Audio time-compression (Was: On 80 columns should (not) be enough for everyone)

[Ulrik Mikaelsson]

I might be wrong, I hardly ever get to touch things that low-level,
unfortunately.

However, I think the DSP:s included in most STB:s are severely limited
in how much you can twist them. AFAIU, that's one quiet important
aspect of the whole HTML5 video-codec debacle. I.E. in the boxes I
work with, the entire video-processing-chain is done in one pipe-line,
separated from the CPU almost directly at the network-interface, and
color-keyed back with other graphics in the very last rendering-step.
(Much as the old Voodoo2-cards worked.)

>From the economics stand-point, there's a HUGE cost-focus on them, so
every chance of removing costs from hardware is taken.  Every dollar
saved on hardware is roughly a dollar on the bottom-line, and in the
volumes STB:s sell, that's millions of dollars. Sure, software costs
might go up, but not likely by millons of dollars yearly. I.E. even if
you CAN use the DSP-components to post-process audio, I would not be
surprised to learn it hasn't got the power to do it simultaneously
with video-playback.

Again, I don't work low-level enough to tell for sure, and TiVo might
spend a lot more on the hardware than I'm used to, but hardware
limitations in this industry is a very real challenge, especially for
things like post-processing. I too would love 2X playback with working
audio though. :)

2011/1/31 Walter Bright <newshound2 at digitalmars.com>:
> Ulrik Mikaelsson wrote:
>>
>> Of course, I don't know what HW the Tivo is using, perhaps they're just
>> lazy. :)
>
> I thought that DSP's were programmable.
>