HDXPRT Development Community
A forum to help guide the ongoing evolution of HDXPRT
What's New
05-18-2012 – NEW! New blog entry “Today is a milestone”: HDXPRT 2012 enters a new phase and Eric describes the one thing he should not be trusted to do. Read more
05-11-2012 –New blog entry “More HDXPRT 2012 changes”: The stars come out - Bill has big news about HDXPRT 2012! Read more
05-04-2012 –New blog entry “HDXPRT 2012 characterization study”: Change is hard. Changing one thing is harder. Bill explains why, and why it’s important. Read more
04-27-2012 – New blog entry “HDXPRT 2012 – Change is inevitable”: There’s only one constant in life, and that’s true for HDXPRT as well. This week Bill tells how HDXPRT 2012 has changed.Read more
04-20-2012 – New blog entry “HDXPRT 2012 – Testing the test”: Diverse, somewhat contradictory, and pushes the edges - that’s how Bill sees it. What do you think? Read more
04-13-2012 – New blog entry “Touch: The finger versus the stylus”: Bill looks at a 5,000 year old technology, but concludes he’ll have to keep cleaning his iPad for a while longer. Read more
04-06-2012 – New blog entry “Back to the future of source code”: Community, Kermit, and computers in space – Bill is having one heck of a weekend! Read more
03-30-2012 – New blog entry “Tentative TouchXPRT plan and schedule”: Browsing, consuming, manipulating – TouchXPRT CB1 will give you some additional incentive! Read more
03-23-2012 – New blog entry “Thinking about TouchXPRT scenarios”: Why do people hide when Bill has an iPad? What can that possibly have to do with TouchXPRT? Read more
03-16-2012 – New blog entry “TouchXPRT update”: What do friends, movies, and takeout Chinese have to do with TouchXPRT? Read Bill’s blog and find out.. Read more
03-09-2012 – New blog entry “Here a core, there a core…”: One is good, two must be better? Not always. Bill talks about how to tell if more cores mean more performance. Read more
03-02-2012 – New blog entry “Bye, bye 32 bits?”: HDXPRT is at a crossroads. We need your input. Read more
02-24-2012 – New blog entry “Our new baby has a name!”: Top baby names for 2011? Sophia and Aiden. Top benchmark name for 2012? Read Bill’s blog to find out. Read more
02-17-2012 – New blog entry “Quick HDXPRT 2012 status update”: The HDXPRT 2012 beta is coming. Hear about the hurdles, hard work, and how you can make the benchmark even better. Read more
02-10-2012 – New blog entry “Art or sausage?”: Come join us in the sausage-making art house! Read more
02-03-2012 – New blog entry “The real art of benchmarking”: Real world, real science, real time, real money – Bill believes that the real art of benchmarking is balance. Read more
01-27-2012 – New blog entry “Web benchmarking challenges”: Any touch benchmark has to account for an ever-changing Web. Bill ponders how to produce consistent results in an inconsistent world. Read more
01-20-2012 – New blog entry “Who is on board?”: In this week’s blog, Bill talks about the question he won’t answer. Read more
01-13-2012 – New blog entry “CES: Gadget overload”: Biking, solar power, tablets, cars, e-cigarettes, really big TVs - Bill hits gadget overload at CES! Read more
01-10-2012 – Join Bill at CES2012! Read more
01-06-2012 – New blog entry “A new benchmark”: Touch benchmarking is coming with Windows 8 Metro support! Talk to Bill about it, and HDXPRT 2012, at CES. Read more
12-29-2011 – New blog entry “See you next year, maybe at CES?”: Bill wishes everyone a happy New Year and hopes to see you at CES early next year. Read more
12-22-2011 – New blog entry “The reach of touch”: Marshall McLuhan said the medium is the message. Bill Catchings says the interface is the experience. Find out why.Read more
12-16-2011 – New blog entry “A touch of tomorrow”: The HDXPRT 2012 design document is barely out, and Bill is already thinking where to go next. In addition to the future of benchmarking, he hits on everything from Christmas shopping to Windows 8 to his Nissan Leaf. Read more
12-16-2011 – The HDXPRT 2012 design specification is now available. Read More
