Jenn (Pocketables) has already made a post on this but I’d like to follow it up with a little more technical info.

Firstly, can I just say - 3Mbps MPEG-4 performance!

Yup, they updated the mplayer package and its really boosted the performance. I noticed it when I played my favorite 2mbps - Xvid/AC3 encoded “Best of Top Gear” DVD Rip. It was smoother than before. I checked the CPU performance and it was just sitting there picking its nose around the 35% mark. So I ripped a PAL VOB (DVD MPEG2 file) and encoded it into XVID/MP3 with a 2.7mbps bitrate at native PAL resolution. It flew! It was absolutely lovely. Not quite as lovely as the 6mbps WMV-HD sample that I use to demo videos on the i7210 but still, very very good.

And there’s a host of other enhancements too. Loads of Keyboard shortcuts for zero arm-movement when browsing on the sofa! An improved right mouse click and support for SSL-based mail protocols (Gmail uses this) are just some of the improvements. To be honest, they’ve covered all the software issues I had. Not bad for a point upgrade. You can even download the source if you fancy tweaking it further. [Check the Pepper forums out for developer action.]

This clip shows the Pepper playing back through a TV. Its only a composite signal but its very watcheable. Unfortunately the video doesn’t do justice to the quality of the playback but you’ll get the idea!

Click to download the wmv9 clip. 12MB. 

Well done to the Pepper team.

Steve.