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I put this page together in response to questions about
which PowerBooks have built-in hardware DVD playback
support. All the info below is quoted directly from Apple's
hardware
devnotes. All actual content is Apple's, their
copyright, etc.
PowerBook G3 Series ('98 Wallstreet)
The video controller in the Macintosh PowerBook G3 Series
computers is an ATI RAGE LT IC operating on the PCI bus. The
RAGE LT IC has the following features:
- supports the flat-panel displays: the 12.1-inch at
SVGA (800 x 600) resolution and the 13.3 and 14.1-inch at
XGA (1024 x 768) resolution.
- The interface to the displays uses LVDS (low voltage
differential signaling).
- supports an external monitor at resolutions up to
1280 by 960.
- controls a frame buffer with 4 MB of storage.
- provides 2D and 3D acceleration.
- provides color space conversions and video scaling
for use with QuickTime and MPEG decompressors.
- It supports the Zoomed Video port from the CardBus
slot.
- With some external circuitry, it supports NTSC and
PAL external monitors.
PowerBook G3 Series '99 (Bronze keyboard/Lombard)
The display subsystem consists of an ATI Rage LT Pro
graphics controller IC, 8 MB of SDRAM on the main logic
board, and ports for external video monitors. The RAGE LT
Pro IC has the following features:
- 8 MB of dedicated SDRAM on logic board
- 2D and 3D acceleration engines
- digital video port, front-end and back-end
scalers
- CRT controller
- PCI bus interface with bus master capability
- supports its 14.1-inch flat-panel display at XGA
(1024 x 768) resolution, as well as using its scaling
function to display VGA (640 x 480) and SVGA (800 x 600)
at full screen
- display interface uses LVDS (low voltage differential
signaling)
- supports an external monitor at resolutions up to
1280 by 1024
- supports the Zoomed Video port from the CardBus
slot
ZiVA PC DVD Decoder
Some configurations have a built-in DVD decoder IC: a
ZiVA-PC made by C-Cube Microsystems. The IC provides video
support for a DVD drive in the expansion bay.
In addition to the video timing generation and DVD system
functions, the ZiVA-PC IC provides the following decoding
functions:
- Linear PCM audio decoding
- MPEG-2 audio and video decoding.
- AC-3 decoding and downmixing from 5.1 to 2 audio
channels
- The ZiVA-PC IC controls 2 MB of synchronous DRAM,
enabling the IC to provide full NTSC and PAL video
decoding.
PowerBook (FireWire Pismo)
The graphics controller IC is an ATI RAGE Mobility 128.
Along with 8 MB of on-chip SDRAM, the graphics IC contains
2D and 3D acceleration engines, front-end and back-end
scalers, a CRT controller, and an AGP 2X bus interface with
bus master capability.
The features of the RAGE Mobility 128 include
- 8 MB of embedded video SDRAM
- 2D and 3D graphics acceleration
- video acceleration
- support for MPEG decoding
- support for dual-display mode
- composite video output for a TV monitor
The interface between the graphics IC and the rest of the
system is an AGP 2X (accelerated graphics port, double
speed) bus on the Uni-N IC. To give the graphics IC fast
access to system memory, the AGP bus has separate address
and data lines and supports deeply pipelined read and write
operations. The AGP bus has 32 data lines and a clock speed
of 66 MHz.
The graphics IC uses a graphics address remapping table
(GART) to translate AGP logical addresses into physical
addresses. The graphics driver software can allocate memory
in both the on-chip SDRAM and the main memory.
The graphics IC supports the built-in flat-panel display
and an external monitor. The external monitor can either
mirror the built-in display or show additional desktop space
(dual-display mode). For information about the displays and
supported resolutions, see "Flat Panel Display" (page 64)
and "External Monitors" (page 65).
PowerBook G4 (Mercury 400/500)
The graphics controller IC is an ATI RAGE Mobility 128.
Along with 8 MB of on-chip SDRAM, the graphics IC contains
2D and 3D acceleration engines, front-end and back-end
scalers, a CRT controller, and an AGP 2X bus interface with
bus master capability.
The features of the RAGE Mobility 128 include
- 8 MB of embedded video SDRAM
- 2D and 3D graphics acceleration
- video acceleration
- support for MPEG decoding
- support for dual-display mode
- composite video output for a TV monitor
The interface between the graphics IC and the rest of the
system is an AGP 2X (accelerated graphics port, double
speed) bus on the Uni-N IC. To give the graphics IC fast
access to system memory, the AGP bus has separate address
and data lines and supports deeply pipelined read and write
operations. The AGP bus has 32 data lines and a clock speed
of 66 MHz.
The graphics IC uses a graphics address remapping table
(GART) to translate AGP logical addresses into physical
addresses. The graphics driver software can allocate memory
in both the on-chip SDRAM and the main memory.
