reporting some sort of a html page virus and not everyone will have a checker to catch that so ill leave it as its only speculation and not fact as yet....)

that the the rock28 RK2806 is using the
http://www.verisilicon.com/vsi/vsiadmin/upfile/ZSP800.pdf core and the Chips&Media’s advanced Coda8
http://www.design-reuse.com/news/21130/full-hd-codec-ip-core.html
"Chips&Media Delivers the Latest Full HD Codec IP Core Coda8550

July 21, 2009 -- Chips&Media, Inc., the leading...
(LOl not so leading if another company can release a real High profile chipset a full 4 months before this date)
...
Coda8550, the first IP of the next generation of Chips&Media’s advanced Coda8 series, delivers full HD(1080p) encoding capability at 30fps under 200MHz clock frequency. The core supports not only encoders, such as H.264 BP, MPEG-4 SP and H.263 P3 but also decoders, such as H.264 BP/MP/HP, MPEG-4 SP/ASP, H.263, DivX, VC-1, MPEG-2, RealVideo, AVS and Sorenson.
...
"

does that Chips&Media, Inc H.264 decoders BP/MP/HP ... seem to fit with what we know about the RK2806 so far?

and that other imagination Inc SOC i posted on the other thread, seems to be a far better fit for todays and tomorrows PMP's ,
so Do we know of any PMP OEM or related device maker signed up to that VXE360 IP core BTW?

has anyone thought to email them and ask, assuming you can talk to someone there about potential VXE360 IP OEM clients in the run up to christmas releases etc.

http://www.imgtec.com/news/Release/index.asp?NewsID=440
"16 February 2009

Imagination delivers HD H.264 High Profile capability in latest video encoder IP cores

POWERVR VXE320 and VXE360 deliver multi-standard mobile SD & HD encode
Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, 16 February 2009: Imagination Technologies, the multimedia chip technologies company, announces two new IP cores in the POWERVR VXE video encoder family.

POWERVR VXE320 and VXE360, part of the third generation of Imagination’s video IP family, deliver multi-standard encode, including H.264 High Profile (HP), at SD and HD resolutions respectively.

POWERVR VXE encodes video sequences and still images to a wide range of compression standards including H.264 High, Main and Baseline Profiles, MPEG-4 and JPEG. These cores offload the entire video/still encode processing to hardware, minimising host CPU processing load, enabling lowest power solutions without compromising performance. The core is fully supported by an accompanying software stack, which includes an OpenMAX IL compliant API, under Linux.

"

"The cores are scalable, allowing Full HD video to be encoded, as well as offering the ability to record at extremely high frame rates, (e.g. >1200 fps at QVGA), for detailed slow motion capture – one of the “hot new features” seen at the recent CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas."

http://www.design-reuse.com/news/semiconductor-ip-soc-0.html
http://www.design-reuse.com/news/search.php?query=rockchip

HJRodrigo

24th August 2009, 19:09

heres a copy of the older Rock26XX-datasheet.pdf chip datasheet if anyone can take useful info from it, its got some example assemby for the code usage and codec entry points etc, but nothing directly on the codecs usage, they are external to the core part of the chip, and theres no data or diagram for that HW SOC part that i can find.

http://mympxplayer.org/rock26xx-datasheetpdf-df609.html

i cant find the older Rock27 or the newest RK2806 data sheets yet.

Here is a post about a codec used for the RK26 in the thread I previously linked 2.

Here is a clue into the onboard Codec of some of the Rockchip processors:

http://www.dolphin.fr/cor...publications_overview.php (http://www.dolphin.fr/corporate/announcements/publications/publications_overview.php)
http://www.dolphin.fr/fli...alog/analog_overview.html (http://www.dolphin.fr/flip/analog/analog_overview.html)
http://www.dolphin.fr/cor...ications/pdf/rockchip.pdf (http://www.dolphin.fr/corporate/announcements/publications/pdf/rockchip.pdf)

From both pages: "Our CODEC is embedded in Rockchip RK2606" someone might be able to glean some info from Dolphin Integration for programming information (like what happened with AustriaMicrosystems and their AS3514 chip).