12-09-2011 – New blog entry “RFC responses”: The responses are in! Read Bill’s thoughts about responses to the HDXPRT 2012RFC, the requirements for the new benchmark, tablets, and languages other than English. He also points you to where you can read what your fellow community members had to say. Read more
11-30-2011 – New blog entry “Responding to the RFC”: The clock is ticking, but it’s not too late! Don’t miss your chance to help guide the next version of HDXPRT. Tell us what you like, tell us what you don’t like, but don’t miss out. Read more
11-23-2011 – New blog entry “Thankful for change”: It’s Thanksgiving in the US and Bill gives thanks for new technology. (Really!) It’s not too late to help shape the future of technology. There’s still time to comment on the RFC. Read more
11-17-2011 – New blog entry “What to do with all the times”: HDXPRT 2011 times many operations. Bill Catchings explores in this week’s blog the various ways in which these time measurements could be presented, as well as the tradeoffs arising from showing too many benchmark results. Read more
11-09-2011 – New blog entry “Turning a role into a scenario”: Bill Catchings explores this week the process we have followed in the HDXPRT 2012 RFC to define benchmark scenarios from main media consumer roles. To explain the process Bill explores the “photo blogger” role, that we are all familiar with. Read more
11-03-2011 – New blog entry “HDXPRT 2012 RFC”: Bill announces to the Community the publication of the RFC for the next release of the benchmark for feedback and discussion. Read more
11-02-2011 – COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT. HDXPRT 2012 RFC is now available to members for download: We have published the HDXPRT 2012 Request for Comments (RFC) document for members to review and discuss. We would appreciate very much your ideas on the next release of the benchmark. Please check it out! More info.
10-27-2011 – New blog entry “How do you use high-definition media”: In this week’s blog Bill starts drilling into the HDXPRT top-down design and development process by discussing a possible taxonomy of HD media uses to be considered by the Community. These usage groups are a starting point for defining the various usage scenarios in HDXPRT 2012’s workloads. Read more
10-20-2011 –New blog entry “An open top-down process”: Bill Catchings discusses in this week’s blog post how HDXPRT is unique in the benchmark ecosystem by being an application benchmark that is developed by an open community in a top-down fashion. He also touches on how this determines the way we go about preparing an RFC specification for HDXPRT 2012, the next release of the benchmark. Read more
10-12-2011 – New blog entry “Discussing the future”: Today’s blog talks about this week’s members-only webinar about the HDXPRT 2012 development lifecycle and community process. Read more
10-06-2011 – New blog entry “Looking back at the Mac”: Bill Catchings reminisces this week about his first computer, a 128K Apple Macintosh. He tells us how that Mac was the harbinger of a lifelong interest in faster, better and smaller computing devices, eventually leading to a career in performance evaluation and measurement. Read more
10-01-2011 – COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT. HDXPRT 2011 source code is now available to members for download: As we previously announced, the complete HDXPRT 2011 sources (both harness and workloads) are now available to members for download. We hope this gives all members the opportunity to understand in detail the workings of the benchmark and to contribute to the actual development of future versions of HDXPRT. We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions. Click here to download.
09-29-2011 – New blog entry “Suggestions”: In this week’s blog Bill Catchings opens the suggestions period for HDXPRT 2012. Check his blog and consider contributing to the HDXPRT community your ideas for improvements and new functionality that you would like to see in the next release of the benchmark! Read more.
