nVidia likely to remain accelerated video king?

[clearer]

Wow. You don't see it, so it must not be there, right? LOL.
I will GUARANTEE that your video card, whatever it is, has TONS of proprietary firmware.

Trust me, it doesn't.

Meaningless....

Exactly.

Well, we can see what you use your computer for...
Here's a suggestion: GET OUT OF YOUR DARK CAVE AND GET LAID!

I'm just going to ignore that part of the trolling.

And.... EVERYTHING HAS IT. Doesn't matter HOW blinded you are to that fact.

True, if something exists and I don't see it doesn't make it go away, but trust me, on this one: the only part of my computer that runs any kind of binary blob "firmware" is my wifi.

[droidhacker]

Yes, but the difference here is, how much of your "open" driver is actually open? Almost none of it, since they crammed the majority of the meaningful code into the firmware.

I don't have to download some firmware file for my video card, one driver is enough. Sound, too. Most hardware ships with a static firmware which never leaves the device. Yours doesn't.

What are you getting so upset over?

Mine?
I'm sorry, but I do NOT work for broadcom.
Where did you come up with such a stupid idea?

Oh, I feel like stripping the proprietary firmware out of your mainboard and CPU. We'll see just how much it can do after that.

[droidhacker]

Trust me, it doesn't.

What video card do you have?
Nvidia?
Oh look, here's the FIRMWARE UPDATE UTILITY for nvidia: http://download.guru3d.com/NVIDIA-Fi...load-1425.html

AMD?
Have a look in /lib/firmware/radeon. Notice anything?
Yep, a whole bunch of FIRMWARE.
But that's not all the firmware... there's also the stuff that's stored on the card itself!

I'm just going to ignore that part of the trolling.

Cry baby. Cant eat your own sh**.

True, if something exists and I don't see it doesn't make it go away, but trust me, on this one: the only part of my computer that runs any kind of binary blob "firmware" is my wifi.

BIOS, CPU, GPU, HARD DISK <-- yep, even your hard disk has firmware. Optical drive.

IT ALL HAS FIRMWARE!!!

[mirv]

@clearer: the video card will have firmware on it. Closed source. Just like motherboards, hard drives, cd/dvd/whatever-drives, ethernet cards, the list goes on.
I think perhaps you're mistaking firmware for something else (drivers).

[mugginz]

@droidhacker, given that you support the concept of closed firmware on a Linux desktop I guess you have no problem with nVidia's driver.

[IsawSparks]

You can't play bluray on linux to begin with, so how is that relevant?
Editing videos? So you're previewing two videos simultaneously? Good luck observing where you screwed up when your focus is split between two...

Don't try to detract my point by making up personal attacks with completely illogical rubbish. One HD Stream is not enough, even ATI know this and supply capability for this in Windows, just as Nvidia does on Windows AND Linux.

Bluray rips can be viewed in Linux, the actual media itself cannot.

What's your point?
That open source is a myth?
The point that ***I*** am making is that it is AS OPEN AS ANYTHING ELSE, and typically MORE open (certainly more open than ncrapia).

No, it's as open as any BINARY BLOB. The Broadcom HD drivers are just application interfaces to the firmware, which is like nvidia-glx and CUDA only not as extensible, well supported or documented. In short, your solution is a poor one because it's actually you who doesn't understand what you're talking about.

Isn't fixed? Evidence points to the contrary.
In fact, I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that there was EVER an issue.

Talk is cheap. My investigation showed me that there are no working Linux implementations at all and that so far only OSX Mac's have a working driver which supports on 720p MKVs under Xbox Media Center, 1080P doesn't work. Show me evidence which proves me wrong.

As I said... IT IS AS OPEN AS ANYTHING ELSE.
If you are of the opinion that it isn't open, then NOTHING IS.
Your arguments prove NOTHING.


Therefore, by your logic, there is NO SUCH THING as open source.

No, not at all. But in this case the Broadcom HD solution is the same as any closed source binary blob. Once again, you don't know enough about the subject matter

Nvidia's drivers are CRAP. I would absolutely NOT be willing to suffer with their garbage drivers just for unreliable and very badly broken video decode acceleration.

Opinions. Not facts.

I have factual experience that everything you've just said regarding nvidia binary drivers in Linux and Windows runs contra to what you've just said.

I can play ALL my HD content at proper res, full rate and with all post processing enabled with 100% stability.

[kazetsukai]

I have factual experience that everything you've just said regarding nvidia binary drivers in Linux and Windows runs contra to what you've just said.

I can play ALL my HD content at proper res, full rate and with all post processing enabled with 100% stability.

Ditto.

I don't know where they're coming up with "broken" and "crappy" video playback. Of any of the configurations I've tested, mplayer + vdpau produced the best video quality and was rock-solid stable.

[mugginz]

Ditto.

I don't know where they're coming up with "broken" and "crappy" video playback. Of any of the configurations I've tested, mplayer + vdpau produced the best video quality and was rock-solid stable.

Indeed. Also MythTV is also a lot happier with vdpau around.

He'll probably argue you don't need it for a HTPC but I'd rather not have a 300W monster running 24/7 under my TV.

[clearer]

@clearer: the video card will have firmware on it. Closed source. Just like motherboards, hard drives, cd/dvd/whatever-drives, ethernet cards, the list goes on.
I think perhaps you're mistaking firmware for something else (drivers).

I was under the impression that the word firmware was referring to binary blobs that has to be loaded, by the operating system, before the device will work, which is just a driver component. Of those, I only have one currently in use on any of my computers.

A burnt-into-the-device software component (i.e. an actual firmware) is something else entirely. Debating the burn-into-the-device firmware as open source is just an extension of the debate over whether or not hardware has to be open or not -- pointless, since you can't verify what you're running nor change it if you could verify it.

[mirv]

I was under the impression that the word firmware was referring to binary blobs that has to be loaded, by the operating system, before the device will work, which is just a driver component. Of those, I only have one currently in use on any of my computers.

A burnt-into-the-device software component (i.e. an actual firmware) is something else entirely. Debating the burn-into-the-device firmware as open source is just an extension of the debate over whether or not hardware has to be open or not -- pointless, since you can't verify what you're running nor change it if you could verify it.

Typically "firmware" in most circles refers to the burnt/flashed/whatever software on the component itself.
Open source firmwares do exist (e.g coreboot), although I'll admit I'm not very familiar with any of them.