Flash Player Receives GPU Support
Nvidia and Adobe are combining forces as part of the Open Screen Project.
As a result, Adobe's Flash Player will finally receive GPU support, covering a "wide range of mobile Internet devices" that include netbooks, tablets, mobile phones, and other portable devices that would otherwise choke of Flash animation rendering without GPU acceleration. The support will span across a wide range of Nvidia GPUs, including Tegra, enabling full H.264 video playback, "uncompromised" Web browsing, and content derived from Adobe Flash.
According to Nvidia, the purpose of the Open Screen Project is to provide a consistent runtime environment across multiple devices. Spearheaded by Adobe, the OSP's collective includes twenty-five industry leaders (including NBC Universal, LG, and Samsung), and seeks to enable the use of Adobe's Flash Platform as a foundation to provide web content and other applications on televisions, desktops, mobile devices, and other commonly used devices. With Nvidia GPU acceleration, portable devices will have the ability to render Flash graphics comparable to desktop PCs.
“NVIDIA and Adobe share precisely the same vision – visually compelling applications running on every device,” said Michael Rayfield, general manager, Handheld Business at NVIDIA. “Consumers don’t have to sacrifice streaming video performance on small inexpensive platforms such as netbooks. A Tegra-based platform enables the rich, smooth playback they expect from a desktop PC.”
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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Luscious I've got a better suggestion for Adobe - make Flash backward compatible! The latest version 10 crashes on notebooks that only have 64MB dedicated video cards. Older notebooks and simple netbooks are getting hammered by this. Flash is supposed to be a transparent support application - yet Adobe seems hell-bent on creating a resource hog that will now require high-performance GPU support to function. That approach will make any netbook sold within the last year worthless as a web browser in 12 months.Reply -
maximus559 Hope they plan to support all GPUs, not just NVIDIAs. That would be very disagreeable. Barring that possibility, awesome! -and about time too. I've been thinking that Flash should use graphics cards for years.Reply -
brendano257 How about working with Apple for iphone/ipod Flash? =D And make a *fully working* true 64 bit version...REALLY.Reply -
Tindytim brendano257How about working with Apple for iphone/ipod Flash? =D And make a *fully working* true 64 bit version...REALLY.What?Reply
Something doesn't work on an Apple product? But doesn't it "just work"?
THEY LIED TO ME!!! -
Adobe still doesn't have a 64-bit flash player for 64-bit browsers yet!Reply
Yet we aleady have 64-bit browsers - Both Internet Explorer and FireFox(shiretoko) 3.5 beta 4
They can't even fix the security holes in any of their software.
Now they are adding GPU support???
That's just another venue of attack they are adding if they can't get their act together with securing their software.
I hear there is plenty of complaints about their CS4 photoshop and other CS4 programs not to mention their customer support is worse than ever. -
@LusciousReply
".....will make any netbook sold within the last year worthless as a web browser in 12 months"
You warn people not to buy horribly under powered computers, but they inevitably do, and in less than 2 years the "not fast enough" complaints always start.
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what about On2 VP6 support, most flash video sites use that codec and its also the new JavaFX codec? More sites use VP6 than H264....Reply