zink-10 (3) Nov 01, 2006 - 02:51 pm » Edited on Nov 01, 2006 - 02:52 pm
It is a complicated topic but from what I know I will try to explain;
In terms of features VC-1 is somewhere between MPEG-4 ASP (XViD/DivX etc) and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) but the H.264 specification is pretty wide ranging from mobile devices like PDA's to studio broadcasts.
As so much is packed into the H.264 spec for retaining detail at lower bit-rates than other codecs it becomes more computationally expensive to decode.
At very high bit-rates the difference is less pronounced even compared to good old MPEG-2 which is why you don't really notice that much of a difference between VC-1 & H.264.
On the other hand you may find in the future when the studio production tools for H.264 have matured more movies will be using this to pack in more footage to a single disc & the difference vs VC-1 may be more visible .
zink-10 (3) Nov 01, 2006 - 12:03 pm » Edited on Nov 01, 2006 - 12:06 pm
Thanks for the reply I was thinking the same thing myself in regards HD-DVD with 720p & the CPU being good enough I hope it is.
If only CoreAVC 1.2 were able to playback HD-DVD content I have a feeling no GPU would be required for it in regards 1080p (that is speculation on my part though).
QuickTime isn't all that great a test though as Apple only implement part of the H.264 specification compared to others who use much more of the spec like x264 & NeroDigital, plus Apple's own decoder is pretty crap.
You should try taking some of your own MPEG-2 1080p material and encode with MeGUI/x264 high profile and see how the Cyberlink player and CoreAVC fair. If you have a look around the Doom9 forums I think there are some links to more H.264 content I've seen them come up from time to time.
Anyway thanks for the tests interesting results from Cyberlink might have to get myself an NVIDIA card.
Edit: Sorry messed up the reply should have been to your post Alan.
» 720p results I noticed in the article it was 1080p only would you include 720p results as well to see if the need for GPU assisted decoding is required or will CPU alone be enough ?
Also your CoreAVC results are different to the ones found at the link below. Cyberlink does better with NVIDIA perhaps ?
http://light.pcinpact.com/a-223-4-AVIVO-Haute-Definition.htm
CoreAVC trounces the Cyberlink H.264 GPU assisted player in my own experience but the CoreAVC team have no AACS support and GPU support seems to have been delayed.
