Which OS for BEST DIVX Performance?

[scarfase99]

Ok guys, here's my setup: AMD K6-2 500Mhz, 512mb SDRAM, 3gb HD, Toshiba 40X SCSI, Matrox g450 Dual Display 16mb. Now, i have been using WindowsXP Pro, but it's LAGGING A LOT!!! Most of my DVD Rips play very choppy. So i was plannin on doing a reformat & Reinstall & was thinking what OS would be best to use: Win98, WinME, Win2000, or WinXP Pro??? I don't care about ANYTHING except PLaying Movies & Music. Lemme know.

thanks

also, would a video card with straight TV-Out instead of the Matrox Dual Head work better for outputtin to a TV?

 

[Engr62]

I don't think that the operating system is the problem as much as it is your processor. I have a dedicated machine hooked to my TV to view DivX files (K6-2 450+, 128 Mb RAM, Radeon 32 Mb SDR PCI, 36x CD ROM, Win98SE), and it plays DivX files fine as long as the vertical resolution of the DivX file is equal to 288 or less. For instance, a DivX file with a resolution of 640x272 (as close to 2.35:1 as I could get) plays fine. However, if the vertical resolution of the DivX file is over 288, the movie plays back really chopping (with constant pausing).

 

[Engr62]

Also, I forgot to mention... since you are using a Matrox G450 card, your DivX files must have a horizontal resolution that is evenly divisible by 32. If they aren't, the video overlay support of your card will not be used, resulting in choppy play.

There is a utility called DivXG400 that will add black pixels to the file on playback, allowing the G400/450/550 cards to use video overlay when the DivX file's horizontal resolution is not evenly divisible by 32. You can get it here.

 

[Rand]

Might want to drop back to Windows 2000, as WinXP may be rather slow on only a K6-2 500MHz... though you do have plenty of RAM for it.

 

[Superwormy]

I would drop back to Win98 SE and use TweakUI to optomize everything, get it nice and fast.

But your CPU is kinda gettin old too...

 

[scarfase99]

so...Win98SE...any other suggestions? is that a good idea?

 

[Pete]

Try BSPlayer--it generally uses fewer CPU cycles than other decoders. Also, open a DivX file in Windows Media Player, stop the file, go to File>Properties>Advanced>DivX Decoder Filter and set the Quality level to Minimum. That should net you a nice CPU utilization drop.