[maemo-developers] DVD content playback possible or not? Re: Wishlist (was:Re: N800 and USB host mode)

[From: Hanno Zulla]

Hi,

>> I'd like support for the IVA (Imaging Video Accelerator) device to be
>> implemented, or at least for some more information to be made available if Nokia
>> can't justify the time.
>>
>> Rationale: 
>>
>> This hardware is supposed to be able to improve large image display and can VGA
>> decoding at up to 30fps. And again, it's just sat there.
> 
> Right now, the biggest bottleneck in video decoding is RFBI bandwidth
> (i.e. the bus between OMAP and the LCD controller we use), being too
> slow to push more than ~15fps through at 800x480.  Beefing up the
> processor-side decoding doesn't help.  We've been working on this and
> the next firmware update will give you significantly faster video (with
> a couple of caveats).
> 
> So it's mostly just down to the large image display, which more or less
> suffers from the same problem.  I don't think it would give us much
> benefit at all.

So from the hardware side, it is definitely no-matter-what-you-try
impossible to play DVD video content on the N800, even if there was help
from the DSP?

Video playback is my biggest wish for improvement on the N800. See
http://www.hanno.de/blog/2007/02/16/video-on-n800/ for some comparisons
of video playback on the N800 as it is today and how it could be on an
800x480 screen.

So far, I had hoped that the N800 might one day be able to play DVD
files from an SDHC card, once the existing hardware (as Simon noted) had
better support. Would be a giant pity if it's impossible.

Regards,

Hanno