CruNcher

25th August 2009, 04:57

popper

25th August 2009, 05:30

your pasted urls are bad, can you re-edit them to work HJRodrigo!

HJRodrigo

26th August 2009, 21:21

your pasted urls are bad, can you re-edit them to work HJRodrigo!

Thanks for the heads up. I fixed my previous post (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1318070#post1318070) :).

CruNcher

27th August 2009, 16:26

Surprise Surprise (not really) Archos enters the lower budget Mobile Flash PMP market with it's Archos 3 Vision
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJEWjmT1S3Q

it's based though on the older RK2705 (RK2706 maybe special out of China market) chipset so it can only compete UI and Touchscreen wise with other Devices you see above (1 Generation bellow, also it's more a SD Device then HD no MicroSD and no HDMI) :)

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/archos+3/video/xa9xus_test-archos-3-vision_tech <- full go through

PS: Officially the Archos 3 Vision is no HD-Ready PMP but SD only

SeeMoreDigital

28th August 2009, 21:00

PS: Officially the Archos 3 Vision is no HD-Ready PMP but SD onlyIt's a lovely looking device...

However, I can't see anywhere where it says the Archos 3 supports MPEG-4 AVC. There's also no SD card slot to expand its memory storage capabilities... So it's a "no-go"!

CruNcher

29th August 2009, 02:45

Yeah just look @ that awesome UI Touchwheel scrolling system that is nice, though it maybe exists somewhere else and Archos didin't actually developed it if they did hats up that's innovative :) it should be much faster to achieve goals that way as for example Apples smooth scrolling by choosing left/right the way Archos implemented this circle system seems to be very precisely controllable.

PS: Added the Zii EGG Developer Edition and so the ZM-05 Platform to the overview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy9TnVX169A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDOB-vshc0E

mr soft

19th September 2009, 19:35

Telcast T56 1080P Full HD exposure.

This can be added to the list, hopefully some of these will make it out of China.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php%3Fitemid%3D25409&rurl=translate.google.com
Mobile phones should have a place here also . There´s a lot of powerful phone/PMP´s out and their just getting more powerful.

Samsung announce 1GHz ARM CORTEX-A8 Hummingbird CPU
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_announce_1ghz_arm_cortexa8_hummingbird_cpu-news-1042.php

CruNcher

20th September 2009, 01:44

It isn't Telcast the name in the news floating on the net is wrong it's called TECLAST ;) yeah it's not easy as a normal customer to get such a Chinese device especially if you live in certain countries :P

but be careful don't let yourself get fooled "1080P Full HD" just means it can deliver that via the HDMI output the Performance for H.264 MP/HP Playback isn't there yet (even for 720p) but it's improving every Chip Generation and even on Firmware Optimization Cycles till now the new Generation of these Devices can do 1080p only for RV40 @ upto 10mbit (at least that is official claimed for H.264 HP the official claims are somewhere @ a resolution of 8xx though some 720p non anamorphic already plays quite acceptable (but still drops here and there)

Personaly i would give the new Ipod touch 3G and Iphone 3GS + Coreplayer Mobile more chances to hit 720p H.264 HP fluid (but you can argue about the Price/Value compared to a Chinese PMP here depends on what you want ) ;)

Though Teclast are the first to actually claim to have reached 1080p H.264 Playback fluid by going a complete new Chips way with Telechips TCC8900 on the T56
http://209.85.129.132/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php%3Fitemid%3D25408&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhi73mVxqaUxNOGiDgmVaBxaTx6oLQ

Very interesting about this news is that the new Samsung Yeep R1 Player seems to already use that Chip so it would mean the R1 should have the same Power :P (though it's sold as a SD Device) which is confusing somehow as this would certainly mean the Tegra based M1 (sold as a 720p BP Device) also has the power though no one yet really tested what is possible with the current Tegra APX 2500/2600 Released PMPs :P

Hmm if i read their advertising it seems to be the same RV40 @ 1080p but no word on the H.264 Capabilities hehe

