3 queries: GPU acceleration & custom Native features

[haddy]

Hi max and forum,

I would like to know two things:

1. Would Poweramp in future ever consider or need to take advantage of GPU accleration? That is availaible in some devices e.g. Nvidia Tegra chip SoC's (CUDA) or otherwise ones from Samsung, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments etc. - Would this make audio playback, library browsing and seeking "super" smooth or is GPU accel not needed that much?

2. In another user post on this forum regarding HTC Desire HD, someone mentioned 'Dolby' - would or is it possible for Poweramp to access those type of features that the manufacturer add's to their devices e.g. Dolby Surround Sound

3. final question, how much has Gingerbread update from Android benefited Poweramp? Gingerbread added native support for Equalizer in the SDK right? As well as support for encoding audio in .acc? I would like to know how much Gingerbread has benefited Poweramp so far NDK/SDK wise?

[admin]

Hi,

1. PowerAMP already uses NEON SIMD instructions to accelerate (or, actually, to take less cpu/battery) codecs and equalizer DSP. (Btw Tegra2 doesn't support NEON.) There are plans to use opengl accelerated graphics for album art animation/visualizations. I just can't invest resources into graphics while I have a lot of todo related to audio quality and library. It's matter of priorities.

2. no, as apis are closed, not documented, etc.

3. no actual benefits. 2.3 new audio subsystem is a bit buggy currently, but it's improved constantly by Android devs. For example, there is a bug with bt connection/disconnection - this can stop all audio on 2.3 device until reboot, another issue is that new audio subsystem doesn't go idle as fast as in 2.1-2.2 androids, i.e. it takes more battery while idle due to the audio dsp running.

2.3 Equalizer is 5 bands, no preamp. And it takes more cpu/battery comparing to PowerAMP NEON optimized 12 band equalizer.

Thanks!

[haddy]

max,

thank you for such great informative answers It's always good to know these things.

Since making this topic, I did some research a little more into CPU's/GPU's on mobile devices. Turns out that the next Tegra 3 a.k.a Kal-El has support for NEON instructions PLUS 1080p H.264 High Profile video support - both things that Tegra 2 missed out on.

Samsung Galaxy S2 is soon to be released and it's Exynos 4210 SoC on the GT-I9100 DOES have support arm NEON support 8-) ..and is a phone that I am surely looking to get; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_II

thanks again.