09-21-2011 – New blog entry “Sharing results”: This week Bill Catchings retakes his thread on benchmark results and launches our brand new HDXPRT results viewer. Read more
09-21-2011 – HDXPRT 2011 results viewer: We have added a benchmark results viewer to the web site and populated it with results from our testing of HDXPRT 2011 v1.0. Hope you find it useful! Go to results viewer
09-16-2011 – New blog entry “Getting to the source”: Bill Catchings discusses the relationship between benchmarks, source code availability and process transparency, and makes a big announcement today to the HDXPRT Development Community and to the public at large. Read more
09-08-2011 – New blog entry “Looking deeper into results”: Bill Catchings discusses in his blog today our tests on HDXPRT behavior with older processors and internal/external graphics as well as our plans to make HDXPRT test results available in the near future to the community at large. Read more
09-01-2011 – HDXPRT scaling results white paper # 2: We have published a follow-on white paper exploring performance scaling in HDXPRT 2011. In this new paper we study HDXPRT 2011 performance behavior with internal and external graphics cards on an earlier generation Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 processor, and compare it to the results we observed on 2nd generation Intel Core processors. You can download it from the White Papers menu. Please check it out. It should be an interesting read! Read more
08-31-2011 – New blog entry: "Scoring with HDXPRT" This week Bill Catchings discusses HDXPRT’s scoring metrics. He talks about different ways of combining test scores to produce an overall score for various benchmarking situations, including arithmetic, geometric and harmonic means. He also touches on HDXPRT’s interesting Mean Opinion Score (MOS) metric for measuring user experience. This should be a fun read! Read more
08-24-2011 – New blog entry: "Helping hands" Bill Catchings discusses the problems that application-based benchmarks encounter when the benchmark conflicts with applications already installed in the system under test. In particular, he discusses an instance of one such problem we found in our testing of HDXPRT 2011 and how we corrected it. Read more
08-17-2011 – New blog entry: "Keeping Score" This week Bill Catchings touches metrics, scores and normalization in his blog post and discusses in more detail the use of normalized scores and rating scores in benchmarks. Take a look. We are sure you will enjoy it! Read more
08-10-2011 – New blog entry: "Anatomy of a Benchmark Part II" Check Bill Catchings' blog post for this week where he continues analyzing the structure of benchmarks. In his post Bill talks about a benchmark's harness, tests and workloads and discusses these in the context of HDXPRT 2011. We hope you like it.
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08-03-2011 – New blog entry: "Anatomy of a Benchmark Part I" Bill's blog post for this week starts dissecting the structure of a benchmark by discussing a benchmark's installation, UI and results viewer components, and exploring some of their characteristics in HDXPRT 2011. Next week he will discuss the components that make up the actual tests. Check it out!
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07-27-2011 – New blog entry: Please check out Bill Catchings' new post entitled "Always wanting to know more". In it, Bill suggests some aspects of HDXPRT 2011 behavior to explore further in the light of the initial findings of the HDXPRT scaling results tests. In particular, Bill proposes testing other graphics cards and older processors to examine in more detail the benchmark's behavior vis-a-vis the graphics subsystem being used. Enjoy!
07-27-2011 – HDXPRT results white paper: We have published the promised HDXPRT scaling results white paper! You can access it directly from the White Papers menu above. The paper explores the behavior of HDXPRT 2011 Create media scoring with respect to changes in processor type and frequency, memory size, graphics mode, external disk storage type, and use of processor frequency boosting technologies. We hope you enjoy it!
07-20-2011 – New blog entry: For a sneak peak at the HDXPRT 2011 results white paper, check out Bill Catchings' latest blog post. Get your first look at how different system configurations reveal key benchmark characteristics.
07-13-2011 – New blog entry: We just posted "Benchmarking a benchmark," Bill Catchings' blog for this week. In it, Bill explains how individual system components such as the amount of RAM, processor speed, or hard disk type, can affect a benchmark's score. Go to our blog section to learn how system component variations may affect HDXPRT 2011.
07-06-2011 – New blog entry: Check out Bill Catchings' latest blog post, "Device or computer? ". Bill contemplates the narrowing divide between devices and computers. He highlights the need to develop benchmarks for devices that are growing in complexity and intelligence.
06-29-2011 – New blog entry: "Long-lasting benchmarks" Please check Bill Catchings' latest blog post. In his post Bill explores the power of benchmarks that last over time, and the interplay between a benchmark's desirable longevity and its capability of keeping up with fast-paced technological change. In particular, Bill brings up this issue in the context of HDXPRT. Enjoy!
06-22-2011 – New blog entry We just posted "Petaflops?", Bill Catchings' blog for this week. Bill explores the need to carefully define and understand metrics, and the problem of finding the right metrics to express performance. Go to our blog section and give it a read. We are sure you will enjoy it!
06-15-2011 – New blog entry We just posted a blog from Bill Catchings entitled "Knowing when to wait". Please check it out!
