Troubleshooting Choppy Video Playback

[gujuguy007]

I'm considering upgrading my current system with a new graphics card, but needed some expert opinions before I do that. Currently I have an older geforce mx400 card with 32 mb ram. About 75% of the time video playback is fine, but with streaming HD these days, video is really choppy. Would upgrading my video card to say a geforce fx6200 or similar with 128 mb ram significantly improve my video performance? Any recommendations for a budget AGP card?

or is the choppy playback having to do with a older processor? Currently the system is running an Athlon XP 1800+ Thoroughbred 1.533GHz Socket A on an ASUS A7N266-VM mobo.

i guess it's debatable whether performance problems are solely due to the video card or the processor...probably a combination of both.

any responses appreciated.

 

[kurt454]

It is a combination of both. I would look for a good dual core system.

 

[BernardP]

If it is only with streaming, the culprit could also be your internet connection being not fast enough, whatever your ISP says about its speed. Try downloading HD videos from the WMV HD Content Showcase and see how is the video performance when you view the videos after saving them on your hard disk.

You can also try your luck with HD H.264 videos on this Quicktime page.. Apple being Apple they require you to buy Quicktime Pro in order to allow saving to disk. The nice thing with H.264 is that it is an even harsher test, as this codec demand more CPU/GPU power.

 

[jeoyjojojrshabadoo]

You would need an AGP card that helps offload the CPU in regards to HD content. That limits you somewhat. I have an older 1.8 Athlon as well and get choppiness with most HD content (with a Radeon 9800pro). You're mostly CPU bound in this situation. I know the ATI HD2600 series comes in AGP, but I don't know if you'd really consider it "budget." I'm upgrading to whole new system, so haven't researched it beyond that. Good luck, and maybe somebody knows of some other AGP cards that do HD off-loading from the CPU (for lack of proper terminology).

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: BernardP
Try downloading HD videos from the WMV HD Content Showcase and see how is the video performance when you view the videos after saving them on your hard disk.

Better yet, just check the system requirements that put his 1800+ well below even the minimum configuration for 720p. And yeah, H.264 is even more demanding.

However, newer videocards can handle such decoding in hardware, which will offset the need for a faster CPU. I've never kept up on the budget cards though, so I can't say exactly where a 6200 would stand. I do know that such older cards don't decode some of the newer HD codecs, which would leave the task up to the woefully underpowered CPU.

Also I have heard the AGP bus simply isn't enough for some particularly high bitrate content, which would mean that some videos would still not run smooth even with the best AGP cards avalable. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that as I haven't seen anything more than comments from others, but it is something I'd want to look into more before buying an AGP card.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: gujuguy007
I'm considering upgrading my current system with a new graphics card, but needed some expert opinions before I do that. Currently I have an older geforce mx400 card with 32 mb ram. About 75% of the time video playback is fine, but with streaming HD these days, video is really choppy. Would upgrading my video card to say a geforce fx6200 or similar with 128 mb ram significantly improve my video performance? Any recommendations for a budget AGP card?

or is the choppy playback having to do with a older processor? Currently the system is running an Athlon XP 1800+ Thoroughbred 1.533GHz Socket A on an ASUS A7N266-VM mobo.

i guess it's debatable whether performance problems are solely due to the video card or the processor...probably a combination of both.

any responses appreciated.

What 'HD-streaming' are you doing? What player(s) - version #'s & codecs - are you using?

The MX400 does support hardware acceleration if you have an application that utilizes the card HOWEVER you won't be able to run anything that requires HW acceleration past DirectX 8 - will only run with 'emulator software' which is probably where your stutter comes from.

Try going back on your DX.

btw - I've run Power DVD on socket A's 1.6GHz with GF 5xxx's with no probs . . .

 

[Aeros]

Originally posted by: BernardP
If it is only with streaming, the culprit could also be your internet connection being not fast enough, whatever your ISP says about its speed. Try downloading HD videos from the WMV HD Content Showcase and see how is the video performance when you view the videos after saving them on your hard disk.

You can also try your luck with HD H.264 videos on this Quicktime page.. Apple being Apple they require you to buy Quicktime Pro in order to allow saving to disk. The nice thing with H.264 is that it is an even harsher test, as this codec demand more CPU/GPU power.

Use QT alternative. You can save to disk, or stream. Hate DRM crap.

I have a E6600 at 3.4 and still run 12-50% CPU usage, and that's with a HD2600 pro. I firmly believe that vid cards have next to no effect on rendering HD video, and the process is completly CPU bound.

I think I'll just call my E6600 a "HD-E6600" from now on.

Also, coming from an P4 EE 3.4 that would still skip frames, and ran at >50%.