Jumpy DivX -> can anyone help?

[Zucchini]

ugh, i doubt that downclocking is true, divx definetly needs alot of juice at max quality settings.

i forgot to add that the type of divx file might be a factor. When i say that a fast processor is required for optimal playback, i'm talking about playing a high bitrate file. 512x384 fullframe or some equiv res for widescreen, 1 second between keyframes, and 128kb/s mp3 sound.

 

[Oreo]

You do need a fast CPU (600MHz+) if you´re trying to watch a DivX with highres/high bitrate, then a C366 won´t do it. What takes even more power is if you enable the CPU/Quality slider under properties, then you´ll need a GHz CPU for the most complex scenes.

 

[Zucchini]

Yea, i guess the guy is watching realplayer level bitrate video. Most anime and stuff is encoded at that level.. its alright for trading and stuff, but its not quality at all. There is no way to see if you are losing frames when video can't be smooth anyways. High bitrate video is great looking, perfectly smooth and almost dvd quality. No breakup or pixel blocks.. and very obvious if you are losing frames or using lower level filtering because it is basically perfect video. I have watched 340MB ~27minute vids, stuff like anime and sex and the city episodes. 1628+kb/s are basically high quality.

I've tried videos out on my many systems. p2 400-not smooth unless quality slider is not maxed. I think the slider is automatically lowered if your system is slower. p3-650 laptop-plays just fine, c2 800 and 850-perfect. k6-2-400mhz -horrific

 

[LocutusX]

To be honest, I can't tell the difference when messing around with the Quality Playback slider. Nowadays, I tend to watch all movies at maximum setting (my CPU is a P3 @ 840MHz) unless its encoded at 704 x "something" resolution, when fast-action scenes *may* cause a problem if I'm multitasking so I put it down to 3 or 2. I do everything at 1024x768x32bit (GeForce DDR) and it's always fine to me.

It's only the higher resolutions that cause problems for the MS MPEG-4 V1/V2/V3 codecs. Anything that's encoded at 360x240 or below will run fine even on a Pentium 166MMX. I used to have a PPro-150 and the only things I couldn't view were movies encoded at 640x"whatever" and up. I say whatever because the vertical res varied with aspect ratio. Mind you, quality setting as ALWAYS 0 on the PPro (couldn't handle anything higher) but honestly they all looked to same to the movies I watch now at Quality max.

When encoding from a MPEG-2 (DVD) source I use 3 seconds per keyframe, Quality 100. When encoding animation, I use the same but Quality 85. Everything so far is pretty good.

BTW I used to watch a number of 640x400 movies fullscreen on my roommate's P2-400. No problems. Just down the quality to 1 or 0. Makes no diff anyways.

 

[mcgi6ah2]

Argh Christ,
The processor isn't the issue. I've dozens of DivX, I'm trying to tell u that the processor is NOT, repeat NOT, the issue. If anyone can add to Suzie Q's comments we might have something, Suzie Q describes the exact issue. It doesn't matter what quality the film is encoded in, or the quality its set to playback at. I never had this issue on Win98. I do under Win2k.

 

[Suzie Q]

Well mcgi6ah2, did you try to run DXdiag and put the slider back to basic acceleration under the soundtab? That's what did the trick for me.
And don't forget to set the slider back to hardware acceleration after you've finished the movie .

Laterz,

Dennet aka "Suzie Q".

 

[Zucchini]

To the person that said that cpu doesn't make a difference... if you playback videos at 640x480 desktop resolution, i doubt u would. the slider seems to affect quality at full screen at higher resolutions.

 

[WWDude]

CPU is most certainly the main issue here. It is with 80% of choppy DivX ;-) playback problems.

Some tips:
1. Goto MP3 decoder settings, get it to halve quality, tweak it. Could REALLY help. Especially if the audio track was encoded at a high bitrate.
2. Make sure your not multitasking.
3. If you're not running the movie at 100%, than obviously you would want to view it at 640*480. Isn't that obvious?
4. You may want to try those WMP replacements that hog less CPU resources - might just help.
5. If all else fails, and you just want to see your movie, you can use Norton WinCommander, F3 view command, and view it at 90-95% the speed. You'll see more of the frame and it'll be less choppy, if you can stand watching your movies at a slower speed.
6. Defrag\tweak RAM or swap file settings only if the symptoms indicate that it isn't the CPU that's causing the problem.
7. Another thing that seems to me it would go without saying: Run the movies at 100%, or the closest alternative. Streching does cost some CPU power.
8. When you've really exhausted every other option, you can re-compress the audio track in VirtualDub. It'll sound like poo, but you may get your movie going very smoothly using this method.


And, finally, I'd like all of you to know that I've used my lil' 200MMX box here to view 700KBPS DivX ;-) movies almost without any skips at all.

I hope I've helped someone.

 

[LocutusX]

Holy $h!t! Scratch my last comments on this issue... there *IS* a difference, and in my test case, it's huge! I don't know why I didn't notice it before, I must have been on crack or something. I compared a Star Trek episode at 320x240, at Quality 4 (max) and Quality 0. My god they looked like two completely different files (I made screenshots and saved them as 24-bit bitmaps in Paint). Oh well, that shows how much I know about all this.

This kind of like the quality vs. speed arguments popular among 3D FPS-oriented video card owners. hehehe...

Edit: I think I'm gonna go watch all my movies again at Quality Setting Max for a "new and improved" experience. hehehe...

 

[Zucchini]

heh, you should try setting 4 on 512x384 videos.. that is #@% near dvd quality. course that bitrate/res only allows for 2 cd movies or episodes.

 

[Zucchini]

ok, this is sad. I just installed mediaplayer 7.0.. where does one find the quality slider on that? shoulda stuck with 6.4

 

[mcgi6ah2]

You little gem, thanks Suzie Q, thats totally sorted it. All other settings are at max. and its perfectly smooth now. I'm running fight club (720x336), and NO CHOPINESS, this is not a processor issue, so thanks Suzie for sorting it out.

 

[WWDude]

OK, I take it back. SuzieX and MCGI... probs weren't CPU related. I just read what you described about the choppyness and immediatly assumed it was CPU, however it wasn't the case. S-orry..