[maemo-developers] DVD content playback possible or not? Re: Wishlist

[From: Hanno Zulla]

Hi Daniel,

>> DVD content is MPEG-2 video, which the N800 cpu should be able to
>> decode. But DVD video is 720x480 at 30 fps (NTSC) or 720x576 at 25 fps
>> (PAL), so reading from your previous message, I fear that the hardware
>> is just incapable of playing it... Or isn't it?
> 
> Unfortunately this is definitely not possible.  A quick
> back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that we're only able to put
> about 7fps through at PAL even with the newer firmware.  This is a
> pure hardware limitation, and not something we can work around in
> software.  You'd have to reduce to about 400x320 at 25fps, or 500x400
> for roughly 15fps.

Boy, what a disappointment. I mean, really.

TI is advertising the chipset used in the N800 as dvd-capable and I had
the impression that the hardware was there, "only" the missing video
acceleration and dsp drivers were stopping us from watching full-screen
30fps video on the device.

I had also thought that a dsp had its own path to the video screen so
that it could decode video on its own.

I really, really like the N800 and Maemo is as cool as it can get, so
congrats on you guys' work so far.

But this is sad to hear.

Regards,

Hanno