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Transcoding in 1/5 the Time with Help from the GPU
mikemuch writes "ExtremeTech's Jason Cross got a lead about a technology ATI is developing called Avivo Transcode that will use ATI graphics cards to cut down the time it takes to transcode video by a factor of five. It's part of the general-purpose computation on GPU movement. The Aviva Transcode software can only work with ATI's latest 1000-series GPUs, and the company is working on profiles that will allow, for example, transcoding DVDs for Sony's PSP."
You can probably clock it around 30-40Mhz if your interface isn't too stupid. AES on a PPC probably takes the same time as a MIPs which is about 1000-1200 cycles.
I was considering just modding this down, but other ignorant people would probably waste mod points modding it back up, so I thought I'd reply instead. It's fine that you're an amateur cryptographer, but that is a completely different field than computer engineering and doesn't qualify you to make statements about it. I have no doubt your figures were pulled out of your ass and come from complete ignorance of computer architecture.
That said, you actually demonstrated your ignorance right away by showing that a) you don't know what FPGAs actually are and b) you don't know what ASICs are. Apparently, according to you, FPGAs aren't made from silicon, they're made from fluffy bunny pixie dust (or some other substance, you never specified). Also, you apparently don't realize that ASIC stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit, meaning a chip designed for a specific purpose.
A PPC is very much the antithesis of an ASIC. Now, I suppose it's understandable that an expert in the field might get confused about an ASIC and classify something which is the exact opposite of it as one, so I guess I can excuse that.
E.g. want something to drive your USB, LCD and other periphs without paying to go to ASIC? Drop an FPGA in the thing. I assure you controlling a USB or LCD device is much more efficient in an FPGA than in software on a PPC.
Ignoring the fact that a PPC is not an ASIC, there are plenty of microcontrollers and various ASICs with built in features that make this easy which are cheaper than FPGAs. Now, if you were familiar with computer engineering (which you aren't--you're talking out of your ass), you'd know that. Hell, if you had even bothered looking at the development hardware for FPGAs you'd know that. FPGAs have their purposes, but your broad sweeping generalizations about them simply aren't accurate, especially when you're suggesting paying up the ass when there are much cheaper alternatives, in ASIC and other forms.