Intel Atom-Based Mac Mini Due in March?

[DoFoT9]

Forgot to quote this post.

Apple TV actually uses a Pentium M.

pentium whatever it is, it wont be able to play BR stock - ever, even with say the 9400M it would be struggling a bit (at least at BR data rates)

The only way to get blu-ray playback in the Apple TV would be for Apple to write software that takes advantage of the GPU. Even Core 2 Duos can't reliably decode blu-ray discs loaded with H.264 or VC-1 video.

this wouldnt solve the problem. the TV isnt capable of playing BR.

higher clocked C2D machines can very well decode BR, as long as all your hardware is HDCP compliant.

Thats why the Apple TV is limited to 720p. All the video decoding is done on the CPU. The GeForce 7300 in the Apple TV is more than capable of decoding and playing blu-ray video. The problem is that Apple TV's software nor OS X support full hardware acceleration for video.

i dont know where your getting your information, but the 7300 isnt HDCP compliant, meaning it cannot decode and play BR movies nor can it handle the power requirements of the movies, it is only capable of playing 720p movies as you have said.

the main thing here:

could it play a lower bit rate movie that has been ripped - yes.

could it play BR directly - no.

 

[albusseverus]

You'd have to be extremely negligent to be able to successfully scratch them. They're almost scratch proof.

Anyone else giggle at this part?

Actually, the funny part is that when CDs were released, it was claimed that scratches wouldn't interfere with playback. How far we've come… now we need a protective coating!

Don't know why everyone's getting so worked up about Blu-ray, Macs have been able to create HD content in iMovie since 2005. If Steve was going to give you a Blu-ray burner, you would have it by now. Sony Vaios have had Blu-ray burners since 2005 !

iMovie doesn't even have BD 5/9 (DVD/DL), HD on DVD discs, so we aren't going to see it on Blu-ray discs either.

Note that none of this has anything to do with copyright holders and prohibitive licensing practices. This is just you and I making our own HD content at home and Apple not 'believing' in the disc as video output media.

In 2007, Steve joked about nobody using discs any more when he demoed iLife 08 and NOTHING has changed.

As I haven't bought a DVD since BDs became available, and I'd dearly love to be able to play back the movies I buy, but I'd settle for BD read & write for iMovie and no commercial movie playback, if only Apple would start 'supporting' Blu-ray!

You can't have anything that shows up the quality of iTunes downloads, so give up on Blu-ray now.

Atom Macs would be able to play back iTunes "HD", so be thankful and quit whinging about Blu-ray.

 

[mosx]

pentium whatever it is, it wont be able to play BR stock - ever, even with say the 9400M it would be struggling a bit (at least at BR data rates)

This is only true with Apple written software. Apple's software (OS X, Apple TV OS) does not take full advantage of the GPU.

If Apple had something equivalent to DXVA, the Apple TV would have no problem playing blu-ray discs.

Why?

Because with DXVA you get full bitstream decoding. Meaning the GPU does ALL of the video work.

All the CPU has to do is demux the stream, send the audio off to the audio processor (or do it itself if its that sort of audio hardware), and send the raw video stream to the GPU. The GPU will do all of the work decoding the stream, processing it, scaling it, whatever needs to be done.

So yes, the Apple TV with its current GeForce or the 9400M is very capable of playing blu-ray video. The problem is Apple's software. Not the hardware.

this wouldnt solve the problem. the TV isnt capable of playing BR.

higher clocked C2D machines can very well decode BR, as long as all your hardware is HDCP compliant.

No, they cannot. Go over to AVS and do some research. The only way ANY currently available machine can play blu-ray is with Windows using DXVA and a GPU that supports full bitstream decoding.

The only way a CPU would be able to playback blu-ray discs is if it was an MPEG-2 blu-ray. But those look awful and have been phased out anyway. None of the Core 2 Duos can reliably decode and playback H.264 and VC-1 at current blu-ray bitrates.

Don't point to Apple's 1080p trailers or downloaded movies either. Those tend to not even be encoded at 1/5 the bitrate that blu-ray uses.

i dont know where your getting your information, but the 7300 isnt HDCP compliant, meaning it cannot decode and play BR movies nor can it handle the power requirements of the movies, it is only capable of playing 720p movies as you have said.

HDCP has nothing to do with decoding. HDCP is the DRM for the HDMI cable. Its entirely up to the manufacturer of the board to include HDCP support. HDCP wasn't "built-in" to lower end GPUs until recently. It was entirely optional. But it is possible. If the Apple TV was not HDCP compliant that would be Apple's fault.

But, again, the GeForce 7300 has full bitstream decoding support for H.264 and VC-1 and can play blu-ray discs. It says so right on nvidia's product pages.