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ATI X1600 Graphics Card in new Intel Macs, X1800 Soon?

pknz said:
For a few games you can use the same data files but you still need the app and a few other files. But aside from that :confused: :confused: :confused:
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It's called Cedega. Allows you to run Windows games in Linux.
 
Interesting,

This is from HEXUS.net:

"Interestingly, despite wanting to lock down the X1600 series to 720p video, an X1600 XT has no issues decoding our 9Mbit/sec AVC HD stream at 1080p"

This is of course on a PC, but it shows that the X1600 can handle 1080p hardware decoding (despite what ATI said in december).

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4143&page=3
 
jimN said:
Before macworld people said they would be releasing a mac powered plasma TV. Just goes to show unless that person is wearing a blackshirt and jeans and carrying his little blue clicker I wouldn't believe a word they say - and if he is you still need to take his claims about speed with a large pinch of salt!
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If they release all their products in 1 day, then each announcement drowns the other out. None would independently have significant press.

The entire point of this Keynote was "Intel Macs." There was no other message of significance. (aside from "ack, Adobe LightRoom…let's cobble together a presentation of Aperture and hope no one notices Adobe's app has half the system requirements…).

I'm not saying they will release plasma displays or media centre mac minis, but the mini is getting pretty old. I would not be terribly surprised to have a Mac Mini media centre announcement in about a month's time with a footnote that the MacBook Pro's are shipping.

I mean they added a pathetic amount of new tv shows to the store at MacWorld. And only announced a few products in other categories. I don't believe it is all they have. I think they're saving it for the next press event.

David :cool:
 
Super Dave said:
I don't believe it is all they have. I think they're saving it for the next press event.
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I agree. The entire product line will be transitioned by the end of the year. That is alot of anouncements that still need to happen.

My guess is Intel and Apple will have a combined press event, or at least within a few days. Intel will anounce that VIIV is shipping, and Apple will show off the best implementation of it.
 
I'm impressed with my X600XT as well....Apple says I can't do 1080p...well runs just fine ;)
 
srobert said:
Too bad a single 1080p movie won't fit on the iMac's 20" display ^_^ Or does it?
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Not quite. The spec sheet says that the 20" iMac's display is 1680x1050. So it's 30 lines short of HD's 1080. Personally, I don't think many people will notice the difference, unless the scaling code (in QT or the video chip) is really attrocious.
 
Evan_11 said:
I could be wrong but I believe that HDMI is compatible with DVI. You just need the right cable.
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Yep. HDMI is nothing more than DVI and audio, combined into a single cable.
Evan_11 said:
As far as resolution I would think that even if the iMac is splitting it's video memory that it should be able to output a full 1080p signal. However the first true 1080p HDTVs are just now hitting the market. The majority of sets being sold now are 1080i and 720p.
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Was 1080p added to the HDTV spec? I thought 1080i is the highest specified resolution, with 1080p something monitor makers were throwing in for computer-compatibility.
 
danielwsmithee said:
My guess is Intel and Apple will have a combined press event, or at least within a few days. Intel will anounce that VIIV is shipping, and Apple will show off the best implementation of it.
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Viiv is nothing more than FUD.

It's like the "Centrino" brand name. It's just a marketing term for a computer loaded up a bunch of multimedia add-ons (Intel-brand wherever possible) that are all available right now.

There's nothing inherently superior about Viiv, compared to a non-Viiv computer with a dual-core processor, TV tuner and a high-end video card.
 
shamino said:
Was 1080p added to the HDTV spec? I thought 1080i is the highest specified resolution, with 1080p something monitor makers were throwing in for computer-compatibility.
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I am pretty sure 1080p has always been the highest in the HDTV spec. There hasn't been many TV's or other devices (xbox360) that have been able to support it so I don't think a lot of people knew about it.
 
My Mini is a so behind this new iMac... if I just had the money to buy it... Ah...

But, let's wait a new Macintel Mini and I'll jump the boat right now!!!

I'm glad that Apple made it well. Let's wait how they will conduc the transition until the end...
 
shamino said:
Viiv is nothing more than FUD.
There's nothing inherently superior about Viiv, compared to a non-Viiv computer with a dual-core processor, TV tuner and a high-end video card.
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Currently the biggest problems I see with the mini as a media center are, besides a TV tuner.

1) Can't play back 1080 p H.264. This would be resolved as you mentioned with high end video card and dual core processor similar to current iMac's.

2) Sound output. The best available solution currently to get dolby 5.1 sound out of the mini is firewire add on. With VIIV you will get dolby 7.1 as part of the package.
VIIV will drive down the price of TV tuners, and good sound cards and processors to the point that people are willing to pay for it, bringing media center components to the masses. Just like centrino brought wireless to the masses.
 
it's weird to think how fast everyhting is going to be from now on, and how fast things can/might be updated. A decade in the dumpster and we're finally out of it and going at what seems like lightspeed..
 
danielwsmithee said:
1) Can't play back 1080 p H.264. This would be resolved as you mentioned with high end video card and dual core processor similar to current iMac's.
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The Mac mini can't even do 720p last I checked.
 
shamino said:
Not quite. The spec sheet says that the 20" iMac's display is 1680x1050. So it's 30 lines short of HD's 1080. Personally, I don't think many people will notice the difference, unless the scaling code (in QT or the video chip) is really attrocious.
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What about the other pixles....it is 1920*1080 so 30 here and 240 there ;)
 
danielwsmithee said:
I am pretty sure 1080p has always been the highest in the HDTV spec.
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Here's the digital TV spec from ATSC. On the top of page 24, they list the standard resolutions.

