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Growing the community

Bill Catchings
By Bill Catchings
on August 23, 2012

Growing the community

It’s probably stating the obvious to say that what makes the XPRT Development Community work is the people. The more people there are in the community, the better the resulting benchmarks will be. Naturally, that means we want more people in the community.

Part of PT’s role in building the community is to get more people involved. Over the last couple of years, that has meant doing a number of different things—from conducting Webinars (we’ll have the next one in September) to meeting at trade shows (we expect to be at CES again next year) to contacting individuals in person and via email to using social media like Twitter (follow us at @HDXPRT) and Facebook (like HDXPRT Development Community). As I mentioned last week, we are now working on some videos to help get out the message. Basically, we’ve been telling everyone we can about the benchmarks and the community that creates them.

One thing we haven’t done, however, is to actively enlist the community itself in building the community. Here are some ways you can help. Please like, follow, or whatever us on the different social media platforms. Invite others to join the community. Probably most importantly, use the benchmarks and publish the results. Now that HDXPRT 2012 is out, we want to see its results popping up in as many places as possible.

You can also help by telling us your ideas for how to grow the community. What else do you think we should be doing?

Bill

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Posted in Collaborative benchmark development, HDXPRT 2012 |

Lights! Camera! Action!

Bill Catchings
By Bill Catchings
on August 10, 2012

While we continue working on the testing, white papers, and Webinars that are part of the HDXPRT 2012 roll-out, we also are working on some other things as well. The importance of HDXPRT shows how the world is moving toward a much more visual/graphical future. To keep up with that trend and with our benchmark, we are adding video content to the site.

At Principled Technologies, we have been embracing video in a big way. We built a dedicated video-production studio (picture lots of green walls) and bought the necessary video, audio, and lighting gear, so our talented video-production staffers have all the tools they need. Our goal is to be able to quickly create for our clients all sorts of videos of things like our performance reports. We are now able to utilize those same video assets for the XPRTs (HDXPRT and TouchXPRT).

To get things rolling here, we created a video blog based on an entry from a few weeks ago. We will be experimenting with doing more with video, including videos explaining and promoting HDXPRT and regular video blogs. Let us know what you would like to see!

Bill

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Posted in Collaborative benchmark development, HDXPRT, TouchXPRT |

Should something unexpected happen

Eric Hale
By Eric Hale
on August 3, 2012

HDXPRT 2012 is out, and I hope you’ve had the opportunity to start testing with it.

While we have worked hard to make HDXPRT as solid as possible, it’s possible that you may encounter a problem at some point. If that happens, we want to hear about it. Here a few things you can do that will help us solve your problem as quickly as possible.

When HDXPRT fails, it typically creates a folder on the desktop. This folder contains error information and information about the test system. The folder is named “HDXPRT Error Report” suffixed with date and time. For example, HDXPRT Error Report_04-13-12_11-24-00. Zip that directory and send it, along with a brief description of the problem, to HDXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

Please also include any information you think would be helpful. For example, if you are testing with an OEM version of the operating system, we may be unable to duplicate your problem using a default install of the same operating system. Someone will get back to you within one business day.

To make information about any bugs and their solutions available to the community, we will post it on the forum. If you would prefer not to be acknowledged on the forum, just let us know and we will preserve your anonymity.

Thanks again for your interest.

Eric

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Posted in HDXPRT 2012 |

HDXPRT 2012 has left the building! Now what?

Bill Catchings
By Bill Catchings
on July 27, 2012

HDXPRT 2012 is finished! We are shipping out the HDXPRT 2012 DVDs to the Development Community membership. If you don’t get yours next week, please let us know. If you would like a copy of HDXPRT 2012, please join the community and we will gladly send you one.

We are also putting out a press release, preparing white papers, and doing the myriad things involved in shipping a product. The benchmark itself, however, is done.

Now that we have had a couple minutes to celebrate that moment, it is time to ask, “What next?” The first and most obvious thing will be to get the RTM of Windows 8 and see what we need to fix to make HDXPRT 2012 work with it. We hope we won’t need to change much–maybe we’ll get lucky and everything will work fine. Regardless, we’ll let you know what is necessary to make HDXPRT 2012 work on Windows 8 or will create an updated version that works on Windows 8.

We will also begin the next cycle for HDXPRT 2013. Now, however, is the best time for you to let us know what you would like to see. Are there particular tests you would like to see? We can add inspection tests to HDXPRT even before the next full version. By an inspection test, I mean a test that may not be relevant for all users or environments and is not part of the overall score. The test might also be an experimental one that we want to try out for possible inclusion in the overall score in the future.

But, for the moment, we plan to enjoy our weekend. We hope you have a great weekend as well!

