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Topic: Processor hungry formats (Read 4402 times) previous topic - next topic
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Processor hungry formats

Hi

I have a basic understanding about the topic and the actors (mp3 being pretty good, complexity rising battery consumption), but I would really appreciate if someone could explain / point to an explanation about this

In short, for OS based devices (symbian, pocket pc, palm) which use flash storage (secure digital, ROM), Which audio formats will yield the longest playtime? ???


Thank you in advance!

Processor hungry formats

Reply #1 –
I think that all depends on your hardware and the software that you use for playback.  For example, I have a really old HP Jornada pocket PC and it gets about 6 hours of audio playback when using 128kbps VBR AAC files (via 3rd party software).  The same device gets about 8 hours when using -V 5 --vbr-new Lame mp3.  I have a newer (about 6 years newer) HP iPaq that, with the same software, gets 9 hours of playback using 128kbps VBR AAC.  The iPaq can get about 9.5 hours when using -V 5 --vbr-new Lame mp3.

So not only has the hardware improved over time but it has also become more efficient even when running the same software.  I imagine that Microsoft's Pock PC Windows OS has also become more efficient over time as well.  I think it all depends on the device type, manufacturer, hardware, software, and age of the device.

Processor hungry formats

Reply #2 –
Most lossless formats are pretty fast, most lossy formats are about the same, so you'll have to test on your specific device to see which is fastest.

Processor hungry formats

Reply #3 –
Thank you! I wouldn´t have imagined that lossless audio stood a chance when it comes to power drain.

Processor hungry formats

Reply #4 –
.... or, at the risk of being perceived to be blowing ones own trumpet.... Try lossyWAV & FLAC: circa 370kbps (--portable) high quality lossy in a lossless codec.
lossyWAV -q X -a 4 -s h -A --feedback 2 --limit 15848 --scale 0.5 | FLAC -5 -e -p -b 512 -P=4096 -S- (having set foobar to output 24-bit PCM; scaling by 0.5 gives the ANS headroom to work)

Processor hungry formats

Reply #5 –
Musepack is a very fast lossy codec (and, to my ears, delivers great quality), though compatibility may be an issue. It can't compete with lossless formats for speed, but I would consider it if filesize is a concern.
 

Processor hungry formats

Reply #6 –
Quote from: pppppp on
Hi

I have a basic understanding about the topic and the actors (mp3 being pretty good, complexity rising battery consumption), but I would really appreciate if someone could explain / point to an explanation about this

In short, for OS based devices (symbian, pocket pc, palm) which use flash storage (secure digital, ROM), Which audio formats will yield the longest playtime? ???


Thank you in advance!

Even an uncompressed wav may yield the longest life provided the flash storage takes less power to read the large data than the processor takes to decode a small compressed file.
If the device's processor has some DSP instructions (and these are used by the software player), it is likely to decode MPEG-like formats quite efficiently.