2008-12-17, 01:55
althekiller Wrote:Money and ability to decode have fuck all to do with one another. Go to Sigmatel's website and read about their SoC line.
AlTheKiller meant "Sigma Designs" website.
SoC is "System on a Chip".
Basically, Sigma Designs has this small chip based on the ARM processor architecture that is VERY highly optimized to decode video, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (like xVid) and MPEG-4 AVC (h.264) and VC-1.
Because it's based on the ARM architecture, XBMC would have to be ported to that processor in order to run.
In addition, these Sigma Designs chips don't have any open-source libraries, so the only folks who can program for it are those who have a contract with Sigma to use their development kit.
Finally, these processors don't support OpenGL for 3D acceleration, which XBMC needs in order to properly render its GUI.
So yes, these cheap boxes do a good job of decoding video, but until
1) XBMC gets ported to the ARM architecture
2) Sigma Designs opens its driver source and provides the libraries we need
3) they support OPENGL 2.0
4) a developer finds it a compelling platform to port to...
It won't be possible.