Telechips - TCC8900
产品规格 ‧ARM 1176JZF-S
‧CPU 500 MHz @ 1.2V, 600MHz (TBD)
‧65nm CMOS Process
‧400 Pin FBGA, 17x17mm2, 0.8 Ball Pitch
‧Video Processor (up to 1920x1080p)
‧Video Encoding (up to 1280x720p)
‧Video Enhancement
‧2D/3D Graphic Processor
‧Video Input
‧Camera Interface
‧Display & Video Output
‧Audio Interfaces
‧Serial/Parallel Streaming Interface
‧mDDR/DDR/DDR2Memory Support
‧Storage I/F Support
Peripherals & Other Features

The TCC8900 is a system LSI for digital multimedia applications based on ARM1176JZF-S, an ARM’s proprietary RISC CPU core. It is designed for high-end multimedia entertainment devices such as car AVN, portable multimedia player and home entertainment. The TCC8900 supports decoding and encoding various types of video and audio standards with software and dedicated hardware codecs including JPEG / MPEG1 / MPEG2 / MPEG4 / H.264 / VC-1 / RV up to Full HD (1080p) and MP3 / WMA / EAAC+ / AC3, etc. In addition, TCC8900 offers a hardwired 3D graphic accelerator to enrich next generation GUI and other graphical applications. For easy and cost effective solutions for GPS navigation devices, it also provides GPS correlator

it's a interesting competitor to the Jazz 4755,SC8600,RK2806,CC1600 and even the Tegra CPU Part also it seems since the official announcement they might have enhanced their Codec to even reach fluid 1080p for H.264 but im skeptical since all these claims that where used before in this area werent always so truthful :P

Seems they where very proud presenting 720p Playback back in July http://blog.naver.com/andro78/20068880293 same time as Samsung released their Video showing it's Processor (based on Cortex A8 working inside the Iphone 3GS and Ipod touch 3G 32/64 GB) reaching also 720p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSrsGPgIsEQ ;)
and now Teclast claims they reached 1080p ;) it sounds strange imho, let's wait for real tests and not some marketing claims of a PMP seller.

something interesting

http://blogfiles10.naver.net/20090820_25/dlswjd2004_1250731074633JOFdX_jpg/tcc8900_dlswjd2004.jpg

so Full HD was @ that time only WMV9/ASP though i have no idea why they differentiate between Mpeg-4 and DivX/XviD lol :D

PS: Added Smartphone PMPs

popper

20th September 2009, 16:22

while not a full end user device theres also the
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/19/video-via-epia-p720-pico-itx-motherboard-plays-1080p-doesnt-s/
Video: VIA EPIA-P720 Pico-ITX motherboard plays 1080p, doesn't sweat much
by Darren Murph posted Sep 19th 2009 at 12:06PM

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/09/via-p720-motherboard.jpg
thats using the new http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/13/vias-vx855-media-system-processor-handles-the-1080p/

VIA's VX855 Media System Processor handles the 1080p
by Darren Murph posted Mar 13th 2009 at 11:48AM
http://hothardware.com/newsimages/Item9088/VIA_VX855_MSP_med.jpg
http://hothardware.com/News/VIAs-VX855-Media-System-Processor-Does-1080p/
http://hothardware.com/newsimages/Item9088/VIA_VX855_MSP_map.jpg

BTW i finally found that high profile oldest H.264 SOC encoder/decoder link PR
it was Qpixel Technology using an ARM core again....
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS10020+02-Jun-2008+BW20080602

About Thomson ReutersIndustry's Lowest-Power Full HD H.264 Codecs With the Broadest Feature Set Unveiled...
Sun Jun 1, 2008 8:00pm EDT

QL300 Family Delivers Unmatched Video Compression and Image
Processing Capabilities Across a Wide Range of Portable Applications and Devices

TAIPEI, Taiwan--(Business Wire)--
Qpixel Technology, a Silicon Valley, USA-based innovator in video
compression silicon and software solutions, today unveiled at
Computex, its High Definition (HD) QL303 and QL305 codecs, the latest
members of its industry-leading, low-power, H.264 codec family.