1080-line resolution is interlaced at 60Hz, progressive at 30 and 24Hz.

This is probably due to bandwidth limits. On page 19, it mentions a maximum bit-rate of 1.106Gbps for progressive, and 1.244Gbps for interlaced.

Of course, ATSC is only concerned with broadcast. What you send over a DVI/HDMI cable is subject to DVI/HDMI's maximum bandwidth, not ATSC's.
danielwsmithee said:
Currently the biggest problems I see with the mini as a media center are, besides a TV tuner.
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Sorry if I was unclear. I wasn't saying anything about a mini. I am simply saying that you can, today, assemble a computer with all of Viiv's capabilities. The Viiv trademark may be useful for people unwilling to read a page of specs, but it is not, and never will be, the only way to get a top-notch multimedia computer.
danielwsmithee said:
VIIV will drive down the price of TV tuners, and good sound cards and processors to the point that people are willing to pay for it, bringing media center components to the masses. Just like centrino brought wireless to the masses.
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We can hope so.

It is worth noting that Apple did just as much (for their customer base) with AirPort as Apple did with Centrino, in terms of bringing Wi-Fi to the masses.

Standardizing on powerful features is good. Choosing to buy them from one particular vendor because of a catchy trademark is a waste of time.
 
CalfCanuck said:
Hopefully this card will let Aperture run well on the new Macbook Pro line. That's something that would excite ME.

We'll have to wait until the Universal version of Pro apps come out in March (what an Apple rep in the Pro section of MWSF told me yesterday) to see for sure.
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Like you said, you will have to wait for the universal version of Aperture to come out in March, but I'd bet a lot of money that every pro app including aperture will run just fine on the MacBook Pro
 
Vivo?

Close work was done alongside Apple during development, and features such as the color depth display engine and the VIVO technology were greatly influenced by Apple's input. It was also a scramble to make sure that all of Apple's professional applications ran with the new ATI hardware in time for the unveiling at Macworld, with the closed firmware of Apple's latest machines making things more difficult.
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Anyone else find the mention of VIVO intriguing? Apple hasn't had a 'Video In Video Out' computer since the beige G3. Does this mean just video inputs, or also a TV tuner is coming? Why else would ATI be working with Apple on their VIVO features?
 
shamino said:
1080-line resolution is interlaced at 60Hz, progressive at 30 and 24Hz.
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Thanks for the document that was an interesting read. Does that mean that A hi end TV that advertises 1080p has their frame rate cut in half?
1080i at 60i is essentially the same frame rate as 1080p at 30p because of the interlacing. I see that for 1080i and 720p The frame rate can be 60p or 30p. I guess you have to be careful on your components to see which one you are getting.

This means for a high speed action movie or a computer game a 720p running at 60 hz frame rate may look better then a 1080p at 30 Hz. So anyone know what the Xbox 360 puts out? I knew it could do 1080i or 720p but what about frame rate?

shamino said:
It is worth noting that Apple did just as much (for their customer base) with AirPort as Apple did with Centrino, in terms of bringing Wi-Fi to the masses.

Standardizing on powerful features is good. Choosing to buy them from one particular vendor because of a catchy trademark is a waste of time.
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I agreee Apple was a forerunner as far as wireless goes. But I didn't see wireless going into campuses, workplaces and hotels until after centrino was common.

One other nice feature that VIIV will offer is instant on. I think this will be a common feature in new portable by the end of the year though.
 
skunkworks said:
Just ordered the 20" with 256megs, mainly for the accelerated encoding and decoding it will have in the future. I am scheduled to recieve on the 20th, if anyone has anything they would like to benchmark, let me know, I'd be happy. Obviously it might not have the speed jobs is claiming but it will eventually gain it over time as apps are recompiled. Anyways, hats off ati for making it all work.
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Please try running UT2004 Mac PPC demo under Rosetta for me. If you have the full version try running Santaduck benchmark to see how PPC Macs and Intel Macs compare running this kind of CPU heavy game. It will be very interesting!

http://www.barefeats.com/im21b.html
 
Eidorian said:
X1600 is drool worthy as it is and it's a viable gaming GPU. I can't wait for a good education deal and my savings to go up enough. :D

I love the ability to upgrade the Power Mac but it's still to high for me. It's cheaper just to get a new iMac every two years.
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X1600 is a good gaming card but I don't think it will run ut2007 at maximum settings. From what I've read, ut2007 will require dual core CPU (which we have now) and a GPU on the level of a 7800 GTX to play at absolute max. If the 20 inch iMac gets x1800 256mb or better in 5 or 6 months, it will be absolutely perfect for all the new games coming out.
 
Lacero said:
What we really need is H.264 encoding. My 2-year PB can decode H.264 640x360x24 with a Nvidia 5200 no problem. It's the encoding that hurts.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​
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Currently only CPU is utilized in decoding/encoding ANY format. So your 5200 does nothing to aid ur CPU in his work.
 
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