Best playback on laptop (P-II 266) ?

[C.M.Younger]

I'm trying to find the best format/bitrate to convert dv camcorder video for playback on a laptop. I've spent the last several days trying different combinations with Vdub and Tmpgenc, and I'm left feeling that there's a lot I don't know that would help me achieve better results - bigger/clearer/less choppy.

Am I right that this is a non-interlaced source? And I do want a non-interlaced product. The best results I've gotten so far (guesswork) have been with an mpeg 1, resized to 528 x 400, and using the 2 pass variable bitrate, and motion estimate search.

Thanks,

C.M.Younger

[Batman]

Typically, mpeg files consume less resources than divx avi files. To improve playback reduce the screen area to the minimum which is usually 640x480. Reduce the resolution of the clip to say 352 (or the standard resolutions of vcd).

Reduce the color to 16 bit.

Players can make a difference. I have an old PC to play clips I use the Yeahplayer. GDIVX is also good.

If oyu want divx reduce the bitrate.

[Enchanter]

It's hard to play high-resolution divx clips on a P2-266. As suggested above, it's better to shrink the movie instead. I've tried playing a 480x360 clip on a celeron300 and suffice to say, it stuttered.

If you want to do 2-pass encoding, I suggest you give the 4.x codec a try. From my experience, NanDub results are often hard on CPU resources, because there tend to be parts of the movie where the bitrate is too high. 4.x codec moderates the distribution of bits better (because inexperienced users do not interfere with the settings). But then again, I should also suggest not to use too high a bitrate as the machine is not a powerful one at playing divx clips.