As game creators of the XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP have come to realize, the Zune 30 does perform better on games than its more recent siblings.  The performance difference can all be traced to the screen:

"     The resolution between the V1 device and the new V2 devices are exactly the same, 240x320. However there is one difference that can change the way the game behaves due to the screen. On the Zune 30 the screen refreshes at 60 Hertz or 60 times a second. On the Zune 4, 8, and 80 the Zune screen only refreshes at 30 Hertz or 30 times a second. While the difference isn't that perceptible to users it saves battery life on the device. When we worked on porting the XNA Framework to the Zune we did a lot of work behind the scenes to save battery life."

To be clear, the difference is focused on battery life.  The human eye cannot definitively distinguish the difference between refresh rates of 30 FPS or 60 FPS unless you put them side by side (for example, video formats have long been formatted in 24 frames per second since anything faster is worthless - as a video editor, I know this).

Another tidbit of info is on the processor:

"    The processor between the Zune 30 and Zune 4, 8, and 80 is pretty much exactly the same. However the processor in the Zune V2 runs at 399Mhz compared to that of 524Mhz on the Zune 30. Again, this all comes down to battery life which the new series of Zune's enjoy more of and it's still plenty of power to play music, view movies or even play games. While it seems like a lot of raw megahertz and is it, you'll probably notice that in reality the device isn't all that different. However as a developer if you're just measuring raw FPS, it's not really giving you a proper measure of the devices capabilities, especially on Zune."

Hope that helps you understand a little more in the Zune world.

Comments

Add New Search

koty183 - I found this out a while back.     | Registered | 2008-06-29 17:12:17 I was wondering why the zune 80 looked slower and had choppier framerates in comparison to the zune 30. Go to youtube and search for koty183 in users. I have a few videos about it. Reply | Quote 4   0

David - Incorrect about video frame ra   | 71.188.240.xxx | 2008-06-29 22:26:03 >> (for example, video formats have long been formatted in 24 frames per second since anything faster is worthless - as a video editor, I know this). This is an over-simplification of things. Video (in the US) is typically 24, 30, or 60fps. (in PAL countries it's 24/25 or 50fps.) Movies (film, and digital intended to look like film) and recent HDTV television shows intended to look like movies are 24fps. The vast majority of television shows ever produced are on 'video' - formatted at 30FPS or 60i (60 half frames). The interlacing helps sporting events (see below) look reasonable at only 30 complete frames since the screen updates half the image 60 times a second, and the older half is already fading (on a CRT - LCDs and other non-phosphor displays need to do work to reconstruct frames that look reasonable - relatively easy for flagged movie data where the original 24fps can be rebuilt, very difficult for true 60i content because combining the frames looks terrible (like a comb.) ... Reply | Quote 3   1

lalokuyo - LOL     | 189.154.54.xxx | 2008-06-30 21:33:33 So even if the zune v2 is supposly better the zune30 is let's say more powerful because it has a better processor? http://gadgetboards.blogspot.com/ Reply | Quote 0   0

Anonymous - re: LOL   | 86.143.92.xxx | 2008-06-30 23:04:38 lalokuyo wrote: [col or=gray][/color] So even if the zune v2 is supposly better the zune30 is let's say more powerful because it has a better processor? http://gadgetboards.blogspot.com/ From what i gathered, they have the same processor, but they (MS) underclocked it on the 4/8/80's to save battery Reply | Quote 0   0

Anonymous   | 24.192.135.xxx | 2008-07-02 17:47:46 If the Zunev2's screen was 30Hz, they'd all have epilepsy by now. It's 30 FPS. Reply | Quote 0   8

jason - mr   | 154.5.187.xxx | 2008-07-05 08:30:38 zune is a total piece of junk, I got error screen and the battery only last for a day (a day of idling) Reply | Quote 0   12

nathanlawliet   | 67.235.157.xxx | 2008-07-10 03:45:44 To koty183: I totally agree. I was wondering how come the 30 seemed to run faster than the 80. This article just cleared up a big question for me. Reply | Quote 0   0

ahmedoo - ahmedoo     | 82.114.160.xxx | 2008-07-10 20:20:33 http://www.ibb7.com http://forums.ibb7.com http://soft.ibb7.com http://sounds.ibb7.com http://link.ibb7.com http://www.ibb7.com http://www.nshedy.com http://forum.nshedy.com http://www.uymni.com http://video.nshedy.com http://www.nshedy.com/dir http://www.ibb7.com http://forums.ibb7.com/index.php http://forums.ibb7.com http://soft.ibb7.com http://sounds.ibb7.com http://link.ibb7.com http://forums.ibb7.com Reply | Quote 0   5

Zuneless - re:   | 71.163.4.xxx | 2008-08-31 15:08:54 Anonymous wrote: If the Zunev2's screen was 30Hz, they'd all have epilepsy by now. It's 30 FPS. Wow. Supreme idiocy at its finest. Hz and fps are pretty much the same thing. Your computer screen was probably refreshing at 60 Hz as you wrote that. Also you don't GET epilepsy from flashing screens. -_- The zune is dang powerful. Its processor is more powerful than the PSPs!! (399/524 vs 333) Reply | Quote 0   0

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Website:
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.