Fastest DIVX player and codec for slow PC?

[anonymez]

hello guys i just wanted to know what combination of player and codec i should use to play divx movies on an outdated computer.

AMD K6-2 500MHz
64MB RAM
Nvidia TNT2 32MB
10GB HDD

I have had this computer for quite a while and rather than getting rid of it, decided it may be good for divx movies. I have already tried with BS player and divx 5.1.1, but the movies still run choppy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[UncasMS]

ffdshow as playbackfilter and bsplayer as player might be a good start

[anonymez]

thanks for the quick reply. does ffdshow play divx 5.1.1 encoded movies? i have never heard of the codec, but i will download it soon.

i heard that some versions of BS player are better than others. which version do you recommend?

[UncasMS]

ffdshow does not only play latest divx and xvid but many other common mpeg-4 formats as well and it is my first choice as playbackfilter!

download latest version

[Soulhunter]

You could also try the "good old" mplayer2 as player...

Its has near like no features, but needs also near like no resources !!!

You should find it under C:\Programms\Windows Media Player\mplayer2.exe...


Bye

[anonymez]

i just tried ffdshow, with media player 2, lowered desktop resolution to 16-bit, 800x600, and played a movie. there is a definite improvement, but still, the sound is out of sync with the video. i have enabled DMA on both hard drive and cd-rom, i have closed all unneccesary processes, i have disabled post-processing. is there anything i can do to get the sound and video running smoothly? i have heard about divx playing back on weaker computers than mine. the movie has a bitrate of 1100kbit/s. maybe a fast mp3 decoder might help?

[zx50]

Do you know what the resolution is of the film, because if it's a high resolution like 576x320 then it's a case of the higher the resolution the more memory you need. Some film's on my pc jerk just very mildly and only for a 1/2 a sec just the very odd time. I don't have my films and everything at this resolution though (512x288, 512x384,448x336)

[UncasMS]

movies with higher bitrates wont hardly run smooth on a k6- 500

i remember the days when i used an k6-2 400 for encoding and playback and certain titles (2-3 cd rips) didnt run fine

[anonymez]

yeah all my movies are dvd rips, so the resolution is around 720x320. i tried disabling the sound, and the movie ran a lot smoother. but obviously can't watch a movie without sound

[tigerman8u]

I used a 200mmx with 64mg ram and 32mg voodoo pci card with mostly good results. Not sure but the video card might have a positive/negative effect on playback.

[zx50]

The video card has a lot to do with video (that's why it's called a video card/graphics card) anyway, if you have a film that has a large resolution and has a lot of motion in it, then you need a powerful enough graphics card to be able to handle it. I have a 64mb graphics card. Mine play alright even with sound. The bigger your graphics card the more it can handle, meaning the bigger the graphics card the more memory inside it so it can handle size motion and everything.

[anonymez]

yeah i'll try downloading the latest nvidia drivers for win98; i hope it helps. i heard that many nvidia cards will get a "small performance boost" out of the 56.64 drivers. a friend of mine has a pIII 800MHz, 96MB SDRAM, 16mb nvidia tnt2 video card, win98SE, and all movies run perfectly on it. oh and by the way, in the bios it says something about "bios video shadowing" (can choose enable or disable) and "graphics aperture size" (can choose 8mb, 16mb, etc.) any suggestions?

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by ziadost
oh and by the way, in the bios it says something about "bios video shadowing" (can choose enable or disable) and "graphics aperture size" (can choose 8mb, 16mb, etc.) any suggestions?

Disable video shadowing, and set the aperture size to the half amount (but max. 128MB) of your ram...


Bye

[Soulhunter]

Btw, does someone know what thus spread spectrum bios-function is good for...

Never got a clue on this setting...


Bye