The new chips provide the industry's broadest H.264 feature-set by
supporting Baseline, Main, and High profiles of the H.264 standard for
resolutions ranging from QVGA (320x240) to full HD (1920x1080).

Qpixel is also raising the power-performance bar by being the first to offer
full HD H.264 encoding at less than 275 mW of power, confirming
Qpixel's leadership in innovative codec design and its commitment to
Green Technology initiatives for lowering energy consumption in
consumer electronic devices.
...

More about the QL303 and QL305

Each chip is a real-time H.264/MPEG4-AVC High Definition (level
4.1) Encoder/Decoder (Codec) that provides the ideal mix of
flexibility and power efficiency for consumer electronics
applications.

Designed to be employed as companion chips, the QL303
and QL305 provide the perfect combination of performance and
flexibility to enable easy upgrade of existing designs to support
high-definition compression in H.264.

The ability to support all three profiles of the H.264 standard (Baseline, Main, and High) enables
users to trade off latency (less than one frame) with compression
efficiency depending on the requirements of the target application.
The low latency and full-duplex capabilities of the chips enable
efficient and reliable video communication...."

theres also a Broadcom set of SOC too , a DVB version http://www.hdtv-news.co.uk/2009/09/07/broadcom-links-up-with-lg/
and the FAR more Interesting one...
as its FPGA based, and so can potentially have its HW codecs replaced and updated easily :)
(and Intel happen license its IP)
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/05/25/intel-leverages-on-broadcom-hd-graphics-chip-for-its-pine-trail-atom-processor/
"...The Broadcom FPGA chip, named as BCM70015 is expected to be able to offload graphics processing especially for stringent HD (High Definition) 720p/1080i resolution or even full HD 1080p media decode in various codec such as H.264, MPEG2, WMV9, VC-1 and etc.BCM70015 is very thermally efficient and consumes less than 1 Watt when running full 1080p media contents. ...."

now the two main questions are does anyone use these and the other low power low cost H@L4.1 SOC i referenced earlyer in this thread to make current OEM consumers low power devices, and have we got a good selection of codecs and container files in one place to try and get a good feel for how to stress test these devices ASAP...

CruNcher

22nd September 2009, 02:32

It's amazing :)
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php?itemid=25407

see the released bitrate specs that thing is gonna replace a Standalone Player :D

http://74.125.39.132/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php%3Fitemid%3D25456&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhjmy-sJjXH61K0vowETDSs6WS2diw

First Devices with 1080p Full-HD support should be out soon to the market (so skip HD-Ready we go straight Full-HD) :P

popper

22nd September 2009, 09:13

iMP3.net seems like a good site as they run generic video tests and give you the data for many of these files, shame they dont do generic english pages, perhaps somone can convince them to add some for the english reading tech doom9 readers ;)

for instance this
"A key to high-definition MP4 VX575HD evaluation Shuttle Onda "
http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php%3Fitemid%3D25401%26page%3D5&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhgiGUHG07ptL3tzcsh_E7ewZMDsig

tells us
"Test video A53: This video dropped frames, card frame is very serious, almost no smooth playback can be down for some pictures, read story is no problem, but the relatively poor impression it wants to.

Test video A72: File This is a serious off-frame, but be able to test this piece of machinery would have been smoother playback just a small part, HOHO ... ... sound and picture are synchronized, but because of dropped frames is too serious, which are affecting the understanding of plot . "

not that suprising when you check the clips bitrate specs

http://reviews.imp3.net/onda/vx575hd/d01.gif

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php%3Fitemid%3D24335&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhj7jarV4mnx5NsKnF-xanO9T7W0og

perhaps we should have something like these clips for english testing sites to refer to if they cant be persuaded to add an english translation....

