Thomson launches the Firecoder Blu, a graphics card with dedicated video encoding (MPEG2, MPEG4, AVCHD, H.264,…). First, the term “graphics card” is misleading. This is not a graphics card in the sense that most of us understand. It does not have a monitor plug. It’s more a dedicated adapter with functions of encoding-decoding video. To transcode (convert from one format to another) it can save your time, if it’s programmed in a right way.

Decoding is easy: Nvidia, ATI and Intel have all graphics chips for that cost within $10 (wholesale prices). Between the three, Nvidia can transcode video with Bababoom, Intel passes through the central processor.

With a price of $539 (¥52,290 in Japan) for the Firecoder Blu, we have questions. Who would be crazy to buy a co-processor which is twice slower than the CPU of the PS3, while the GeForce GTX 280 is within $450? We would like to know what are the forecasts for sales…

Tags: Graphics cards, Peripherals, Thomson

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Peripherals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.