PS3 Encoding

[simontarr]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed already- if it has, my apolagies. I just find this an interesting topic, so would be good to get some discussion going

I'm just wondering about the encoding times of the new PS3s. I've heard of people installing linux on their machines so I'm just wondering if anyone has thought to do some x264 encoding tests. These cell processors are supposed to be mighty quick, so would be cool to see what FPS you can get.

Has anyone on these forums tried this, or even know if it's possible?

 

[nateDEEZY]

Well, now you have me wondering about other codecs that do run native on the PS3.

Well here's a tutorial on how to install ubuntu on the ps3
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=316047

I may actually want to try this, this weekend xD I now wonder if the PS3 can back up dvd's via the h.246 codec with some app in ubuntu (if it's available)

Edit, after further research it looks like by design sony locked down the machine to prevent any OS from taking advantage of it's graphics card.

 

[simontarr]

Yeah it would be interesting to see what could be run on it- all these terra/giga flops everyone brandishes about don't really mean much to most people- what would be good is seeing how quickly it could do 'normal' everyday tasks.

Why have they locked down the graphics card? Is it so that some OS (maybe Windows in the future??) couldn't be installed and used as a 'Gaming PC' console? With all those USB ports, wireless and power, it would be a cheap solution for an awesome PC.

 

[FireArse]

Edit, after further research it looks like by design sony locked down the machine to prevent any OS from taking advantage of it's graphics card.

OK...fine, run x264 to see what encode speeds you get through just the cell processor. The graphics card would help - but there's all sorts of circuitry that would help make encoding a breeze on one of those things

F

 

[simontarr]

OK...fine, run x264 to see what encode speeds you get through just the cell processor. The graphics card would help - but there's all sorts of circuitry that would help make encoding a breeze on one of those things

F

Could you explain that a bit further? I don't really have a clue about graphics cards cos I rarely play any games so they aren't 'important' to me. I think I read somewhere though that from a purely mathematical point of view, most graphics cards are able to perform many more calcluations per second than current x86 CPUs.

Are you also suggesting that the Radeon X1600 in my Mac could also be used in conjunction with my CPU to decrease encoding times?