PS3 Magic Truth or Fraud?

[kuro123qwer]

anyone used PS3 Magic? ps3magic.org

they say you can install Windows & Linux with its help

i wonder if its true :?:

unfortunately it not available for download

imagine H.264 Video encoding on PS3's Cell CPU

its faster than Intel i7 (at least i read someone saying that somewhere on net)

if you really can install Windows 7 with PS3 Magic's help it would be awe

[RikuoAmero]

as far as I understand computers, you wouldn't be able to install Windows 7. Win 7 requires at least 2GB RAM, and the PS3 has only 256MB. Plus, Win 7 runs on x86/x64 platforms, the PS3 is PPC. Completely different.

[rpm23]

The PS3 used to be able to install a "Cell" based version of linux, one of the more popular was called YellowDog, that the "Install Other OS" option has been removed in a firmware update a while ago. Some of the rumors floating around was it was because the jailbreak/homebrew that came out for the PS3, and sony though that removing it could help curb the exploitation.

You cannot install windows on it, but some people were able to install a VM on a linux install, and load Windows XP on the VM, but it ran so retiredly slow, that my original iPhone had a better chance of encoding video at a faster rate.

If you want fast video encoding pickup any Sandybridge processor, and pair it with a "Z68" chipset motherboard, and you can take advantage of "QuickSync" which will allow some supported software to do h264 conversion on the graphics cores which it very quick, but the quality is not up to par of a regular Handbrake conversion on the main processor.

With the opening up of the Cuda compiler for NVidia, i would like to see some ports of the x264 encoding libs/bins so that Handbrake could take advantage of the parallel processing, but i don't think we will see that anytime soon.

I've see commercial encoding programs that take advantage of AMD or NVidia GPUs to do encoding, but they are only so-so in quality, and buggy. I tried it on my main PC rig, but it kept on crashing because my GTX580's are in SLI.

Anyways, SHORT answer = NO

[kuro123qwer]

got it

---

if someone were to develop Live CD of Encoding Software that could take advantage PS3 Cell CPU directly w/o linux OS

just like PS3 Games that run directly

that would be cool

[RikuoAmero]

got it

---

if someone were to develop Live CD of Encoding Software that could take advantage PS3 Cell CPU directly w/o linux OS

just like PS3 Games that run directly

that would be cool

not likely mate. I'm not a programmer, but even I know something like that is just not a good ROI. As in, the amount of effort you would have to put in to do something like that, when you can just buy a cheap Sandy Bridge-based PC and encode far faster on that. Your suggestion would involve

1) Cracking the hypervisor

2) Either writing your own encoding software (imagine one guy writing software on par with Adobe/Sony Vegas etc) or somehow reverse-engineering existing software (difficult enough when commercial software programs like Adobe/Sony Vegas don't release their source code). If reverse-engineered, then you have to basically rewrite the software so that it works in a PowerPC environment (regular PCs and laptops use an x86/x64 environment, which is completely different from PowerPC, which is what PS3 has).

3) Burn the software to disc (relatively simple).

Even if you were to do all that, you wouldn't get terribly fast encoding speeds, at least not compared to a cheap PC with a mid-to-high end graphics card. The PS3 is years out of date, so why you'd want to depend on it for video encoding is beyond me.

[ZeroPenguins]

LMAO I laughed at that, there is no way a outdated PS3 hardware can beat an i7! And that is a fact!

[megaman007]

>CELL faster than i7

PFFT, now that's funny! Anyway, the best encoders are written to take advantage of your GPU because current gen highend GPUs can rape Sony's failed CELL processor. Last year ATI bragged about their GPU being capable of crunching over 4 teraflops, that's the maxload of 4 CELLs. You want encoding power, buy a good videocard and enable hardware encoding support. Don't fall for stupid gimmicks using dated tech.

[bezelbubba]

2005 tech !> new intel hotness sorry

yellow dog was a dog also, the ps3's RISC can crunch the hell out of things when coded to it, but with firmware patches limitingthe system i dont think any of these projects will get of the ground

[bubaiv]

nah.

Seems too good to be true :/

[rominzxx]

Actually when the PS3 supported linux, several years ago, you could've easily installed Windows XP onto the PS3. Unlike Linux you'd have to hold the power button to be able to switch back to the PS operating system and could potentially damage the console.