CruNcher

23rd September 2009, 02:35

First Video of the New 1080p Generation :) question is will it still playback that nice on the TV out ;)
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php%3Fitemid%3D25462&rurl=translate.google.com

decayed.cell

25th September 2009, 06:03

but be careful don't let yourself get fooled "1080P Full HD" just means it can deliver that via the HDMI output the Performance for H.264 MP/HP Playback isn't there yet (even for 720p) but it's improving every Chip Generation and even on Firmware Optimization Cycles till now the new Generation of these Devices can do 1080p only for RV40 @ upto 10mbit (at least that is official claimed for H.264 HP the official claims are somewhere @ a resolution of 8xx though some 720p non anamorphic already plays quite acceptable (but still drops here and there)

*snip*

so Full HD was @ that time only WMV9/ASP though i have no idea why they differentiate between Mpeg-4 and DivX/XviD lol :D

I have one of these players Ainol V6000HDV the claim of 720p applies really only to RMVB thats correct, there are other articles on imp3 complaining that manufacturers lie about 1080 playback when it is not for all formats

The Chuwi P7 (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.imp3.net/1/show.php%3Fitemid%3D25462&rurl=translate.google.com) which has this new Telechips processor seems to be playing back 1080 stuff according to the video.

On a sidenote the TCC8900 is an ARMv6 chip running at either 533/600Mhz. The iPhone 3GS with a similar ARMv7 Cortex A8 running at 600Mhz seems to be able to playback some 1080 content
(http://www.gadgetlite.com/2009/08/24/video-iphone-3gs-can-play/). Assuming this is not done on the PowerVR graphics then it seems plausible that the guys at Telechips have produced a chip powerful enough for it. Software can also make a big difference if you've been following the Oppo S39 with the Rockchip 2806 the video playback has been getting steadily better through firmware updates

CruNcher

26th September 2009, 06:19

Ramos moves on the 1080p train too also with the TCC8900
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.ramos.com.cn/info.php?newsid=285

The new RockChip Rk2808 based Android (720p BP more performance yet unknown) MIDs

here the W7 from Ramos (price somewhere @ 150-200€)
http://reviews.imp3.net/2009/ramos0925/05.jpg

CruNcher

29th September 2009, 03:44

now slowly more and more Brand companies want to have a piece of the HD PMP market we gonna see Philips now coming with their own Device soon the Philips SA075 (only HD-ready or FUll HD not yet known Chip used not yet known most probably some Philips Arm or Tegra)
now im certain we sure also gonna see Sony soon presenting their new HD PMP :)

Philips SA075
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/09/philips-sa075-09-28-09.jpg

also there seem to be rumors that MediaTek could enter the PMP/MID Chip market soon ;)

Ingienient Demoed their Omap 3 Decoder power (SD) without DSP running entirely on the Cortex @ 50% Utilization :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PNJaD9wIxg

CruNcher

13th October 2009, 00:54

It seems Archos has major problems currently (not really surprised) i wonder if the Chinese gonna use that to their advantage now trying to finish off Archos :(
i was never a fan of Archos business strategies, but the company brought in some innovations it would be sad if they get overrun now by the Chinese :( though they have to face very heavy competition over the next years and they really have to adapt to that new market now, their price dropping is a good beginning but the buggy release of their major Android Research is bad very bad.
The Problems users currently facing are so severe it's even crazy to believe Archos didn't knew about them before they decided to release it, seems the pressure was heavy to be first on the market with such a device, but now that decision seems to fire back heavily, im almost sure the Engineers @ Archos where heavily against a so early release but the marketing and management where risking it anyways.
They can just hope now that this wasn't a big miscalculation.

CruNcher

20th October 2009, 11:26

Philips PMP SA075 Prototype was on the test @ Zol and it doesn't look as it could flawlessly playback 720p H.264 yet Zol didn't test that resolution only for Mpeg-4 Part 2 which could mean they did this on purpose after seing that the Device isn't able todo it but for sure we will get clear specs from Philips themselves what the H.264 capabilities really are if it left Prototype stage :). Philips also seems to be the first BIG Brand to support MKV now very exciting :). The LCD Quality is as expected much nicer than of it's Chinese competitors most probably LG-Philips own Screen :)

http://mp3.zol.com.cn/151/1516166.html

Archos was able to fix a lot of bugs after the Android release with it's recent firmware update on their new Flagship the Archos 5 Android, still some issues but stability seems to be much better now at least then it was before according to users that did the firmware upgrade the format and update way.

