Slow Video Playback

[Tyor]

Recently, it seems like my laptop is starting to have choppy playback of video files. From both the hard drive and and a DVD. It has a 1.86 ghz processor, 1 GB of RAM, and an nVidia 6800 go. t is running Windows XP 32 bit. When I first purchased it(a while ago), it could play movies with ease. Now it seems slow. I am trying to play and MP4 file H.264 codec and it is in HD. What can I do speed up the playback? Should I try and convert the file? If so, how would I transfer the file to my faster desktop PC, it has a quad-core so the converting would be a lot faster. Thanks for any help in advance.

EDIT: I realize that I may have put this in the wrong forum. Sorry about that.

 

[frozenlead]

Why don't you just play the movies on your quad core? You can transfer them via network.

Anyway, make sure you're in high performance mode while playing movies, and clean out the dust in your heatsinks to eliminate heat-induced throttling.

 

[Tyor]

I would love to, but it isn't a laptop. A laptop should be able to run play a saved video. It has that much more power than a DVD player...

I tried to convert it on the laptop to a different file type, but it would take at least 5 days. I then tried to transfer the file to my vista computer, the quad-core PC to convert the file on that. I tried using an Ethernet cord connecting both, but the rate was only 48 kb/s. The file is 6.87 GB. I tried using a firewire, only to learn that Vista doesn't support firewire for transferring files.

 

[frozenlead]

Use a network transfer. It'll be much faster.

 

[Tyor]

Ok, so I have done some research on this problem. It seems like there was a problem with the nVidia drivers. So I uninstalled them and then installed some omega drivers. The problem still isn't fixed. I tried using VLC player, still not fixed. This is really beginning to bother me. I am becoming more and more of an apple guy because this computer is really messed up. I might try and do a full system restore, which would then delete the file. I am going to transfer the file over the network to my quad-core PC. Right now, it looks like it is going to take 3 and a half hours. Anyway I can speed that up? I will try and convert the file once it is on my quad-core PC. If it still doesn't work on my PC(laptop), I will have to put it on my iPhone and watch it on that. I would rather not because it is such a small screen... Still though, this is a problem that I have wanted to get resolved for a long time. I would like to use this laptop on plane rides so that I can play DVDs. A computer with a 1.86 GHz processor and an nVidia 6800 go should be able to play it without any problems.

 

[frozenlead]

If it's single core, playing HD videos is a hard on it. I'm not surprised, then, that it's lagging. It really won't have much to do with your video drivers. DVDs and other standard resolution files, though, should play fine. Are you sure your power profile is set to high performance, and that you don't have heat limiting your CPU performance?

System restore shouldn't delete the file, it usually only affects system files. Also, that's a comically slow network transfer. Are you using 10mbit or wireless to do it?

 

[Tyor]

I have actually given up on this. But I would still like to find a way to fix my problem with playing DVDs. I think that I should make the effort to disassemble the laptop and blow some air through it. I wish there was a way to upgrade the processor. It is a Dell Inspiron 9300 so I don't think that I will be upgrading that anytime soon. Maybe I should just get a new laptop, but I kinda need cash in order to do that . Thank you so much for the help. And yes, I was using wireless on my XP laptop. My Vista desktop was hardwired to the router. The laptop said it had a 48 mbps connection. I read on many forums as I did research on this, that Vista doesn't like to transfer files over a network. I am heavily considering making a hackintosh. Windows just doesn't seem like it is worth the time. I have spent hours upon hours trying to resolve problems...

 

[frozenlead]

Changing to OSX might not solve your problems if they're hardware related, and may introduce new ones if you've got a 3rd party app problem. I don't know how you found out that Vista doesn't like network transfers...but it works just fine. I've done it hundreds of times.

You can probably upgrade the CPU, if you want, but I think it's more trouble than it's worth. Single cores are just getting too old to handle newer content.