Minimum Specs to Watch HD videos on PC?

[mikelish]

It varies depending on the program but I almost always have less than 30fps when watching HD videos on my computer.


My comp specs are:

Athlon XP 2700+
2gig ram
ati x800 xl

Will just upgrading my CPU to a 3200+ do the trick?

is HD video more CPU intensive than video card intensive?

 

[Matt2]

More CPU power the better and also you may want to look into a new video card that has AVIVO or PureVideo.

EDIT: Do X800 series cards have AVIVO? I can't recall.

 

[fierydemise]

I think AVIVO is 1xxx series only, but I second Matt2's comment you definitely need a faster CPU

 

[mikelish]

how fast of a CPU do I need? my mobo only supports up to 3200+.

Do I need a new mobo or will a 3200+ do the trick?

 

[Matt2]

Well... I still dont know if an AXP 3200+ will do the trick.

Why dont you try overclocking the CPU and see what kind of gains you get?

I'll try and look up some AVIVO/PureVideo benchies with your CPU

 

[fierydemise]

To get good results watching HD you'll probably need at least an A64/AM2 X2 and better yet C2D

 

[Auric]

Higher than 30fps is uncommon (usually 23.976, 25 or 29.97). If it is not smooth or is dropping frames then there's certainly a problem and I would not expect that CPU to manage AVC and VC-1 at HD resolutions and typical bitrates. MPEG-2 should be fine given the excellent decoding capabilities of the X800. The 3200 won't manage either.

I've got a P4 3.0E 1MB SSE3 and even overclocked to 3.6 with an X800XL it could not manage. However, replacing it with a 7600GT and utilizing CyberLink DXVA decoder (for PureVideo hardware) it can play the most demanding content I can find (AVC, 20Mbps, 1920x1080) even at 3.0 and at 3.6 only utilizes 65% avg so leaves room for multi-tasking. Whether it holds up to future potential disc content of 40-50Mbps is another question (likely MPEG-2, probable VC-1 but doubtful AVC). VC-1 is apparently broken on the Nvidia side at the mo' and dodgy on ATI.

So, if you can upgrade the CPU to something with at least SSE2 and even downgrade the CPU to a 7300 (or sidegrade to a 7600GT or 1650XT) then you're GTG. Otherwise you're SOL.

One SOL option, however, is to reduce the quality with a decoder such as CoreAVC or ffdshow by disabling standard in-loop deblocking and hope that lowers the demand upon the CPU enough for smooth playback.

 

[mikelish]

thanks for the advice

 

[Captante]

If you can get your AXP stable at 2.4ghz it will come pretty close to an A64 3200+ in most applications which will help, however I agree that switching to an Nvidia card & DVD decoder that supports Pure-Video will make the biggest difference.

 

[mercanucaribe]

My laptop with a 1.6ghz Pentium M with integrated graphics and 512mb RAM runs Casino Royale 720p better than my desktop did with an Athlon 2600+ (2ghz), 1gb RAM, and a 9800Pro..

 

[bobsmith1492]

My laptop has a P-M 1.7GHz; it would run super-choppy playing HD video. However, if I overclocked to 2 or 2.1 GHz, it would never drop a frame.

 

[mikelish]

any explanations for the last couple posts?

Thanks for all the info everybody.

I found a website that shows some examples of CPU load during different video formats:
Text

I found a guy that says he will sell me his AGP BFG 7900GS OC for $100 (seems like a good deal to me?) I googled the card and it's not even on the BFG website so it may be a scam.

It should be better than a 7600GT I hope and therefore better than my current x800 XL.

More importantly, using the Pureview technology, it should be able to put more strain on the GPU when watching HD videos! Therefore, my crappy CPU wont be as much of an issue!

And according to this website, 7900GS should blow my x800xl out of the water in games too.
Text

 

[bobsmith1492]

Hm, basically there's a cutoff for CPUs and for a P-M it's about 2GHz to play HD video. It could also have been the increased RAM and FSB bandwidth - who knows.

A video card with acceleration may help; it may not, there are other factors such as data transfer rates/bandwidth (RAM, HDD, FSB, etc.) Basically your system is rather dated; you might want to look into a system overhaul before too long. A new MB, RAM, CPU, PCIE video card, and probably PSU would do wonders.

 

[HannibalX]

An AXP3200+ Barton would be a nice upgrade.

Make sure your motherboard can support 400MHz which is what the 3200+ requires.

