Anthony Henry has showcased impressive video playback capabilities on the Commander X16 computer, demonstrating “Big Buck Bunny” smoothly running at 15 frames per second. The video is displayed at 320 x 240 pixels with a 4-bit color depth, accompanied by clear audio at 32kHz in single-channel 8-bit PCM.
The demonstration leverages Direct SD-Card SPI reads, a method significantly faster than standard file system access, boosting data transfer speeds approximately fourfold. Henry’s work aims to explore the performance boundaries of the Commander X16 hardware and to develop an accessible API that will enable other programmers to integrate video playback into their own software projects.
Key to this improvement is the direct sector-reading code supplied by fellow developer Eirik from the X16 Discord community. Eirik’s benchmark testing showed a rapid transfer rate—transferring 1000 sectors of 512 bytes each into VRAM in just 35 jiffies.
To facilitate easier adoption, Henry developed a dedicated converter program that simplifies the creation of compatible video files. Despite some minor ongoing technical adjustments, the results already demonstrate significant potential.
Importantly, these advanced playback methods function exclusively on actual Commander X16 hardware with the r48 ROM. Henry stresses that the video files must be carefully managed: they should be placed on non-fragmented or minimally filled SD cards. Additionally, the SPV files must be copied individually to prevent fragmentation, which ensures smooth playback.
