GP2X Use Of The Video Processor As An Fpu?


nubie

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I just want to check with those in the know, this chips' Video Processor core seems to have gobs of raw math power (obviously, considering it can do Divx Frames real-time aided by an ARM9), so is it a possibility to use this at all? Maybe code a simple FPU that uses any of the functions to speed up stuff. Or at least help me understand what functions this could speed up.

mp2520f.pdf:
1.8 VIDEO PROCESSOR
MP2520F’s Video Processor can support multiple standard video codec functionality including MPEG4, DivX
3.11/4.x/5.x and JPEG standard. The Video Processor consists of multiple macro-functional H/W blocks including
VLD/VLC, DCT/IDCT, Q/IQ, ME, MP, MC, De-Block, De-Ring and SP(stream packet processor).

So is this a possibility? Anyone with programming knowledge of the MMSP2 can let me know, keeping in mind this is the Developer's forum I don't need to see PSP style flaming happening and drowning out the people trying to provide information.

If anyone familiar with video compression could also go through these one by one explaining them, or post a quote or a link to a page that does explain them, that would be very helpful to me too.
 
I guess the big questions are:

Can you execute arbitrary code on it?

How long does it take to get your data there and back?

I doubt you could use this like a standard FPU, but you could possibly use it like a vector unit to do transforms or something.

I hope the upcoming demo competition will show us what this little guy is capable of.
 
I don't think you can execute arbitrary code on the video processor. The coprocessor would be better for that ;)
However I do not know if it would be possible to make an FPU out of the video processor
 
dockthepod posted on Jul 2 2006 at 08:51 AM said:
I guess the big questions are:

Can you execute arbitrary code on it?

How long does it take to get your data there and back?

It's more like a stream processor of what I could understand from docs. You have some functional blocks for (DCT for an example) and data flow between those blocks can be changed. It's main function of 940T core when doing video playback. It's controlling the VP and its flow.

dockthepod posted on Jul 2 2006 at 08:51 AM said:
I doubt you could use this like a standard FPU, but you could possibly use it like a vector unit to do transforms or something.

That's depends - it does look quite flexible to me. Docs clearly state that it can encode too and perhaps there will be way to exploit it further. I doubt it will be possible to use it as a generic FPU but for some kind of maths it might be very handy.

dockthepod posted on Jul 2 2006 at 08:51 AM said:
I hope the upcoming demo competition will show us what this little guy is capable of.

Not from me. I'm focusing on strict Arm assembler coding. My first effort in Arm coding exceeded my expectations. The second should be vastly better and I'm not counting on the 940T core yet.
 
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