Intel's Haswell Architecture Analyzed: Building a New PC and a New Intel
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 5, 2012 2:45 AM ESTHaswell Media Engine: QuickSync the Third
Although we still have one more generation to go before QuickSync can apparently deliver close to x86 image quality, Haswell doesn't shy away from improving its media engine.
First and foremost is hardware support for the SVC (Scalable Video Coding) codec. The idea behind SVC is to take one high resolution bitstream from which lower quality versions can be derived. There are huge implications for SVC in applications that have varied bandwidth levels and/or decode capabilities.
Haswell also adds a hardware motion JPEG decoder, and MPEG2 hardware encoder.
Ivy Bridge will be getting 4K video playback support later this year, Haswell should obviously ship with it.
Finally there's a greater focus on image quality this generation, although as I mentioned before I'm not sure we'll see official support in a lot of the open source video codecs until Broadwell comes by. With added EUs we'll obviously see QuickSync performance improve, but I don't have data as to how much faster it'll be compared to Ivy Bridge.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
245 Comments
View All Comments
Magik_Breezy - Sunday, October 14, 2012 - link
Probably real customer support without paying an extra $200Spunjji - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
Yawn.Spunjji - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
The bit that aggravates me the most is that even with this lavishing of review pages, the actual comparison of Apple products to competitors tends to lack (particularly with the Macbook article). This is understandable under some circumstances (iPhone battery life - new test, small selection of data points) but not for others.Arbee - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
I'm not really seeing any of that. AT's Android and Windows Phone reviews are just as in-depth and complementary where due as their Apple ones. AFAIK both Anand's and Brian's daily-driver phones aren't iPhones, even. They care about the tech, not who it comes from. It just happens that Apple is often the original source of new and interesting things in that space. At this exact moment they're the only people shipping something new and interesting. When the Nokia 920 launches, I'm confident Anand and Brian will be ready with a 15+ page review and discussion of anything novel on the podcast, and when Winter CES brings us Tegra 4 and other Android news, I expect to see eye-glazing levels of detail here at AT.(As an aside, I smiled at how closely DPReview's discussion of the alleged "purple haze" problem tracked Brian's rant on the podcast - clearly both writers know what they're talking about, which can be a rare quantity in tech journalism).
VivekGowri - Saturday, October 6, 2012 - link
I think Anand's daily driver is an iPhone, but he frequently carries the latest Android/WP device on the side. Brian and myself end up daily driving like a half dozen phones a month, depending on what shows up at our doorstep.Zink - Saturday, October 6, 2012 - link
"iPad 3 form factor" was used because all of the other tablets have 25Wh batteries and draw about 5W max. The A5X iPad and it's giant 42.5Wh battery on the other hand can put out over 10W of heat which is the power envelope where Intel might target a Haswell SOC.amdwilliam1985 - Monday, October 8, 2012 - link
I totally agree with you on the Apple part. That's the biggest pullback on reading Anand writings. Too much Apple praising.I used to be an Apple fan, but recently they're becoming the biggest jerks in the technology industry. The human/ethical part of in me hates them so much, that I won't buy anything that has a Apple logo on it.
I gave away my iPad 2, switched to Samsung Galaxy S phones, and using my HP windows 7 laptop over the 2011 MBA.
-say NO to bully, say NO to Apple.
xaml - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - link
Number of problems solved with this approach: NO.dartox - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link
Probably because most people know about how large an iPad is - if he said "tablet" form factor that's ambigious.. and if he said "Motorola XOOM" form factor not as many people are familiar with the size.Paer0 - Friday, October 5, 2012 - link
Yes... Macs are well engineered and deliver a solid performance across board.