The first 1080p tests of the first TCC8901 based PMPs here the Chuwi P7 look promising it could indeed playback very high bitrates (up to 10 mbits tested now) 1920x1080 resolution H.264 HP@L4.1 files :) but this advance comes of course as expected @ a heavy energy draw the battery holds roughly 2:30 h under constant usage. Also the first Firmware update has been released which brings blasting .m2ts support :D

Smartdevices new V 1080p capable advertised Mid series will according to them use a dedicated DSP for the Full HD Playback not the 600 MHz (most probably Samsung Arm) itself, though the Specs of the Chip sound more like the TCC8901 we have to wait and see.

CruNcher

8th November 2009, 19:23

Just to let you know why there are no big news but im currently testing the new Archos 5 IT with Android powered by Texas Instruments Omap 3440 and own DSP for Video Decoding and it rocks and it's so much more then a PMP it's a MID that Intel is running after with their Morestown next year but this one already works so nicely and the 256 mb are enough for this it's like a netbook with CoreAVC installed just alot smaller, though the whole thing is so powerful but most exciting stuff is proprietary no Openpandora or Touchbook Omap like Device (but lets see what happens). Video Playback for it's size is very Powerfull most probably will be beaten by Tegra 2 in Q1 2010 though (it could get DivX 7 HD 720p Certification) :)

I would say Media Playback wise it's very well comparable to the GejBox (DivX Connected Media Streamer) (just in a smaller codec space, no transcoding of H.264/ASP 720p just drag and drop) and it is much much smaller fits in your hand and consumes a lot less power :D, though for some extra stuff you still have to pay for (codec support and external OTG,Video out support via Dock Architecture) which can fast kill it's Price/Value depending on your habits, but for now it beats in my opinion all of the available Tegra Devices Zune HD, Samsung M1 (even when getting accessories and or plugins for it) :)

All in all it's a Device made for the Web 2.0 age :)

Just to give you a quick idea of it's Decoding Power
http://mirror05.x264.nl/CruNcher/force.php?file=./pmptest/x264-The-Island-Grain.mp4 <- flawless except no AAC 5.1 decoding support yet
http://showcase7.divx.com/StarTrekTrailer[DivX7].mkv <- almost flawless some micro frame drops but not visible for the avg joe (still decoding performance is being improved) ;)

Edit: Update

Some update on my Evaluation progress i finished firmware 1.2.3-11 really big Decoding improvements there :)
Some issues have occurred that im trying to reproduce with 1.2.15 now but major stability is already very good for the Android part only the Archos Media Center seems to have issues. Also prepared a Video Decoding benchmark where it's easy to see certain decoding performance improvements :)

The current issues in Archos Media Center (AMC):

- Black Screen
- Black Screen with Crash trying to exit
- Black Screen immediate Crash (possible buffer overflow issue)
- AMC Crashes whole Android when scanning certain streams (most probably parsing problem on video thumbnail generation,buffer overflow) still investigating
- Video Thumbnails don't work for certain stream container combinations (still investigating) (even for non payable codec parts)
- Decoding issues ( seems to be AQ related) (green blocks issue)
- certain streams aren't detected (Video not decodable, data corrupted error) still investigating (probably parser issue)
- After some time AMC gets unstable (corrupt background on re enter and no playback possible issues "Video not playable" before the issue a file that plays is detected as Audio and only audio plays) still investigating (seems the major of time happen with 720p content)
- Performance issues (where enhanced from 1.1.01 to 1.2.3-11)
- Pure Bitstream Parser is a joke (extreme Decoding problems with raw H.264)

So indeed it's not mplayer ;) especially error stability seems to be very bad in major parts, so it isn't really a surprise that avg joe currently want to get rid of it fast, as a Media Playing Device :D

So there is a lot to improve but im confident that when going into Android 2.0 it could become awesome with all the Hardware support, but still im not sure if Android was the best Decision for such underlying Hardware in terms of Performance :)