If, despite our
warning, you were still hoping that the
Zii was some sort of new form factor media player or maybe even a futuristic computer that could morph and change shape as needed, prepare to be a bit disappointed. Creative has revealed all, and while everything we know has indeed not changed (contrary to
earlier promises) we can now confidently tell you that Zii is a system-on-a-chip architecture for high-demand media applications, featuring numerous discrete processing elements that, to our untrained ears, sounds at its core a bit like Sony and IBM's
Cell. It's said to offer performance to rival a supercomputer, easy scalability to provide limitless growth (from gigaflops to petaflops), and some sort of integrated throttling to enable higher efficiency by shutting down disused aspects of the system. The first piece of hardware from this platform is called the ZMS-05 Media-Rich System-On-Chip, and companies like
MSI and PowerLinux have pledged their support, the latter of the two planning to use the processor for its embedded Linux video conferencing systems. We're definitely eager to see what sort of innovative uses come out of this new architecture, but for some reason we don't quite feel like the hype was warranted.
Update: Philip wrote in to let us know that the ZMS-05 is effectively just an updated and expanded version of 3DLABS's older
DMS-02 chip, which, while also impressive, didn't change everything we know either.
Update 2: Video added after the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted January 8th 2009 10:24AM
It's moot.... unless you think it can't make sound without a product....
Also...
It's an F'ing CE trade show.... this is the place where you show inovations for CE products....especially if you want it to be integrated into other people's products.
I'm slightly excited...but only slightly.
That's what Zii said?
I just saw the video. Speechless. HD videos on a PMP was one of the examples. The effort and innovation in this is awesome. Give them some credits guys, this is pure awesome.
Browse around the ziilabs.com website, it tells way more than engadget does, if not slightly biasedly. Sit through the whole video on the main page, it explains everthing. The chip isn't just two arm cores, those are just for general processing, it also has the multi-function PE's. just look at the chip diagram: http://www.ziilabs.com/content_images/zms_05_blockdiagram.png . If they can pull this off, it could be great for any range of products.
Sorry for the double post, but just notice the zii.com website has some nice tech demos showing the testing board actually useing the chip, including playback of Big buck bunny on a mesh while the mesh is being deformed, and dual screen support, as well as an actual gps demo.
...creative: we made a super computer that fits in a chip, in a device, in your hand...
...rest of world: AWESOME!...
...engadget: haha, its not ipod LOL ROFL OMG FAIL!!...
Yeah, thats pretty much how it is :p
I liked how during Microsoft's opening keynote, Engadget started complaining about it being too long. If it was Apples, Engadget would've blown its PSU all over Steve Job's face in happiness
It may be a pretty cool and powerful piece of hardware they've developed, but compared to the hype they've attempted to build, it's meaningless. Opinions are based on expectations and if creative didn't want to get beat up they shouldn't have built expectations so high.
Reality of the chip working as promised aside, do their current claims not meet the hype? A supercomputer at 1/100 the size. That sounds pretty revolutionary to me.
Gizmodo worships Apple, and Engadget hates Creative.
It's as I suspected, a disappointment:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/eyes-on-the-creative-zii-or-parts-of-it-anyway
This fellow( dboobis ) taunts otherwise.
But as the above post indicates the Zii is for Commericial applications not everyday users like me & you. Further, the Zii is for Media purposes only and does not scale up to everyday computing. dboobis might of said, well its not the chip that's the problem is the lack of software to accompany the chip; assuming this is the case, it is still as of now not a revolutionary product because of that.
The Zii is like the Cell chip in that they are video processing chips like those found in graphics processors and not designed for everyday computing even though the Zii can potentially reconfigure itself for the task; the PE are fundamentally designed for video processing unlike what some of the videos at Zii.com say.
The only thing that's revolutionary is that creative can pair up as many of these processors with next to no bottleneck, but how does that matter if this product is for commercial users only and does not revolutionize everyday day computing on our laptops and desktops? It doesn't.