The graphics IC supports the built-in flat-panel display
and an external monitor. The external monitor can either
mirror the built-in display or show additional desktop space
(dual-display mode). For information about the displays and
supported resolutions, see "Flat Panel Display" (page 62)
and "External Monitors" (page 63).
PowerBook G4 (Onyx 550/667 non-DVI)
The graphics controller IC is an ATI Mobility Radeon.
Along with 16 MB of on-chip DDR memory, the graphics IC
contains 2D and 3D acceleration engines, front-end and
back-end scalers, a CRT controller, and an AGP 4X bus
interface with bus master capability.
The features of the Mobility Radeon include
- support for 16 MB of DDR video memory
- 2D and 3D graphics acceleration
- video acceleration
- support for MPEG decoding
- support for video mirror mode
- support for dual-display mode
- S-video output for a TV monitor
The interface between the graphics IC and the rest of the
system is an AGP 4x (accelerated graphics port, quadruple
speed) bus on the Uni-N IC. To give the graphics IC fast
access to system memory, the AGP bus has separate address
and data lines and supports deeply pipelined read and write
operations. The AGP bus has 32 data lines and a clock speed
of 66 MHz.
The graphics IC uses a graphics address remapping table
(GART) to translate AGP logical addresses into physical
addresses. The graphics driver software can allocate memory
in both the on-chip SDRAM and the main memory.
The graphics IC supports the built-in flat-panel display
and an external monitor. The external monitor can either
mirror the built-in display or show additional desktop space
(dual-display mode). For information about the displays and
supported resolutions, see "Flat Panel Display" on page 58
and "External Monitors" on page 59.
PowerBook G4 (Ivory 667/800 DVI)
The contains the graphics controller IC along with 32 MB
of DDR memoryÑ16 MB internal and another 16 MB
external to the IC. The graphics IC, an ATI Mobility Radeon
7500, contains 2D and 3D acceleration engines, front-end and
back-end scalers, a CRT controller, and an AGP 4X bus
interface with bus master capability.
The features of the Mobility Radeon 7500 include
- graphics processor clock speed of 230 MHz
- memory clock speed of 183 MHz
- support for 32 MB of DDR video memory with 128-bit
interface
- 2D and 3D graphics acceleration
- transform acceleration
- lighting acceleration
- video acceleration
- support for MPEG decoding
- support for video mirror mode
- support for dual-display mode
- S-video output for a TV monitor
The interface between the graphics IC and the rest of the
system is an AGP 4x (accelerated graphics port, quadruple
speed) bus on the Uni-N IC. To give the graphics IC fast
access to system memory, the AGP bus has separate address
and data lines and supports deeply pipelined read and write
operations. The AGP bus has 32 data lines and a clock speed
of 133 MHz.
The graphics IC uses a graphics address remapping table
(GART) to translate AGP logical addresses into physical
addresses. The graphics driver software can allocate memory
in both the graphics SDRAM and the main memory.
The graphics IC supports the built-in flat-panel display
and an external monitor. The external monitor can either
mirror the built-in display or show additional desktop space
(dual-display mode). For information about the displays and
supported resolutions, see "Flat Panel Display" (page 55)
and "External Monitors" (page 57).
PowerBook G4 (Ivory 867/1gHz DVI)
The contains the graphics controller IC along with either
32 MB of DDR memory in the 867 MHz computer or 64 MB of DDR
memory (32 MB internal and another 32 MB external to the IC)
in the 1 GHz computer. The graphics IC, an ATI Mobility
Radeon 9000, contains 2D and 3D acceleration engines,
front-end and back-end scalers, a CRT controller, and an
AGP4x bus interface with bus master capability.
The features of the Mobility Radeon 9000 include
- graphics processor clock speed of 200 MHz
- memory clock speed of 200 MHz
- support for 32 MB of DDR video memory with 64-bit
interface
- support for 64 MB of DDR video memory with 128-bit
interface
- 2D and 3D graphics acceleration
- transform acceleration
- lighting acceleration
- video acceleration
- support for MPEG decoding
- support for video mirror mode
- support for dual-display mode
- S-video output for a TV monitor
- support for programmable pixel and vertex
shading
The interface between the graphics IC and the rest of the
system is an AGP4x (accelerated graphics port, quadruple
speed) bus on the Uni-N IC. To give the graphics IC fast
access to system memory, the AGP bus has separate address
and data lines and supports deeply pipelined read and write
operations. The AGP bus has 32 data lines and a clock speed
of 133 MHz.
The graphics IC uses a graphics address remapping table
(GART) to translate AGP logical addresses into physical
addresses. The graphics driver software can allocate memory
in both the graphics SDRAM and the main memory. The graphics
IC supports the built-in flat-panel display and an external
monitor.
The external monitor can either mirror the built-in
display or show additional desktop space (dual-display
mode). For information about the displays and supported
resolutions, see "Flat-Panel Display" (page 59) and
"External Monitors" (page 60).
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