I have an AXP3200+ rig with an ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128 and it doesn't have any problems playing any kind of media.

 

[TheRyuu]

Well, isn't HD material in 24 or 29.97 fps, so I'd hope it was less then 30 fps

Seriously though, maybe the video card can do some of the rendering??
Or just find the lowest CPU usage software decoder (afaik, it's a toss up between core avc and ffdshow, the latter is free)

 

[mikelish]

using the same system as my original post. I watched the 720p Mr. Brooks trailer at apple.com using Quicktime. I get anywhere from 15-21 fps. So enough choppyness to make it not worth watching, even when the video is completely downloaded.

I'm sure 1020p is much worse and i'd like to be able to play it smoothly once all is said and done.

I was told by the seller that he would sell me his video card sometime today. I will post later once I get the 7900GS and use pureview.

 

[Auric]

7900GS AGP just came out. Prices are closer to $200 USD than $100. There were 7800GS but they were pretty much superceded by the 7600GT. For $100 maybe they mean 7600GS? QuickTime for Windows is a software-only decoder and performs worse than ffdshow's libavcodec. 1080p trailers at apple are only half bitrate (<10Mbps). To utilize PureVideo or Avivo hardware requires a DxVA decoder such as CyberLink. But even then as said an SSE2 or better capable CPU is also required. In fact, without DxVA, any Nvidia card will be a downgrade from the X800XL when it comes to video decoding (either MPEG-2 in hardware or anything else in software).

 

[mikelish]

I am watching 1080p video from apple.com using Zoom Player. If you press "I" in Zoom Player, it brings up info such as FPS. It runs smoothly at 1080p using my x800xl and my athlon XP 2700+. My monitor is only 1280x1024 resolution so I guess it's not true 1080p, but it still looks nice and runs smooth at 24fps.

I may not need to upgrade afterall. Just need to use the correct video player/ codec / decoder

Thanks for the feedback

 

[Auric]

The display is not really a factor. Theoretically it actually takes a li'l more power to scale to a diff'rent resolution but the main thing is the source resolution, bitrate and codec.

But to reiterate, apple trailers are not representative of typical content.

 

[teatime0315]

Originally posted by: Auric
The display is not really a factor. Theoretically it actually takes a li'l more power to scale to a diff'rent resolution but the main thing is the source resolution, bitrate and codec.

But to reiterate, apple trailers are not representative of typical content.

Yeah display doesnt mean your material isn't HD. If your source is 1080p/i your computer still has to run those pixels regardless of your monitor/resolution size.

P.S. To answer your question... HD is more CPU intensive. Some GPU's with the proper software (ie. AVIVO and Purevideo) will alleviate stress put onto the CPU.

 

[MegaVovaN]

I have
3200+ (skt A, 32bit)
1gb RAM DDr400
6800GT
winXP

Anything above 720p is unwatchable using apple's trailers. Perhaps if I had some HD files I could play them with some optimized codec and player like VLC?

 

[mikelish]

i like Zoom Player. it seems to play all the HD videos I can find.

Steam - Half-life2 trailers in 720p still show some slowdown though. They are using whatever codec Steam has built in though.

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
I have
3200+ (skt A, 32bit)
1gb RAM DDr400
6800GT
winXP

Anything above 720p is unwatchable using apple's trailers. Perhaps if I had some HD files I could play them with some optimized codec and player like VLC?

VLC can only use the open source software-only decoders provided rather than any DirectShow ones installed on the system. For that, a player like Media Player Classic is ideal. DxVA decoders are included with CyberLink PowerDVD trial and Ahead Nero. So you could try those however there are two possible snags: lack of SSE2 and the NV4x cores originally used for the 6800's are defective and have no PureVideo HD functionality beyond olde timey MPEG-2.

Oh, AFAIK, Ahead blocks the use of their codecs (Ateme) with other than their own crappy player. Not sure if renaming the MPC executable or other method can get around that. CyberLink is better anyway.

 

[StopSign]

A C2D at around 1.8 GHz will play 1080p videos perfectly smooth without any outside help.

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: Auric
there are two possible snags: lack of SSE2 and the NV4x cores originally used for the 6800's are defective and have no PureVideo HD functionality beyond olde timey MPEG-2.

Yep, the 6800gt and Ultra had severely limited playback options. I've always thought it was strange.

PureVideo Support by nVidia card

This link shows that for video playback, you are better off with a 6600 rather than a 6800gt or Ultra.