How much CPU power does a DVD use?

[ShawnD1]

I know it's a vague question but I'm sort of looking for a vague answer.

My computer is an AthlonXP 1700+ (1466mhz) with 1gb PC2100 RAM and a GeForce FX5200 vid card.
I'm wanting to know if my current setup is fast enough to play DVDs. My computer takes about 20-30% CPU power (and assumably 100% GPU power) to run a video downloaded from kazaa (videos that I own on VHS; I already legally own the videos I got from Kazaa). These videos off kazaa are usualy about 640 x 480 resolution and the quality is not exactly top notch.

DVD movies have much better quality sound and video as well as a higher resolution. Will my computer be fast enough to run DVDs?

 

[FrustratedUser]

Yes, plenty fast.

 

[beatle]

Yup, I had no problems playing a DVD on my Celeron @ 450, so you're way in the clear.

 

[ShawnD1]

I'm not calling you a liar, but I sure have a hard time believing that. I have a Celeron 500 and it absolutely cannot play any of the videos I have and maintain syncronization between sound and video; it's just too slow. My 350mhz P2 can play almost all videos I have but it struggles on higher res movies like Animal House (720x480).

 

[RanDum72]

It also depends on the video card you're using. For example,ATI cards offloads a lot of processing from the CPU so you can get away with a fairly slow CPU speed and still get smooth playback.

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
I'm not calling you a liar, but I sure have a hard time believing that. I have a Celeron 500 and it absolutely cannot play any of the videos I have and maintain syncronization between sound and video; it's just too slow. My 350mhz P2 can play almost all videos I have but it struggles on higher res movies like Animal House (720x480).

i have 450 K6/2 with some unknown PCI video card, 16MBs or so and it plays divx movies without a hitch.

 

[Chain777]

A lot depends on what software DVD player your using to play back your movies.

For DVD's I use PowerDVD; for Divx/Xvid zoomplayer is the best (IMO).

My P-4 1.7 uses about 30% CPU decoding DVD's and about 25% decoding Divx/Xvids.

You might want to try bsplayer for Divx/Xvid; this seems to require the least amount of processor power. Also, zoomplayer has a 'deluxe' version that included an MPEG-2 decoder for DVD playback; I haven't tried it as I have no need for it, but you might want to try it out.

* I should add that I'm using an ATI AIW Radeon (1st generation), and this does have an effect on playback as it supports some decoding in hardware taking the load off your CPU.