eeepc playback issues, probably related to Silverlight

[Ruptga]

Our eeepc has can't even play Netflix properly. In IE everything starts out just fine but within 10 seconds the sound and video have begun to desync, and after 15 seconds I am watching a slideshow while listening to perfectly normal audio. In both FF and Chrome I click my show and Netflix tells me that I should install Silverlight.

I have installed and reinstalled Silverlight several times, updated the graphics driver, lowered the resolution down to 600x800, and ran windows update a dozen times. I have no idea why IE and Installed Programs think I have Silverlight installed but nothing else does. I have also tried Youtube, and it works just fine at 480p, though at 720p it is choppy. The model is eeepc 1001pxd, and the memory is even upgraded. HD is turned off in Netflix, and I always test it when it is on AC power too.

What am I overlooking?

Apparently the dozenth round of updates has fixed playback on IE, but Firefox is still acting up.
IE is behaving like it was before. Now I am thinking it started to behave itself once the entire episode was buffered.

 

[Zap]

What am I overlooking?

The fact that your netbook has a single core Atom CPU. You need something with more CPU oomph.

 

[Ruptga]

The fact that your netbook has a single core Atom CPU. You need something with more CPU oomph.

That is the obvious answer, but I had figured nobody in their right mind would release a machine that can't even play Netflix properly. I mean, that is precisely the sort of thing a netbook is for, right?

 

[VirtualLarry]

The fact that your netbook has a single core Atom CPU. You need something with more CPU oomph.

This. 100%.

(Sorry, OP, probably not what you wanted to hear.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

That is the obvious answer, but I had figured nobody in their right mind would release a machine that can't even play Netflix properly.

That's the Intel Atom CPU in a nutshell.

 

[Zap]

That is the obvious answer, but I had figured nobody in their right mind would release a machine that can't even play Netflix properly. I mean, that is precisely the sort of thing a netbook is for, right?

Wrong. Netbooks were meant to be super cheap and small. Heck, even the AMD E-350 and E-450 dual core APUs have problems playing back HD Netflix, and they're definitely faster than your single core Atom.

 

[Ruptga]

Well, that is NOT the answer I was looking for, but I appreciate the quick help.

That doesn't explain my Silverlight issues, but that seems to be a moot point now.

 

[sm625]

Has anybody found a way to make netflix work on a E-350 level cpu? It jsut keeps getting slower and slower. Like I been saying, I think they are bloating it up to force people to buy new hardware. But isnt there something that can be done just bump up the framerate a little bit?