Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Unreal 4 (Score 1) 951

This engine is now sporting the best real-time lighting tech available, as well as one of the most usable programming, mapping, and scripting systems to date. A single person can build a AAA quality game. And I doubt Epic is currently targeting OpenGL and Linux. :(

I realize this isn't a game, but it will be the basis for a multitude of future games.

Comment Re:OK, stick a fork in them, they're done. (Score 1) 743

The massive majority of Apple users aren't even aware of what Unix is, much less that a secondary Unix environment exists...
It's rather naive to consider it a large share of the *nix market when it isn't being used in that market. It would be far more intelligent to consider the number who utilize the core *nix features in counting the *nix market share number.

Also, the XNU kernel has enough changes for me to believe that it isn't even close to a Unix compatible setup. The Unix setup is more of an addition/emulation with it's own environment(from my observations of the file system and process structure). For goodness sake, X11 applications have to run on their own X Server which passes it's output back to the terrible X Server(if it could be called one) that Apple hosts on the Grand Central Dispatch emulation layer on the XNU kernel. As a Unix environment, it's the last thing I would ever voluntarily choose to use. I would rather use Cygwin or MinGW instead...

Comment Re:Most important question (Score 1) 165

If your laptop is having issues playing high-bitrate 1080-60p videos, then you might want to re-examine your disks IO rates and throughput consistency. It's likely that the bitrate is higher than what your drive can deliver, possibly because the drive is heavily fragmented and latency has increased. It's also possible that your laptop is severely clocking down your FSB, which would also potentially introduce problems. Almost any Dual-Core computer from the last 6 years could easily handle a 1080-60p video with a 30-40mbps stream with ease, and I'm being generously high on that bitrate number.

On the subject of PS3 playback, I cannot accept it as a legitimate decoding platform until it NATIVELY supports h.264 Hi10p and the Matroska video container. Why? Matroska has the highest level of flexibility and the widest support for not just video and audio codecs, but also integrated SSA and the highly-superior ASS format subtitle support. h.264 Hi10p not only expands the color depth, decreasing banding and increasing quality, but also produces a smaller file at the same bitrate compared to it's 8bit counter-part. In case this seems impossible, the increased depth improves the results for motion vector and qpel search, increases the quality of DCT's, and matches the CABAC encoder algorithm in such a way that the final losslessly compressed file is smaller. Since half of the current non-commercial video content is delivered in this way, it's kinda important.

http://x264.nl/x264/10bit_02-ateme-why_does_10bit_save_bandwidth.pdf

Also, the PS3 Media Server should not be considered in this discussion, as the video is decoded and rendered on the hostPC and the output is streamed to the PS3.

Comment Re:"moving irresistibly"? (Score 1) 673

...For games you just turn down the resolution.

And that is my complaint. LCD displays are notorious for their terrible up-scaling, and that has not changed. The rendered image will be blurry, this is a side effect of attempting to interpolate framebuffer information. At it's best, it will be a bi-cubic or bi-linear upscale. And that looks hideous. The point of this screen resolution is clarity, and framebuffer up-scaling is in direct opposition with this concept and unacceptable for the extremely high price-point of the device.

Comment Re:"moving irresistibly"? (Score 1) 673

Mac OSX has never been a gaming platform. Still, it would be wiser to let the other available technology catch up. This is a mismatched display/GPU solution, and time should be a serious factor here. This just provides more evidence as to why the Macbook series is considered by most geeks to be an extremely expensive Facebook platform. Despite that, putting a GTX 680M in this system is not an impossible task, especially for the "innovation" and "quality" expected from Apple. If the clock speed is sufficiently cut, and the vcore with it, the GTX 680M would provide the necessary power to drive a 2880x1800 screen in the area of gaming. It might be time for Apple to consider a more aggressive and efficient cooling setup, as my understanding of their current setup is quite humorous in nature, not unlike that of the Xbox 360. It is important to note that the GPU is not always tasked at 100%. The cooling fans would only need to provide extra noise and extra airflow under a game execution scenario. If one is going to select a 2880x1800 resolution framebuffer, then one must also select sufficient hardware. It's quite the cop-out.

(To save extraneous conversation, I do realize there is a cooling fan in the MBP, and that there is a front/bottom to hinge airflow pattern. When the system is disassembled, the cooling equipment is rather sparse and even with a fan seems far more passive in nature.)

Comment Re:"moving irresistibly"? (Score 5, Insightful) 673

If they matched a competent GPU with that 2880x1800 resolution, then I might agree with you despite the fanboi troll speak you are spewing, BUT a GT 650M is a despicably under-powered GPU for such a large framebuffer. At least have some pride and use a 680M. Good luck driving even a mediocre level of shader computation against that resolution. But hey, it makes Facebook and Word look pretty!

Comment Re:"I'm still waiting for my under $50 Macbook." (Score 1) 299

Not in the simulated sense, but in the motion smoothing sense. My apologies for picking the wrong descriptive adjective. I should have called it motion smoothing.

I meant to say that I hate the inertia/momentum effect. It gets in my way, as I tend to use the system as fast as possible which requires a precise and accurate display of the content. Smoothing effects do help build a flow during use, but inertia will break that flow slowing the user down some as they compensate.

Comment Re:$1200 is not a good price (Score 1) 299

I was specifically targeting new games. OS X has always been a few years behind on most titles that are ported except mainly Starcraft 2. Obviously, with boot camp, this can be dodged, but it doesn't change the fact that even the GPU is a few years behind in the quality vs price ratio. It's pretty good for a laptop with a 1680x1050 resolution screen, it's a terrible idea for a 2880x1800 resolution screen. Both Supreme Commander 2 and Quake 3 are absurdly old. Both have little in the way of shader content, relying mostly on polygon fill rate and texture fill rate. This is sounding strangely similar to Apple's phone and tablet series.

Comment Re:$1200 is not a good price (Score 1) 299

While such a high DPI looks great, there was this disconnect in the selection of a GPU. A 650M is capable of driving the Compositing of the desktop and that is about it. When it comes to shader processing on such a high number of fragments, the user will suffer. Granted, Apple has NEVER been known for giving a singular crap about gaming, but I feel they could have done a LITTLE better for the price.

Comment Re:"I'm still waiting for my under $50 Macbook." (Score 4, Insightful) 299

I have used it. It was inaccurate and clunky. I have NEVER needed to rotate a photograph inaccurately in increments smaller than 90 degrees. When I need to rotate something precisely, I enter the numeric value or use a mouse, where I have support for my wrist to allow precise control.

The zoom functionality works well when the application supports smooth zooming. Otherwise, it's just as clunky trying to pick one of 3 locked percentages. This is a functionality support issue.

The scrolling drives me nuts. I HATE physics emulated scrolling. A simple friction slowdown is far more controllable and intuitive TO ME.

I realize Apple user's quite enjoy their trackpad. I simply wanted to point out that there are some of us who find it gets in our way. It's not universally better, it's suited to it's target audience: you.

Slashdot Top Deals

"One lawyer can steal more than a hundred men with guns." -- The Godfather

Working...