Bill

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Posted in HDXPRT 2012, HDXPRT 2013, Let us know your thoughts, Windows 8 |

HDXPRT 2012 Media Benchmark Now Available

Eric Hale
By Eric Hale
on July 27, 2012

The HDXPRT Development Community, which Principled Technologies (PT) administers, is pleased to announce the release of the HDXPRT 2012 benchmark.

 
HDXPRT 2012 is a benchmark for evaluating the capabilities of PCs in consumer digital media usages.

Because people use their systems so differently, HDXPRT 2012 lets you look at your system’s performance for a number of different uses. While HDXPRT 2011 combined all media creation into a single score, HDXPRT 2012 expands that to five use cases: Media Organizer, Media Creator, Photo Blogger, Video Producer, and Music Maker. The HDXPRT 2012 design document on our Web site explains these in detail. There is also a total score that combines all of the five cases to give an overall measure of the system’s speed.

HDXPRT 2012 includes more applications than HDXPRT 2011. The four new applications are Audacity 2.0, CyberLink PowerDirector 10, GIMP 2.6.11, and HandBrake/x264 0.9.5.

PT will ship the release discs to all registered HDXPRT Development Community members. Because of its large size, the benchmark is not available for download. Instructions for obtaining the benchmark are at http://www.hdxprt.com.

Members of the HDXPRT Development Community significantly influenced the development of the benchmark by providing feedback on the initial design specifications and participating in Beta testing.

Visit the official HDXPRT Development Community Web site, http://www.hdxprt.com, to learn how you can participate in the development of future versions of HDXPRT and stay up to date on the latest information regarding the benchmark. The Community also has a presence on Facebook and Twitter.

About HDXPRT
HDXPRT, the High Definition eXperience & Performance Ratings Test, is a software tool for evaluating the capabilities of PCs at handling real-world digital media scenarios and common consumer applications. It includes tests for popular consumer usage models such as high-definition video transcoding, high dynamic range (HDR) photo manipulation, as well as mixing and editing music.

About Principled Technologies, Inc.
Principled Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of technology marketing and assessment services. The founders, Mark Van Name and Bill Catchings, have worked together in technology assessment for over 25 years. As journalists, they published over a thousand articles on a wide array of technology subjects. They created and led the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation, which developed such industry-standard benchmarks as stone and WebBench. They have also co-founded or led several other technology testing firms including ZD Labs, eTesting Labs, and VeriTest.

Principled Technologies, Inc. is located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For more information, please visit http://www.principledtechnologies.com.

Company Contact
Eric Hale
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road
Suite 300
Durham, NC 27703
ehale@principledtechnologies.com
www.principledtechnologies.com

Posted in BenchmarkXPRT Press Releases, HDXPRT Press Releases, Press Releases |

As we get close to the release

Eric Hale
By Eric Hale
on July 20, 2012

As we get close to the release of HDXPRT 2012, I wanted to let you know how it compares with the original design specification. You’ll find the complete list of differences below.

In any software project, there are differences between the original design and the final product. Generally, things have stayed pretty close with HDXPRT 2012. A number of these changes were discussed on the HDXPRT blog. We’ve noted in parentheses the title and date of the relevant blog entry.

We’re looking forward to the release of HDXPRT2012. We can’t wait to hear what you do with it!

Eric

  • HDXPRT does not support 32-bit operating systems. (“Bye, bye 32 bits?” March 2, 2011)
  • Because of difficulties with scripting, Picassa is not part of HDXPRT 2012. (“Change is inevitable,” April 27, 2012)
  • Audacity 2.0 with Windows 7 debuted after we released the design document, so we are using that version rather than Audacity 1.3.14beta in HDXPRT 2012. (“Change is inevitable,” April 27, 2012)
  • We removed the video playback tests from HDXPRT 2012. (“More HDXPRT 2012 changes,” May 11, 2012) Consequently, Adobe Flash Player 11, which was only used in the playback tests, is not part of HDXPRT 2012.
  • Simplified Chinese is not supported.
  • The specs for the calibration system are below. The design spec had recommended changing to Intel Pentium G860.
    • Processor: Intel E6800, 3.3 GHz
    • Graphics:  Intel G45 Express Chipset
    • Memory: 4 GB
    • Hard disk: 1 TB HDD
    • OS: Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1
  • During testing, we were able to reduce the minimum requirements from those in the Design Document. The current minimum requirements are as follows:
  • Processor: Intel dual-core 2.0GHz processor or equivalent
  • Memory: 2 GB
  • Free disk space: 40 GB
  • Video display settings: 1,024 x 768, 24-bit color
  • DVD ROM to install HDXPRT
  • Microsoft Windows 7, 64-bit (Language: US English)

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Posted in HDXPRT, HDXPRT 2012, HDXPRT 2012 beta, HDXPRT Development Community benefits |

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