Minimal CPU requirements for HD playback

[bloodymeli]

Hi All,

When I try to playback an .MKV video (720P) on my Toshiba P200-199 the cpu goes to 100% utilization and the video jitters. I was wondering, can I play HD movies on this laptop?
Its specifications are:
CPU Core Duo
CPU frequency 1860 MHz
Video card Intel GMA 900

Thanks!

 

[silverliquicity]

a better graphics chip would have been a better choice, although you should still be able to watch hd with that chip

 

[WR2]

Hello bloodymeli;

Your laptop isn't going to do much better than what you're seeing right now.

In more recent models with different iGPU/GPUs they would take up a lot of the workload for decoding the .MKV and let the CPU run quite a bit lower down in utilization.

 

[WR2]

What video player are you using? You might get some extra help from a different player.

 

[jasont78]

Hi All,

When I try to playback an .MKV video (720P) on my Toshiba P200-199 the cpu goes to 100% utilization and the video jitters. I was wondering, can I play HD movies on this laptop?
Its specifications are:
CPU Core Duo
CPU frequency 1860 MHz
Video card Intel GMA 900

Thanks!

cpu is perfectly fine your gpu isnt, what are you playing the file with if its like bluray you dont have a hope in hell. if your cpu is going to 100% usage its obviously software decoding it not hardware decoding because the gpu doesnt have them built in. try a different player like media player classic if your not using vlc which i have had issues with from time to time but it generally plays everything

 

[InvalidError]

I can play up to six 720p h264 files at the same time on my 3GHz E8400 so I would expect a 1.8GHz C2D to easily manage to play a single file with less than 50% CPU load if all the software is setup properly.

When I re-install Windows, I use CCCP to install everything required to play just about any MKV without having to hunt down every individual component and fix interoperability problems.

 

[mathew7]

Try to match the resolution of monitor vs. file so that the result will be 1-1....i.e. a 720p clip on a 1280x720 (16:9) or 1280x1024 (5:4) resolution. I see the P200 are 1440x900....so that is 16:10....so try 1280x800, otherwise the image could be streched. Just match the horizontal resolution. The GPUs (or at least their drivers) associated with Core2Duo or later, from my experience, are very bad at scaling (it seems like they are done in SW instead of HW).

 

[InvalidError]

The GPUs (or at least their drivers) associated with Core2Duo or later, from my experience, are very bad at scaling (it seems like they are done in SW instead of HW).

The issue here is not quality, it is performance.

Hardware acceleration in display accelerators for video overlay started soon after 2D acceleration called the end of dumb frame buffer display controllers. All 3D GPUs ever made all the way back to first-gen 3D accelerators like the ATI Rage3D supported at least one video overlay in hardware. Modern GPUs support video textures which effectively limits the number of simultaneous overlays to decoding processing power.

If the OP's playback is CPU-bound due to software scaling, OP might want to re-install video drivers, playback software, CODECs and support tools then reinstall with all settings reset.

 

[bloodymeli]

Hi All,

Thanks for the rapid responses!

First of all, I would like to clarify - this computer is a laptop. Therefore I can't make any changes to its hardware (and any change won't be cost effective anyway). I don't have much use of it and therefore I have considered using it a media center.
Does this change any of the answers? Is the notebook CPU /GPU the same as in the desktop model?

As for the players, I have tried BSplayer and KMplayer.

As for the video file, it is an MKV (probably an .avi encoded by xvid or other variant), 720P resolution.

Finally, what video player should I try? Will reformatting the computer help? and if so, which OS should I use (I intend to use it as a media center) to achieve flawless decoding?

 

[InvalidError]

Is the notebook CPU /GPU the same as in the desktop model?

Clocks on mobile Core2Duo can go much lower than mainstream desktop parts. Early mobile parts were around 2GHz while most desktop parts are around 3GHz.

Finally, what video player should I try? Will reformatting the computer help?

Reformatting MIGHT help if you installed something that interferes with playback in some way.

If you mixed up many CODEC packs, installed media splitters and other stuff to 'solve' playback problems, some packs and tools do not play nice with each other when one installer overwrites settings and binaries from other installers, which produces playback issues and poor performance. Best thing to do in that case is uninstall all packs, CODEC updates, splitters, etc. and install a single fresh CODEC pack to minimize the chances of conflicts. For my playback needs, CCCP appears to have everything required to cover everything I have out-of-the-box.

Making sure you have the latest GMA9xx drivers available would also be a good idea if you have not done so already.