I have a small subnotebook with a 7" screen, an old processor and a tiny hard-drive, so I was wondering if there's an easy way for me too decode some of my divx, xvid, mpg etc. files so that they would be smaller in size and would run with a slower processor? So how to decode video files so that they would run on an older computer? My notebook's screen is only 7" so resolution could be also dropped as the small screen doesn't show video errors so easily. -John
Maybe converting AVI --> MPG (MPEG-1 Video-CD, of course) produces a movie which can be played more easily than a DivX compressed AVI (no more decoding needed). But the new MPG will be larger (10 MB/minute of movie) than the original AVI.
Ok, VCD would suit me fine as the hard drive capacity on my laptop is pretty cheap to upgrade anyway. So what would be a good and EASY program to convert divx, xvid, mpg and all other various video files to VCD? -John
TMPGEnc http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_tools/tmpgenc.cfm Aldaco is right - I can play VCDs on my beloved old Pentium Pro but it sure won't play DivX. Doesn't matter how much harddrive or memory you have, MPEG4 is very CPU-intensive and you need 1000MHz or so (maybe P3-800 at least) for playback. MPEG1 (VCD) will be approx. double the filesize vs. MPEG4. Regards
A Celeron400 will not play, but a PentiumII-450 has a whisper of a chance (but brutal playback, jerky/stuttery, not smooth). You really need more, just like DVD playback. Any PC that can run a software-based DVD player will also be strong enough for MPEG4. A DivX with lower-rez than a DVD will help. Also, decoding MP3 audio is CPU-intensive too! That's why VCD (MPEG1) with its MP2 audio is a good choice - both A & V are tailored for easy playback that's less demanding on hardware. L8R
my old p2-350 plays divx/xvid files without a hitch ;D, you just need codecs that dont need to use alot of cpu resources, like ffdshow.
Yeah eh? That's kewl, but I bet the P2 won't run a software DVD player...? Using the DivX for playback puts all kinds of post-processing on your playback by default (and 'film effect' - what th' hell is that!?) so yes FFDShow easily more efficient. Celeron 400 was no chance, though ;^( I bet your P2 was the first 100MHz FSB x 3.5, right? A milestone design; glad to hear it's still in the game. FFDShow will not however, unfortunately, help my old PentiumPro, LoL :^) L8R Mick
i dunno about that, never installed a dvdrom/burner on ol' betty , but yeah im guessing you'd need a mpeg2 decoder card to take the strain off the cpu for dvd/mpeg2 playback. most software dvd players only require a minimum of 400Mhz for playback, so i dunno it might work but its doubtful :. http://www.inmatrix.com/articles/minimum2.shtml yep, heres the specs:. http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/specs.aspx?itemId=22543&stext= its been retired for a good while now(just use it as a backup comp) but yeah she was top of the line when i first bought her. some say you shouldnt be able to playback divx/xvid with a processor thats below the 300Mhz mark( recommended 400-500Mhz), while others say that a 233Mhz processor should be able to playback divx/xvid, how true that is all depends on your setup, what works for 1 machine might not work for another. cheerz m8
