Problems with divxplayback - Hints?

[AndersJ]

I have a Pentium2 266 mhz with 32 meg ram, 2-meg graphicscard and I run Win98 SE. Some divxmovies run ok but some almost freezes. I guess that my computer don´t meet the minimum requirements to run play divx, but are there any special codec or any special player that demands the least from the computer? Will an upgrade to 160 meg ram make the divxmovies run more smoothly? It´s a laptop so a memoryupgrade is almost all I can do. Thanks for any help and hints!

[Enchanter]

The CPU is honestly too slow to take the computing demands of playing DivX files. The best resolution you can probably manage is 320x240 and even at this resolution, I can't guarantee smooth playback.

What you can do, short of upgrading the CPU, is to disable all filter settings of the codec and run your desktop at a lower resolution and colour depth (eg. 640x480 @16-bit/256colours).

[AndersJ]

Hmm, thanks for the help. But where can I find those codec settings? Also, won´t more ram (from 32 to 160) affect the playback?

[Enchanter]

Open file in Windows Media Player 6.4. Open File -> Properties. Under Advanced tab, you can find the codecs in use. It shouldn't be a problem for you to find the DivX decoder, double-click on it and play around with the settings.

In your case, more RAM will help indeed, though the CPU will still remain the limiting factor (As far as I know, DivX is more CPU intensive than it is memory-intensive).

[AndersJ]

Ok, thanks. Maybe I should upgrade the RAM and see what happens. What´s kind of strange is when I lower the res to 640x480 and 16 bit colours to 256 I have the same problems. I doesn´t run any smoother. Can´t understand why really? I get identic problems. Also, is there any special codec and any players that´s recommended for "slow" computers?

[Enchanter]

WMP6.4 is pretty light on CPU resources (MUCH lighter than WMP7). The playa is a good choice too.

You can also make sure that your system is running at its optimum speed (DMA enabled, etc). :) Good luck.

[AndersJ]

Hmm ok! :) Will DMA also affect when I´m running the movie from HD?

[Enchanter]

Generally yes. I have heard of problems when DMA setting is enabled. However, most of the time it's used to enchance (more like optimise) the performance of systems.

If DMA does not work for you, you can always reboot into safe mode and disable DMA from there. Does not get any harder than that. :)

[AndersJ]

I´ve tested with DMA on now, and I can say that it a lot! Both when playing from cd or hd. Much, much more smooth. Maybe I can get it to run pretty good then if I upgrade the ram to 160 meg.

[Enchanter]

Nothing feels better than a free speed upgrade, huh? :)

You could have a look at your BIOS settings too to see if there's anything worth changing for another free speed increase. However, the settings differ from motherboard to motherboard and hence I can't help you there.