Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

A couple of weeks ago I talked about the OQO Model 2, a micro-PC capable of supporting Microsoft’s Vista Ultimate. The Model 2 is loaded with features like a USB 2.0 port and a HDMI-out. These features got me excited about the potential of the Model 2 as a HD Tivo since Window’s Media Center is built into Vista. All it would take is a USB HD tuner card and a portable antenna. Did the Model 2 have the processing power to handle HDTV?

I e-mailed OQO’s press contact to get more details on the processing power of the Model 2. They forwarded my question to their tech folks who responded:

If the customer is actually asking whether or not native HD content at 1080i (1920×1080) will run well, the answer to that is likely not. HD content from Apple has problems even at 480p (720×480). Most of the higher resolution content is also encoded in a way that is CPU intensive and will probably max out our CPU and result in dropped frames and a poor video playback experience. If the question is whether or not we can drive a monitor at 1920×1200 externally, the answer to that is yes, for the most part. We are trying to resolve a bug involving noise, but assuming that it is fixed, we should be able to drive two external monitors at up to 1920×1200 each.

In short, the Model 2 won’t be capable of being a portable HD Tivo, which is not surprising considering the processing power required. It will be able to drive an external monitor at resolutions up to 1920X1200 (which translates to 1080p). The unit has a native resolution of 800×480, which is still better than DVD quality so it still has potential as a portable media device, just not a portable HD digital video recorder.

The Model 2 is expected to be available in sometime in April.