06-06-2011 – Thanks to all who visited us at Computex Taipei 2011. We look forward to continuing our conversations about HDXPRT 2011 and the future of the benchmark. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to join the Development Community!
05-31-2011 – Please visit us at Computex Taipei 2011! We will be at Computex this week for the official launch of HDXPRT 2011. If you are in Taipei this week, we would very much like to meet with you and talk about HDXPRT 2011 and the future of the benchmark. Please contact us at hdxprt_computex@principledtechnologies.com to set up a mutually convenient meeting time.
05-26-2011 – HDXPRT 2011 v1.0 is available. We are very pleased to announce the public release of the HDXPRT 2011 media benchmark. We will be soon be shipping release discs to all HDXPRT Development Community members. For more information please check our press release.
05-03-2011 - HDXPRT webinar now available for viewing. We have posted the HDXPRT webinar hosted by Mark Van Name on April 21. Please click on Webinars in the menu bar to view. Let us know if you have any questions or comments!
04-26-2011 - Deadline for Beta testing and comments extended to May 6, 2011. We have extended the deadline for Beta comments by a week from Friday, April 29 to Friday, May 6 to allow ample time for Community Members to test HDXPRT 2011 Beta 2.
04-26-2011 - An improved version of HDXPRT 2011 Beta is available for download in the members-only area! We have released HDXPRT 2011 Beta 2 to Community Members for testing. This new build fixes an issue with Adobe Premiere Elements hanging in test systems with only 2GB of memory. It is also installable from a USB drive or a network share, as a member suggested during the Webinar. Please try it out and let us know if you have any issues or questions by writing us at HDXPRTsupport@hdxprt.com
04-15-2011 - HDXPRT Informational Webinar on April 21 at 2pm EDT. Save the date! Join us for an HDXPRT informational webinar hosted by Mark Van Name of Principled Technologies. Learn about the history and current status of the benchmark, its development lifecycle, and the current Beta testing process. To attend the webinar, email us at HDXPRTsupport@hdxprt.com.
04-11-2011 - We will be present at Computex. Bill Catchings from Principled Technologies will talk about HDXPRT 2011 and the HDXPRT Development Community at Computex Taipei from June 3, 2011. If you will be at that show, please visit with us, learn all you ever wanted to know about our HD media benchmark, pick up a copy of the final release of HDXPRT 2011, and become a member of the HDXPRT Development Community. Looking forward to seeing you in Taipei!
04-06-2011 - HDXPRT 2011 Beta Released for Testing Click here to read the full press release.
03-28-2011 - HDXPRT 2011 Beta released. Today, we shipped HDXPRT 2011 Beta DVDs to all fully registered Community members. You should receive yours soon. We look forward to your feedback and comments!
01-31-2011 - HDXPRT 2011 Design Specification published. We published the HDXPRT 2011 Design Specification to the Web site. Check it out in our Members-only section.
01-12-2011 - HDXPRT Development Community page now on Facebook. 'Like' the page to receive latest updates and alerts on community milestones & benchmark releases.
01-07-2011 - HDXPRT 2011 Design RFC feedback period ended. Thanks to all Development Community members who provided comments for our HDXPRT 2011 preliminary design specification! We received excellent questions and comments that have substantially improved our preliminary benchmark design. We will consider your comments and respond to them over the next couple of weeks. While the official deadline for responding to the RFC has now passed, we will still consider any comments you submit and will do our best to incorporate them into the final HDXPRT 2011 design.
11-30-2010 - HDXPRT 2011 Design RFC published. The HDXPRT Development Community announces availability to all registered members of the HDXPRT 2011 RFC for revision and feedback. We will use the comments to finalize the HDXPRT 2011 design specification that will drive implementation of the benchmark.
11-04-2010 - @HDXPRT on Twitter. Follow @HDXPRT on Twitter to receive latest updates and alerts on community milestones & benchmark releases.
11-02-2010 - Principled Technologies starts HDXPRT Development Community. We are happy to announce the creation of the HDXPRT Development Community. This group will help shape future versions of HDXPRT, a benchmark for evaluating the capabilities of PCs using real-world media scenarios and common consumer applications. Click here for the full press release.
