Pixlet - Extremely processor intensive

Ricky

Ricky

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Just letting you guys know that if you have anything under a 700 MHz G4, it won't play any Pixlet encoded video over 400x300 very well at all. I tried encoding video like this and even my 800 MHz iMac choked pretty badly on it. :eek:

Jeez, there's so much new stuff in Panther that requires lots of processor power that it makes it seem like a lot of us are due for an upgrade. :rolleyes:

EDIT: Not only that, but it takes forever to encode as well... Reminds me of the good old days on my iMac DV 400 MHz. :eek:
 
And what are the benefits? I mean, why should someone do video pixlet encoding, when there are other nice and fast encodings?
 
Pixlet was created because Pixar(Steve's company) wanted to be able to send cinema quality video accross their network faster. You can imagine how big non-pixlet encoded video is. This is made mostly for high end video work where you'd have the latest greatest machine anyways.
 
During Keynote Steve Jobs said that Pixlet requires >=1GHz G4 CPU!!!

As for the benefits, according to Apple, are these:
"Pixlet is the first studio-grade codec for filmmakers. Pixlet provides 20-25:1 compression, allowing a 75MB/sec series of frames to be delivered in a 3MB/sec movie, similar to DV data rates. Or a series of frames that are over 6GB in size can be contained within a 250MB movie. Pixlet lets high-end digital film frames play in real time with any Panther Mac, without investing in costly, proprietary playback hardware."

I think that we will realize the real benefits at least a couple months (for some if ever) after Panther will be released...
 
This is for pros...with a raft of Dual 2GHz PowerMac G5s, Gigbit Ethernet, tossing massive video data around their networks!
 
The "minimum" for playing _half film resolution_ Pixlet encoded QuickTime movies was a 1 GHz G4.
 
Originally posted by Zammy-Sam
And what are the benefits? I mean, why should someone do video pixlet encoding, when there are other nice and fast encodings?
Click to expand...

The most important thing is that Pixlet is a frame based encoding so you can run it forward and backward or randomly jump anywhere. Basically all other encodings are tracking the changes from one frame to another so you cannot just get any frame you want from anystarting point. That doesn't matter if you are watching it but it is usless if you are editing.

-Eric
 
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